“You Shouldn’t Look at Us Strangely”: An Exploratory Study on Personal Perspectives on Quality of Life of Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Residential Youth Care

Swerts, Chris; Maeyer, Jessica De; Lombardi, Marco; Waterschoot, Inge; Vanderplasschen, Wouter; Claes, Claudia

doi:10.1007/s11482-017-9534-7

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…The fact that the RYC staff can promote positive outcomes, such as higher well-being for adolescents living in RYC, is consistent with previous research [40,68,69]. It is a well-known fact that friends become increasingly important with higher age [66,70], so the significant associations between friend support and QoL across all domains for girls are not surprising, as they coincide with previous research [52]. Girls mostly report valuing closeness and the emotional aspects of social support through one-toone interactions [38,62,70], so that they consider being cared for, valued, and accepted by friends as particularly important during adolescence [8,70].…”

Section: Quality Of Life and Different Providers Of Social Supportsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In fact, adolescents who stayed longer in RYC reported higher QoL than those with shorter stays [ 25 ], possibly suggesting that secure attachments with the RYC staff can develop over time. Another study found that interpersonal relationships with parents, staff, and friends are the most frequently reported determinants of better overall QoL for adolescents in RYC [ 52 ]. However, given the lack of empirical evidence, these hypotheses need further investigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceived social support and quality of life among adolescents in residential youth care: a cross-sectional study

Singstad

Wallander

Greger

et al. 2021

Health Qual Life Outcomes

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Background Residential youth care (RYC) institutions aim to provide care and stability for vulnerable adolescents with several previous and present challenges, such as disrupted attachments, wide-ranging adverse childhood experiences, mental health problems, and poor quality of life (QoL). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to provide knowledge of the associations between perceived social support and QoL and to explore the potential moderating effect of perceived social support on QoL for adolescents who have experienced maltreatment and polyvictimization. Methods All RYC institutions with adolescents between the ages 12–23 in Norway were asked to participate in the study. A total of 86 institutions housing 601 adolescents accepted the invitation, from which 400 adolescents volunteered to participate. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Interview was used to gather information on maltreatment histories and degree of victimization; the Kinder Lebensqualität Fragebogen was used to measure QoL through several domains (overall QoL, physical well-being, emotional well-being, and self-esteem); and the Social Support Questionnaire was used to measure perceived social support. Linear regression and independent samples t-test were used to study the associations between perceived social support and QoL as well as the potential moderating effect of perceived social support in the association between maltreatment history and QoL. Results Perceived social support was positively associated with QoL for both girls and boys, with domain-specific findings. A higher number of different types of support persons was associated with overall QoL, emotional well-being, and self-esteem for boys, but only with self-esteem for girls. Individual social support from RYC staff and friends was associated with higher QoL for girls. However, perceived social support did not moderate the association between maltreatment history and reduced QoL for either sex. Conclusions This study emphasizes the importance of maintaining social support networks for adolescents living in RYC, the crucial contribution of RYC staff in facilitating social support, and the potential value of social skills training for these vulnerable adolescents. Furthermore, a wider range of initiatives beyond social support must be carried out to increase QoL among adolescents with major maltreatment and polyvictimization experiences.

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Section: Quality Of Life and Different Providers Of Social Supportsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived social support and quality of life among adolescents in residential youth care: a cross-sectional study

Singstad

Wallander

Greger

et al. 2021

Health Qual Life Outcomes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This corresponds with a study conducted with adolescents in residential youth care, in which ‘interpersonal relations’ (i.e. having supportive and reliable friends and family) was designated by these adolescents as the most important domain for being able to experience a good quality of life [30]. Alongside support, adolescents also often experienced high levels of pressure from their environment (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

The bumpy road to change: a retrospective qualitative study on formerly detained adolescents’ trajectories towards better lives

Hecke

Vanderplasschen

Damme

et al. 2019

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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Background Currently, the risk-oriented focus in forensic youth care is increasingly complemented by a growing interest in strengths-based approaches. Knowledge on how detention and the subsequent period in the community is experienced by adolescents, and which elements are helpful in achieving better lives can contribute to this emerging field. The current study aimed to retrospectively explore adolescents’ experiences from the moment they were detained until 6 to 12 months after they left the institution, identifying positive aspects and strengths. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 adolescents (both boys and girls, 15–18 years old) on average 8 months after discharge from a closed institution in Belgium. A thematic analysis was performed using NVivo 11. Results Five themes and corresponding subthemes were identified: (1) adolescents’ own strengths and resilience, (2) re-building personally valued lives, (3) making sense of past experiences, (4) moving away from a harmful lifestyle, and (5) (in-)formal supports. Most adolescents are on their way to finding a new balance in life, however, for a subgroup of them, this is still fragile. Adolescents highly emphasize the importance of feeling closely connected to at least one person; to receive practical help with regard to finances, work and housing; and to be able to experience pleasure and joy in their lives. Conclusions Adolescents’ narratives suggest that starting a journey towards a normative good life often goes along with an initial difficult period because of a sense of loss with regard to their former life. This stresses the importance of targeting rehabilitation towards prosocial goals and enhancing adolescents’ quality of life on those life domains that matter most for them. Furthermore, we stress the importance of helping adolescents in overcoming structural barriers as a first step in supporting them in their trajectories towards better lives.

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“…One explanation could be that not all domains that are important in the lives of the young adults appear in the questionnaire used in this study. In a qualitative study by Swerts and de Maeyer [27] on the personal perspectives of adolescents in residential care on quality of life, it was found that the domains considered most important to a good quality of life were interpersonal relations, emotional well-being, material well-being, and personal development. In particular, emotional well-being (which involves positive experiences, coping with emotions, and relaxing) and personal development (which includes, for example, talent and strengths) are not part of the domains investigated in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking into the crystal ball: quality of life, delinquency, and problems experienced by young male adults after discharge from a secure residential care setting in the Netherlands

Ruijter

Mulder

Bongers

et al. 2019

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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BackgroundAdolescents in residential care are a vulnerable population with many problems in several life areas. For most of these adolescents, these problems persist after discharge and into adulthood. Since an accumulation of risk factors in multiple domains increases the likelihood of future adverse outcomes, it would be valuable to investigate whether there are differences in life after residential care between subgroups based on multiple co-occurring risk factors.Aims and hypothesisThe aim of this exploratory follow-up study is to explore differences between young adults—classified in four risk profiles—in relation to life after discharge from a secure residential care setting. It is hypothesised that young adults with a profile with many risks in multiple domains will experience more problems after discharge, such as (persistent) delinquency, compared to young adults with a profile with lower risks.MethodsFollow-up data were collected from 46 former patients of a hospital for youth forensic psychiatry and orthopsychiatry in the Netherlands. In order to illustrate these young adults’ life after discharge, self-reported outcome measures divided into five domains (i.e., quality of life, daily life, social life, problems, and delinquency) were used. Differences between four classes based on pre-admission risk factors, which were identified in a previous study by latent class analysis, were explored by three (non-)parametric statistical tests.ResultsLife after discharge for most young adults was characterised by close friends and a high quality of life, but also by substance abuse, professional support, debts, and delinquency. Only a few significant differences between the classes were found, primarily between young adults with risk factors in the individual, family, school, and peer domains and young adults in the other three classes.ConclusionsYoung adults experience a high quality of life after discharge from secure residential care, despite the presence of persistent problems. Some indications have been found that young adults with risk factors in four domains are at greatest risk for persistent problems in young adulthood. Because of the high amount of persistent problems, residential treatment and aftercare should focus more on patients’ long-term needs.

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“You Shouldn’t Look at Us Strangely”: An Exploratory Study on Personal Perspectives on Quality of Life of Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Residential Youth Care

Cited by 13 publications

References 76 publications

Perceived social support and quality of life among adolescents in residential youth care: a cross-sectional study

Perceived social support and quality of life among adolescents in residential youth care: a cross-sectional study

The bumpy road to change: a retrospective qualitative study on formerly detained adolescents’ trajectories towards better lives

Looking into the crystal ball: quality of life, delinquency, and problems experienced by young male adults after discharge from a secure residential care setting in the Netherlands

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