This article reports on the first Florida statewide assessment of the Gold Seal Quality Care program, accreditation, and the relationship with licensing violations. This study analyzed the differences between the Department of Children and Families Gold Seal–Accredited facilities and nonaccredited facilities by comparing the facilities and the number of class violations a facility received for noncompliance of licensing standards from 2007 through 2010. Class I violations in all 4 years were not statistically significant; however, the p-value for Class II and III violations in all 4 years was p < 0.05; therefore, we concluded that accreditation does make a difference in relation to Class II and III violations and that accredited programs are of a higher quality than nonaccredited programs.
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