‘I Always Say What I Think’: a Rights-Based Approach of Young People’s Psychosocial Functioning in Residential Care

Eunice Magalhães (), Maria Manuela Calheiros and Carla Antunes
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Eunice Magalhães: Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE–IUL), CIS–IUL
Maria Manuela Calheiros: Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE–IUL), CIS–IUL
Carla Antunes: Universidade Lusófona do Porto

Child Indicators Research, 2018, vol. 11, issue 6, No 7, 1816 pages

Abstract: Abstract Adolescents in residential care tend to be socially devalued and are psychosocially vulnerable. For that reason, a rights-based approach must be adopted to empower them and promote their participation. Focus group discussions were developed with 29 adolescents aiming to explore their rights perceptions during the placement in residential care and how it could be related to their well-being. Results from the grounded model showed that youth’s perceptions on the non-fulfilment of their rights are related to perceived emotional and behavioral difficulties. Their psychological functioning seems to be particularly affected when a set of dimensions are perceived as not fulfilled, namely, education, private life, non-discrimination, perceived social image and respect for themselves and their families by the protection system. Also, a set of individual, relational and socio-cognitive variables were identified as conditions and processes that provide additional explanatory potential to this model. These results underpin the relevance of adopting a rights-based approach to understand psychosocial functioning in residential care, strengthening the importance of social influences to human development. Implications for practice are also explored in the present work.

Keywords: Residential care; Adolescents; Child rights; Grounded model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s12187-017-9511-6

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