Youth in Residential Care: A Cross-Sectional Mediation Analysis of Youth's Perceptions of Their Social Images, Self-Representations, and Adjustment Outcomes.

Individuals' 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.

Emergency residential care settings: A model for service assessment and design.

There 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.

Development and validation of a Social Images Evaluation Questionnaire for youth in residential care.

Social images are defined as prevailing shared ideas about specific groups or societies without concrete or objective evidence of their accuracy or truthfulness. These images frequently have a negative impact on individuals and groups. Although of outmost importance, the study of the social images of youth in residential care is still scarce. In this article we present two studies for the development and validation of the Social Images Evaluation Questionnaire (SIEQ). In study 1, participants were asked to freely generate words that could be associated to youth in residential care in order to obtain a list of attributes to be used in the SIEQ. In study 2, the main psychometric characteristics of the SIEQ were tested with samples of laypeople and professionals. The main results support the proposal of a new and psychometrically sound measurement-the SIEQ-to analyze the social images of youth in residential care.

Imagens sociais de famílias com filhos em acolhimento e em contexto familiar: um estudo entre Brasil e Portugal / Social images of families with children in sheltered care and in family context: a study between Brazil and Portugal / Imágenes sociales de familias con hijos en acogimiento residencial y en contexto familiar: un estudio entre Brasil y Portugal

A literatura indica que as famílias de crianças e jovens em acolhimento institucional podem ser estigmatizadas socialmente, gerando um impacto negativo no seu bem-estar, na construção da sua identidade e no sucesso da intervenção familiar. No entanto, poucos estudos investigam empiricamente esta imagem social. Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar a imagem social das famílias de crianças e jovens em diferentes contextos em Portugal e no Brasil. Uma amostra de 378 participantes (176 portugueses e 202 brasileiros) foi solicitada a indicar cinco atributos de famílias de crianças e jovens em acolhimento institucional e outros cinco atributos de famílias de crianças e jovens em contexto familiar, de estatutos socioeconômicos baixo e médio. Os dados indicam que em ambos os países existe um predomínio de atributos negativos associados às famílias de crianças e jovens em acolhimento institucional e de estatuto socioeconômico baixo, e um predomínio de atributos positivos associados às famílias em contexto familiar de estatuto socioeconômico médio. Destaca-se a necessidade de intervenções, especialmente com profissionais que atuam junto a essa população, para conscientização sobre essas imagens sociais. (AU)

The literature indicates that families of children and adolescents in sheltered care may be socially stigmatized and this has a negative impact on their well-being, the construction of their identity, and the success of family interventions. However, only a few studies have empirically investigated this social image. This study aimed to analyse the social image of the families of children and adolescents in different contexts in Portugal and Brazil. A sample of 378 participants (176 Portuguese and 202 Brazilian) was asked to indicate five attributes of families of children and adolescents in shelter care, and other five attributes of families of children and adolescents in the family context, varying from low to middle socioeconomic status. The data indicate that in both countries there is a predominance of negative attributes associated with families of children and adolescents in shelter care and low socioeconomic status, whereas a predominance of positive attributes was associated with families of children and adolescents in family context and middle socioeconomic status. It is highlighted the need of interventions, especially with professionals who work with this population, to bring out awareness of these social images. (AU)

La literatura indica que las familias de los niños y jóvenes en acogimiento residencial son estigmatizadas socialmente y esto tiene un impacto negativo en su bienestar, en la construcción de su identidad y en el éxito de la intervención familiar. Sin embargo, pocos estudios han investigado empíricamente esta imagen social. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar la imagen social de las familias de los niños y jóvenes en diferentes contextos en Portugal y Brasil. Se le pidió a una muestra de 378 participantes (176 portugueses y 202 brasileños) para indicar cinco atributos de las familias de niños y jóvenes en acogimiento residencial y otros cinco atributos de las familias de niños y jóvenes en el contexto familiar, nivel socioeconómico bajo y medio. Los datos indican que en ambos países hay un predominio de los atributos negativos asociados a las familias de niños y jóvenes en acogimiento residencial y el estatus socioeconómico bajo, y un predominio de los atributos positivos asociados al nivel socioeconómico promedio de las familias. Se destaca la necesidad de la intervención, sobre todo con los profesionales que trabajan con esta población, a la concientización con respecto a estas imágenes sociales. (AU)

A Portuguese version of the student-teacher relationship scale - short form.

Research consistently demonstrates that positive student-teacher relationships are fundamental to the healthy development of all students. However, we lack a Portuguese-validated measure of student-teacher relationships. In this article we present the adaptation procedures and the psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale - Short Form (Pianta, 1992). Five hundred and thirty five teachers from 127 schools completed the STRS-SF. The results demonstrate that this adapted version of the STRS-SF has good psychometric properties, namely high reliability (α = .84 to .87) and expected construct validity, which were tested through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (χ2/df = 1.65, CFI = .96, GFI = .93, RMSEA = 0.05). This study also showed that the correlations of student-teacher relationship with students' demographic variables are consistent with the evidence in the literature about this construct. Finally, the study indicated that female teachers reported more closeness, t(530) = 4.06, p < .001 and better overall student-teacher relationships, t(530) = 4.90, p < .001. In the discussion, we analyze the implications of these results.

Staff and youth views on autonomy and emancipation from residential care: a participatory research study.

The use of participatory approaches in designing services is still relatively uncommon. In this study, we helped design a service to support the transition of youth from residential care to independent living by exploring the perspectives of staff and of youth regarding: (a) the concept and development of autonomy; and (b) key factors in developing this type of service. We gathered the data through 10 interviews with staff (n=10) and 4 focus groups with youth (n=21), and subjected the data to a thematic content analysis. Staff defined autonomy as self-regulation and self-care, and identified three paths to foster autonomy--a sense of normality, meaningful relationships, and planning for emancipation. The staff and youth identified the following important aspects in designing the service: achieving normality (e.g. limited number of residents), promoting youth capacity (e.g. skill-building activities), providing social support (e.g. trust and respect between residents), and assuring guidance and boundaries (e.g. supervision of youth).