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- The youth-caregiver relationship quality in residential youth care: Professionals perceptions and experiencesPublication . Magalhães, Eunice; Ferreira, Margarida; Ornelas, Sandra; Silva, Carla; Camilo, Cláudia; Calheros, M. M.This study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of professionals working in residential care (RC) settings (i.e., caregivers and directors) about youth-caregiver relationship quality (YCRQ). Method: A qualitative study was developed in Portugal including 15 caregivers (73.3% women, 23–50 years) and 15 directors (73.3% women, 34– 45 years) working in 18 generalist RC units. Data were collected through six focus groups using a semi-structured interview script. Data were analyzed following a content analysis approach using NVIVO 12 software. Results: Our findings revealed that the concept of YCRQ in RC was mainly described in terms of good qualities, and the organizational determinants of YCRQ relationships were most mentioned both by caregivers and directors (i.e., organizational social context, intervention models and strategies). Individual characteristics of youth and staff were less described as determinants of YCRQ. These findings provide important insights for practice. Conclusions: efforts should be made to design interventions in RC that aim to improve its organizational social climate so as to provide caregivers with the necessary support and resources that enable them to enhance positive YCRQ.
- Youth's self-construction in the context of residential care: The looking-glass self within the youth-caregiver relationshipPublication . Silva, Carla; Calheros, M. M.Youth in residential care typically struggle to construct a positive sense of self, given their often highly adverse life experiences. However, the processes that explain youth’s self-representations process in residential care have not been systematically analyzed. Based on the symbolic interactionism theory, this study addressed this gap in the literature by testing the Looking Glass Self Hypothesis (LGSH) in this development context within the relationship between youth and their main residential caregiver. Participants were 755 youth from 71 residential care units in Portugal, 12–25 years old, and their respective main caregiver (N = 300). Through a multi-mediator model, we examined whether caregivers’ actual appraisals of the youth in care were associated with youth’s selfrepresentations via caregivers’ reflected appraisals (i.e., youth’s perceptions of their main caregiver’ appraisals of them). Results supported the LGSH in the context of youth-caregiver relationships in residential care, emphasizing the important role of residential caregivers in youth’s self-construction process.
- Youth's rights and mental health: The role of supportive relations in carePublication . Magalhães, Eunice; Calheros, M. M.; Costa, Patrício; Ferreira, SofiaA rights-based approach calls for studies to explore further the extent to which rights’ fulfillment in residential care affects young people’s mental health. A focus on protective factors, such as supportive relations, can inform policies and practices in residential care which is critical for youths’ empowerment and adaptive outcomes. However, existing studies on social support are mainly descriptive and qualitative in nature or focus on the effect of support in mental health. This study builds upon and enhances existing knowledge by exploring the moderating role of social support from educators in residential care and the association between perceived rights and psychological difficulties. A sample of 366 adolescents (53% boys) in residential care (Mage ¼ 14.82; SD ¼ 1.81) were included in this study and completed self-reported measures on perceived rights, support in residential care and psychological difficulties. Social support moderated the relationship between the perception of rights regarding respectful system practices, autonomy and contact with family, as well as psychological difficulties. When greater social support was perceived by the adolescents, higher perceptions of respectful system practices and lower perceptions of autonomy and contact with family were associated with lower levels of psychological difficulties. Results provide evidence for the positive role of rights’ fulfillment in psychological functioning in residential care, as well as the protective role of supportive educators.
- Maltreatment and youth self-representations in residential care: The moderating role of individual and placement variablesPublication . Calheros, M. M.; Silva, Carla; Patrício, JoanaThe objective of this study was to explore the effects of previous maltreatment on current self-representations (i.e., the attributes used to describe oneself) of youth in residential care and the moderating role of gender, age, number of previous placements and length of placement in residential care. The sample was composed of 809 adolescents and youths in residential care. The youth completed the self-representation questionnaire for youths in residential care (SRQYRC). In order to analyze the impact of previous maltreatment on self-representation, retrospective accounts of previous maltreatment experiences were used, and a set of multiple regression analyses were conducted. Results of multiple regressions suggest previous experiences of maltreatment contribute to youth’s self-representations. Specifically, youth that experienced sexual abuse reported higher levels of negative self-representations (i.e., negative valence attributes, such as aggressive, sad, misfit, neglected) while youth that experienced physical and psychological abuse, emotional and educational maltreatment, and neglect in terms of physical provision reported less positive self-representations (i.e., positive valence attributes, such as nice, intelligent, cherished). Some of these associations were moderated by gender, age, number and length of placements in residential care. These results underline that the type of maltreatment has a differential impact on youth’s self-representation dimensions and that placement stability (i.e., without moving the youth other residential care placements), and the continuity of care in the same residential care unit may protect the self-representations of youth with previous experiences of abuse and neglect.
- Emergency residential care settings: A model for service assessment and designPublication . Graça, João; Calheros, M. M.; Patrício, Joana; Magalhães, EuniceThere have been calls for uncovering the “black box” of residential care services, with a particular need for research focusing on emergency care settings for children and youth in danger. In fact, the strikingly scant empirical attention that these settings have received so far contrasts with the role that they often play as gateway into the child welfare system. To answer these calls, this work presents and tests a framework for assessing a service model in residential emergency care. It comprises seven studies which address a set of different focal areas (e.g., service logic model; care experiences), informants (e.g., case records; staff; children/youth), and service components (e.g., case assessment/evaluation; intervention; placement/referral). Drawing on this process-consultation approach, the work proposes a set of key challenges for emergency residential care in terms of service improvement and development, and calls for further research targeting more care units and different types of residential care services. These findings offer a contribution to inform evidence-based practice and policy in service models of residential care.
- The social image of families of children and youth in residential care: a characterization and comparison with mainstream families with different socioeconomic statusPublication . Patrício, Joana; Lopes, Diniz; Garrido, M. V.; Calheros, M. M.The literature suggests that families of children and youths in residential care are often associated with negative social images. These images may shape prejudiced attitudes and behavior toward them and, when shared by care professionals, compromise the effectiveness of family intervention and reintegration. This study explored these social images in a sample of 176 participants with and without professional contact with this population. Participants were asked to indicate five attributes describing families of children or youths living in residential care or in mainstream environments with low or medium socioeconomic status (SES). Results indicated that both families of children and youths in residential care and families of low SES were predominantly described with negative attributes. However, only the former were characterized by dysfunctional parenting-related attributes. Medium SES families were overall described with positive attributes. Furthermore, these social images were organized in different profiles. Implications for family intervention and reintegration are discussed
- Youth in Residential Care: A Cross-Sectional Mediation Analysis of Youth s Perceptions of Their Social Images, Self-Representations, and Adjustment OutcomesPublication . Calheros, M. M.; Silva, Carla; Patrício, Joana Nunes; Carvalho, HelenaIndividuals’ perceptions of their social images [i.e., meta-representations (MR)] and perceived stereotyping threat create involuntary stress responses that may affect important outcomes, such as self-esteem, academic achievement, and mental health. This study aimed to (1) analyze the indirect associations between residential care youth’s MR and their psychological adjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing problems) through their self-representations (SR) and (2) test the moderating role of youth’s age and residential unit size in those associations. A sample of 926 youth aged between 12 and 25years old filled out self-report questionnaires regarding their representations about how people in general perceive them (i.e., MR) and their SR. Residential care professionals filled in the socio-demographic questionnaires and the Child Behavior Checklist. Data were analyzed through multiple mediation models and moderated mediation models. Results showed that (1) youth’s behavioral MR were indirectly associated with higher internalizing and externalizing behavior through higher levels of behavioral SR and (2) youth’s emotional MR were associated with higher internalizing problems through higher emotional SR, but also with lower internalizing problems through lower levels of behavioral SR. These results emphasize the importance of stimulating positive SR, by showing that they can be a protective factor for youth in residential care.
- Organizational social context and academic achievement of youth in residential care: The mediating role of youth-caregiver relationship qualityPublication . Silva, Carla; Carvalho, Helena; Magalhães, Eunice; Attar-Schwartz, Shalhevet; Ornelas, Sandra; Calheros, M. M.Existing research examining the academic performance of youth in residential care has often overlooked the contextual factors contributing to youth achievements. Guided by an ecological perspective, this study aimed to investigate the associations between various dimensions of residential care settings’ (RCS) organizational social context (i.e., organizational climate, structure, and work attitudes) and youth’s academic achievement, considering the mediating role of youth-caregiver relationship quality in those associations. The study was based on a sample of 699 young people aged 12–25 (M = 16.18; SD = 2.07), and their respective main residential caregivers (N = 242) and case managers (N = 168), from 55 RCS in Portugal. Given the hierarchical structure of the data, analyses were performed using multilevel modelling. Results showed that the association between caregivers’ reports of the residential care setting organizational social context, specifically regarding caregiver engagement and centralization (i.e., authority hierarchy), and youth’s academic achievement (i.e., higher scores in Math and Portuguese language) was mediated by lower levels of negative interactions with caregivers, reported by the youth. The findings demonstrate the need for an ecological, multilevel perspective, in addressing youth’s academic achievement in residential care. Awareness and appropriate resources should be directed at improving child-caregiver relationship quality and social climate of RCS, among other efforts, to improve poor academic performance of youth in residential care.
- Why place matters in residential care: the mediating role of place attachment in the relation between adolescents rights and psychological well-beingPublication . Magalhães, Eunice; Calheros, M. M.Little evidence exists on the relationship between rights’ perceptions and well-being outcomes during the adolescence, and particularly in care, as well as on the mediating role of place attachment. Young people in residential care are psychologically and socially vulnerable, showing greater difficulties than their peers do in the family. Youth’s rights fulfilment in residential care may positively affect their psychological functioning together with positive attachments to this place. A sample of 365 adolescents in residential care settings (M = 14.71, SD = 1.81) completed a set of self-reported measures, specifically, the Rights perceptions scale, the Place attachment scale and Scales of psychological well-being. Results revealed significant mediating effects of place attachment (Global scale and subscales of Friends Bonding and Place Dependence) on the relationship between Participation and Protection rights in residential care and Psychological well-being (Positive Relations with others, Personal Growth and Self-Acceptance). The positive role of rights fulfilment in residential care, specifically participation opportunities, as well as the role of youth’s attachment to the care setting are discussed based on previous evidence and theoretical assumptions. A set of practical implications is described.
- Maltreatment and youth self-representations in residential care: the moderating role of individual and placement variablesPublication . Calheros, M. M.; Silva, Carla; Patrício, Joana NunesThe objective of this study was to explore the effects of previous maltreatment on current self-representations (i.e., the attributes used to describe oneself) of youth in residential care and the moderating role of gender, age, number of previous placements and length of placement in residential care. The sample was composed of 809 adolescents and youths in residential care. The youth completed the self-representation questionnaire for youths in residential care (SRQYRC). In order to analyze the impact of previous maltreatment on self-representation, retrospective accounts of previous maltreatment experiences were used, and a set of multiple regression analyses were conducted. Results of multiple regressions suggest previous experiences of maltreatment contribute to youth’s self-representations. Specifically, youth that experienced sexual abuse reported higher levels of negative self-representations (i.e., negative valence attributes, such as aggressive, sad, misfit, neglected) while youth that experienced physical and psychological abuse, emotional and educational maltreatment, and neglect in terms of physical provision reported less positive self-representations (i.e., positive valence attributes, such as nice, intelligent, cherished). Some of these associations were moderated by gender, age, number and length of placements in residential care. These results underline that the type of maltreatment has a differential impact on youth’s self-representation dimensions and that placement stability (i.e., without moving the youth other residential care placements), and the continuity of care in the same residential care unit may protect the selfrepresentations of youth with previous experiences of abuse and neglect.