Care provider assessment of thermal state of children in day-care centers

Abstract Young children are vulnerable to extreme temperatures due to their physiological and anatomical characteristics and behavioural dependability. The latter is a relatively unexplored area. Therefore, the current study investigated the skin temperature as a proxy of the thermal state of children and care providers in day-care centers, the ability of the care providers to estimate the thermal state of the children and their knowledge on this topic. Results from 104 children (  0.05). Furthermore, many care providers had difficulties naming symptoms of heat illness and the care providers with ≤5 years work experience had a lower knowledge level of thermoregulation than care providers with >5 years work experience. It is recommended to train care providers in thermal assessment, in particular novice care providers that have less knowledge on this topic.