PROJECT LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-030373 | PTDC/CED-EDG/30373/2017
Social Images, organizational climate and quality of relationships in Residential Care: The design, implementation and evaluation of an intervention program
PROJECT
The project “Social images, organizational climate and quality of relationships in residential care: design, implementation and evaluation of an intervention program” is positioned within the scope of the promotion of health, adjustment, and well-being of young people with psychosocial and family vulnerability, specifically in the context of residential care.
The Residential Care (RC) system is under pressure to address increasingly demanding needs of youths in care. Wide variation in the success of child welfare systems has led to the search for system-level explanations of differential outcomes for youth. Of the many system-level factors cited as potential causes of ineffectiveness, organizational climate and quality of relationships have received the most attention lately, and, given the central role played by educators, some experts have hypothesized their detrimental to youth outcomes, with regard to self-representations, behaviour, and academic achievement. However, almost no empirical research has examined the relationship between these variables and these youth outcomes in RC. An understanding of the association between these variables and youth outcomes is important for child welfare systems because of its implications for intervention development, administrative and technical practice, and resource expenditures.
Under a socio-educational perspective, the current project aimed to:
(1) investigate the association patterns between organizational climate, the social images held by the staff, the relationships between educators and youths, behaviour, and academic achievement, through a correlational study;
(2) evaluate the needs, dilemmas, practices and possible solutions at the level of organizational, relational and educational contexts, through a qualitative study;
(3) drawing on findings from (1) and (2), to design, implement and evaluate an intervention program cantered on the organizational climate with staff, on social images, and on the quality of the relationships between educators and youths, through an experimental study.
This research project has relevant theoretical implications of this research project are relevant for a better understanding of the processes underlying the construction of self-representations, as well as the behaviour and academic achievement of youth in RC. The project has also significant practical implications, given that the test of theoretical models and the qualitative study informed the design of needs-led and theory-based program. Evaluation of the program through an experimental study will allow for disseminating and generalizing the intervention contents to the system as a whole, with a focus on promoting the psychosocial adjustment of these youths, particularly with regard to their self-representations, behaviour, and academic functioning.
TEAM
COORDINATION
Maria Manuela Calheiros
Associate Professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon. She has experience in the definition of public policies in the field of residential care through research focused on the design, implementation and evaluation of intervention programs in this context.
https://www.cienciavitae.pt//pt/F91A-BDBF-CEEC
Eunice Magalhães
Researcher and Professor at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, she has professional experience in the field of child protection as a case manager and her current research focuses on residential and family foster care and on the developmental impact of victimization experiences.
https://ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/authors/eunice-vieira-magalhaes/cv
RESEARCHERS
Carla Silva
Assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon, she has professional experience in intervention in residential care and her research focuses mainly on investigating the role of relational experiences with significant others, in different development contexts, on children’s and adolescents’ developmental outcomes.
https://www.cienciavitae.pt//en/6213-7D4E-963B
Cecília Aguiar
Cecília Aguiar is an assistant professor at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon and a senior researcher at CIS-Iscte. With background in developmental and educational psychology, she has both conducted and participated in research on ECEC quality and teacher practices in ECEC, focusing on children’s social outcomes (i.e., peer social interactions, networks, and relationships) and, especially, on the social participation of children with disabilities. She served as an Associate Editor of the Early Childhood Research Quarterly between 2016 and 2019. She coordinated the workpackage on curriculum, pedagogy, and social climate in the H2020 ISOTIS Project and was the national coordinator for Erasmus+ Projects KIT@ and BECERID. Between 2019 and 2022, she coordinated the Erasmus+ project PARTICIPA – Professional Development Tools Supporting Participation Rights in Early Childhood Education. She is the coordinator the team of PrimeirosAnos.pt, a research-based blog on inclusiveness in early childhood education.
https://ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/authors/cecilia-aguiar/cv
Francisco Simões
Associate Researcher at and Full Member of the Centre for Social Research and Intervention (CIS-Iscte). Co-coordinator of the thematic line “Promoting Inclusion, Equality and Citizenship” of the SocioDigitalLab for Public Policy. Chair of COST Action 18213 – Rural NEET Youth Network, funded by the European Commission, through the COST Association (2019-2023). Principal Investigator of the project Tr@ck-IN – Public employment services tracking effectiveness in supporting rural NEETs, funded by the Youth Employment Fund (EEA & Norway Grants) (2021-2024). His work focuses on the psychosocial analysis of the school-to-work transition, namely social inclusion, well-being, and access to education and decent jobs for vulnerable young people such as those Not in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET). He is also dedicated to scientific advice for public policies in these areas, at regional, national and European levels.
https://ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/authors/author-public-page-2207/cv
Helena Carvalho
Helena Carvalho is full professor in the Department of Social Research Methods at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. She is the Director of School of Sociology and Public Policy. She coordinates a Postgraduate in Data Analysis in Social Sciences. She is a senior researcher at the Center for the Research and Study of Sociology (CIES-Iscte). Her area of research is focused inside the quantitative and multivariate methods. She teaches several courses of multivariate statistics and advanced data analyses on Master and PhD Programs. She has published several books and several articles in Portugal and abroad.
https://ciencia.iscte-iul.pt/authors/helena-maria-barroso-carvalho/cv
João Graça
João Graça has a PhD in Psychology and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and Research Associate at the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). His overall research program is to identify pathways toward sustainability and develop communication models and products that help materialize these pathways. This takes a broad view of sustainability that includes improving social relations as well as our relationship with the natural environment. Fields of interest include program design and evaluation, behavior change, and environmental communication. Focal topics include protecting vulnerable populations and enabling sustainable food transitions.
https://www.rug.nl/staff/joao.graca/?lang=en
Sandra Godinho
Researcher at CICPSI, with professional experience in market studies and marketing, she has been developing research projects in the areas of social cognition, embodiment and consumer behavior, namely at the level of behavior and decision-making processes.
https://www.cienciavitae.pt/portal/C311-2087-D0CD
Sandra Ornelas
Psychologist and research fellow at CICPSI, with professional experience in the context of the Child and Youth Protection System, namely in a Children and Youth Protection Committee and in a residential care setting.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4139-1434
Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz
Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz (Ph.D.) is a Full Professor at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on child well-being and child welfare. She is especially interested in children and youth in out-of-home care. She has published extensively on children’s safety, quality of life, social support, and psychosocial and educational adjustment in residential care. Her research on children’s outcomes in care is guided by an ecological perspective, taking into account not only risk and protective factors in the child level and his/her family but also the child’s experiences while in care as well as organizational factors. She is also interested in issues of social support of children in residential care by their nuclear and extended family, by their peers and by the residential care staff as correlates of emotional, behavioral, educational, and health outcomes. She is a member of several governmental and non-governmental committees and initiatives aiming to promote the well-being of children in care and child welfare related legislation and policy in Israel.
https://en.sw.huji.ac.il/people/shalhevet-attar-schwartz
COLLABORATORS
Andreia Gomes
Graduated in Psychology, with a Masters in Community Psychology, from Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. She has experience in the area of protection of children and young people at risk, namely in the context of the Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Cláudia Camilo
Post-doctoral researcher at the Research Center for Psychological Science (CICPSI), she has experience in intervention programs with children, youth and families at risk and is currently researching neurocognitive factors associated with maternal neglect in poverty contexts.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claudia-Camilo-2
Margarida Ferreira
MSc in Clinical and Health Psychology in the specialization area of Integrative Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon. She did her master’s thesis in the area of residential care and is currently on a professional internship where she conducts psychological intervention with children and adolescents.
Fernanda Guedes
Psychologist and Psychology researcher, she has professional experience in psychological counseling of children and youth in residential care and her research focuses on emotional regulation in adolescents.
https://www.cienciavitae.pt/portal/9913-A1B1-5120
OUTPUTS
PUBLICATIONS
Pinheiro, M., Magalhães, E., Calheiros, M. M. & Macdonald, D. (2022). Quality of relationships between residential staff and youth: a systematic review. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-022-00909-6Silva, C. S., Carvalho, H., Magalhães, E., Attar-Schwartz, S., Ornelas, S., & Calheiros, M. M. (2022). Organizational Social Context and Academic Achievement of Youth in Residential Care: The Mediating Role of Youth-Caregiver Relationship Quality. Children and Youth Services Review, 106449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106449
Silva, C. S., & Calheiros, M. M. (2022). Youth’s self-construction in the context of residential care: The looking-glass self within the youth-caregiver relationship. Children and Youth Services Review, 132, 106328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106328
Silva, C. S., Calheiros, M. M., Carvalho, H., & Magalhães, E. (2021). Organizational social context and psychopathology of youth in residential care: The intervening role of youth-caregiver relationship quality. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 71,564–586. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12339
INTERVENTION PROGRAM “E‑QUAL”
The program e-Qual: Promoting Quality Relationships in Residential Care is meant for professionals in residential care settings (residential caregivers and case managers) and aims to contribute to improve the quality of the relationships between those professionals and the young people in residential care (RC).In order to enhance the creation of high-quality relationships between professionals and young people in RC, joint efforts should be made to promote the construction of a therapeutic environment that fosters young people’s healthy development. In addition to promoting high-quality relationships, a therapeutic environment also involves building a structure that meets the needs of those young people, promotes opportunities for engagement in positive experiences, and allows for their involvement and participation and contribution, so that they can achieve their full potential. In this way, RC can be a context capable of protecting young people from the risks stemming from adverse family experiences, as well as from the challenges associated with their removal from the family environment and subsequent placement in RC, thus promoting their healthy development.
Based on the recognition of the fundamental role that professionals play in RC settings, over the past three years we have studied to what extent the social climate of those settings, the characteristics of the residential caregivers and other RC professionals and, above all, the quality of the relationships they establish with children and youth in care, influence the behaviour, development, and academic performance of these young people. Based on the results of those studies, the program e-Qual was designed.
This program focuses on the quality of the relationships of professionals with children and young people in RC. However, in order to take care of others, it is important that professionals also take care of themselves. Therefore, the program is organized in 5 modules, where the first and the second modules focus specifically on the well-being of professionals in RA. In particular, Module 1 focuses on stress and self-care and Module 2 on cooperation, teamwork, and the social climate of RC settings.
The remaining modules address in greater depth the relationships between professionals and young people in RC. Specifically, Module 3 explores the developmental needs of children and youth in RC, their relationships with professionals and how trauma-informed practices can help professionals promote resilience in this target group. Module 4 focuses on the attitudes, beliefs, and expectations of professionals towards children and youth in RC, and the use of interventions focused on their potentials. Finally, Module 5 explores evidence-based methods and strategies for establishing and maintaining high-quality relationships between professionals and young people in RC.
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@e-qualprograma6845
PROMOTOR
PARTNER
FUNDING
FUNDING
CONTACTS
maria.calheiros@psicologia.ulisboa.pt
Centro de Centro de Investigação em Ciência Psicológica (CICPSI) Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Lisboa
Alameda da Universidade
1649-013 Lisboa