Participation of young people in residential care: Professionals’ perceptions about barriers and facilitators in Portugal

Abstract

Fulfilling young people’s right to participation in residential care is critical, as it is associated with better psychological outcomes. This chapter describes a qualitative study, involving Portuguese professionals working in residential care (N = 87) who completed an online survey with a set of open-ended questions.

Content analysis revealed six core categories – the Concept of Participation, Participation Life Domains, Residential Care Domains of Participation, Participation Enablers, Barriers to Participation, Benefits of Participation – and 18 main subcategories. Participation was mostly defined as the opportunity for children to have a voice and express their opinion, ensuring also that their views are considered and taken seriously. Professionals acknowledged the young people’s participation in group home activities and dynamics, as well as issues related to young people’s personal functioning as the two most reported domains of participation. Human resource factors were the most frequent enablers pointed out by the participants (e.g., skilled professionals), and the barriers were mostly related to the residential care context (e.g., human resource management constraints, lack of suitable space). The benefits of participation were mostly related to young people’ outcomes (e.g., well-being, empowerment, sense of belonging). These findings call for the importance of fostering participation in residential care, which may also enhance young people’s well-being and the quality of residential care provided. A set of practice and policy implications are discussed, namely, the need for policy makers’ awareness about this issue.