Youth care workers' views on the challenges of working with girls: An analysis of the mediating influence of practitioner gender and prior experience with girls

Stability and Change of Adolescents’ Aggressive Behavior in Residential Youth Care

“…Second, group workers may find it less difficult to establish a positive working alliance with girls in same-gender groups than in mixed gender groups, thus creating a more supportive group environment for these girls in same-gender groups. This adds to the findings of Lanctôt et al ( 2012 ), who showed that group workers in semi-secure care found it more difficult to work with girls than boys and building a good working alliance with them.…”

Gender-Responsive Programs and Services for Girls in Residential Centers: Meeting Different Profiles of Rehabilitation Needs

“…However, translating this finding into practice continues to be a challenge. For instance, many of the institutional staff concerned say that they do not have enough training to properly understand female clients’ real needs (Hodge et al, 2015; Lanctôt et al, 2012). In addition, in an effort to gather more information concerning the specific needs of female clients, so that practices can be better adapted to meet them, gender-responsiveness research has focused mainly on comparing females with males.…”

“…Second, research has shown that a majority of staff members working with justice and welfare-involved individuals are more reluctant to work with females than males (Gaarder, Rodriguez, & Zatz, 2004; Lanctôt & Lachaîne, 2002). One of the main sources of this reluctance is that these workers perceive themselves as lacking knowledge and experience in evaluating and understanding females’ specific rehabilitation needs (Lanctôt, Ayotte, Turcotte, & Besnard, 2012). Third, a majority of previous research into females’ rehabilitation needs have been based on gender comparisons and have assumed, by default, that female clients are a homogeneous group (Walker, Bishop, Nurius, & Logan-Greene, 2016).…”

“…These workers play a pivotal role in the treatment process; they possess a wealth of clinical knowledge and experience that is well worth analyzing (Belknap et al, 1997; Hodge et al, 2015). The way that workers perceive female clients affects intervention practices considerably (Krumer-Nevo, Berkovitz-Romano, & Komem, 2015; Lanctôt et al, 2012; Peled & Lugasi, 2015). For example, some workers see these females as victims of adverse life conditions, while others see them as responsible for their own situation.…”

Examining the Disconnect in Youth Pathways and Court Responses: How Bias Invades Across Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Sexual Orientation

“…There are several studies which discuss the perceptions court actors have about courtinvolved youth. Some studies have found that practitioners prefer to work with boys over girls, partially due to girls' histories of victimization and emotions (Lanctôt et al, 2012). When practitioners that worked previously with boys and girls were asked why they preferred working with boys compared to girls, they used the following adjectives to describe girls: "manipulative," "sneaky," "devious," "superficial," "hypocritical," "jealous," "vindictive," "hysterical," and "self-centered"; however, boys were described as "sincere" and "active" (Lanctôt et al, 2012(Lanctôt et al, , p. 2245).…”