A descriptive survey was conducted to examine the effect of child care problems on the labor force participation of nurses with children less than six years of age. Questionnaires were sent to a random sample of employed, hospital nurses who were less than 40 years of age and resided in a midwestern metropolitan area. The response rate was 53% and the sample consisted of 582 nurses.

Labor force participation was measured by several measures: work interruption; absenteeism; actual and desired changes in work; and hours worked per week. A child care problem index was developed to measure level of child care problems.

Over 38% of the nurses reported absenteeism related to child illness during the previous three months. Work interruption related to child care problems affected 27-31% of the sample. Scores on the child care problem index had weak positive correlations with absenteeism and work interruption (r =.24$-$.27; p =.001). There was no relationship between the child care problem score and hours worked per week. The most frequently cited actual change in work as well as desired change in work was reduction of hours worked per week.

Nurses who used employer-sponsored child care centers (ESCC) as their primary source of care had significantly less work interruption p =.001) and absenteeism p =.028) related to child care difficulties than non-users but more absenteeism related to child illness (p =.037). However, only 21% of nurses with access to ESCC used the facilities. The two most common reasons for not using ESCC were satisfaction with current child care and cost of care. The overall policy implications of the data suggest that ESCC centers have mixed results with respect to nurse utilization and labor force participation.