Relative care 6% MEF researchers drafted semi-structured focus group protocols. For outreach, MEF partnered with the Region 5 ELRC to email all parents who had participated or were currently participating in the ACCM Pilot Program. The email introduced parents to the ACCM Pilot Program Evaluation, explained the focus groups, and provided a link to a Qualtrics survey to register. Parents were then able to register for focus groups by answering several survey questions about their characteristics and child care arrangement. Parents were eligible to participate if they had at any point participated in the ACCM Pilot Program, were at least 18 years of age, and consented to being audio and video recorded for note-taking purposes, all of which they were asked to indicate in the survey. A total of 53 parents completed the registration. All parents who registered were sent a confirmation email and a reminder email shortly before the focus group they registered to participate in. Overall, 32 parents attended the focus groups. See Appendix A for a summary of characteristics of participants of the parent focus groups. 2 All focus groups lasted one hour and 30 minutes and were facilitated virtually on Zoom in English. Focus groups were audio and video recorded and a notetaker was present during all focus groups, except for one, to summarize findings in real time. Transcripts were also produced for each focus group. Focus group participants each received a $100 gift card. After completing the focus groups, each transcript was uploaded to the software Dedoose for analysis. Based on the focus group notes, MEF staff developed a codebook with key themes that reflected responses to each of the focus group protocol questions and other important themes that arose during the focus groups. MEF created 15 parent codes representing larger themes and a total of 50 child codes that were categorized under the parent codes to provide more in-depth analysis of each theme. After the codebook was developed, two MEF staff coded each focus group transcript by reading through the transcript, highlighting excerpts, and assigning these excerpts codes from the codebook. Throughout the process, MEF staff added codes for new themes that arose. Once coding was complete, highlighted and coded excerpts were exported into an Excel spreadsheet with their assigned codes. These excerpts were organized based on the assigned codes to analyze the themes and understand the prevalence of different experiences of parents across focus group participants. Provider Focus Groups Throughout March 2025, MEF Associates led three focus groups with 10 child care providers that worked at child care programs participating in the ACCM Pilot Program. Provider focus groups allowed us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of providers’ experiences with the ACCM Pilot Program, their perceived value of the ACCM Pilot Program, and their perception of how it impacted the families they serve. MEF Researchers drafted semi-structured focus group protocols. For outreach, MEF partnered with the Region 5 ELRC to email all regulated child care providers who had participated or who were currently participating in the ACCM Pilot Program. The email introduced child care providers to the ACCM Pilot Program Evaluation, explained the focus groups, and provided a link to a Qualtrics survey to register. Child care providers were then able to register for focus groups by answering several survey questions about the type of program at which they worked and their position at the program. Providers were able to participate if they had at any point worked at a child care program that participated in the ACCM Pilot Program, were at least 18 years of age, and consented to being audio and video recorded for note taking
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