Browsing by Author "Leal, Mariana"
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- Acolhimento residencial em PortugalPublication . Rodrigues, Sónia; Leal, Mariana; Martins, Ana; Ribeiro, Rita; Azevedo, Sílvia; Campos, Joana; Dias, PedroIn Portugal there are 8000 children and young people in Residential Care (RC). The concept of RC quality emerges as the adequacy of the characteristics of the centres to the needs of children. Being a complex and multidimensional construct requires different perspectives and an evaluation by various sources, assuming the voice of children as the main reference in measuring the quality. The quality of the RC is closely related to psychological adjustment, well-being and satisfaction with life of children and adolescents. Until now it has not been performed in Portugal an assessment of the quality of the RC system. At this time there is an ongoing study that aims to assess the quality of Portuguese RC system through needs assessment and psychological adjustment of children in RC, the evaluation of the quality of services provided by centres and understanding of the relationship between these two variables. This symposium aims to present some emerging results of the pilot study of national character research, still in progress, which aims to assess the quality of the RC Portuguese system. In this sense, a brief contextualization of the RC will be in Portugal, followed by the presentation of the main methodology that is used for this assessment – A Comprehensive Evaluation System for Residential Care in Portugal (ARQUA-P). Subsequently, it will be presented the data related to the psychological adjustment of adolescents that are in RC, their self-esteem, well-being and happiness subjective, relating these variables with the quality of the RC.
- Emotional and behavioral problems and psychosocial skills in adolescents in residential carePublication . Campos, Joana; Barbosa‑Ducharne, Maria; Dias, Pedro; Rodrigues, Sónia; Martins, Ana Catarina; Leal, MarianaResearch suggests that mental health problems in adolescents in residential care (RC) are more prevalent than for youth in the community, and that psychosocial competencies are protective factors of mental health. This study compared adolescents in RC in Portugal, with a Portuguese community sample on the incidence of mental health problems and psychosocial skills, explored gender differences and the relationships between mental health problems and psychosocial competencies. Four hundred and forty-three adolescents in RC participated. Results showed that the RC adolescents had higher levels of mental health problems lower academic achievement, a poorer social support network, but were more involved in sports and hobbies, household chores than the adolescents in the normative sample. Gender differences were observed. Psychosocial skills were negatively correlated with mental health problems. These findings indicate an urgent need in Portugal for early screening of mental health problems and socio-cognitive interventions for youth in RC.
- Emotional and behavioural problems and psychosocial skills in adolescents in residential carePublication . Campos, Joana; Barbosa-Ducharne, Maria; Dias, Pedro; Martins, Ana; Leal, Mariana
- Mental health characteristics and needs in children and adolescents in residential carePublication . Campos, Joana; Barbosa-Ducharne, Maria; Dias, Pedro; Martins, Ana; Leal, Mariana; Rodrigues, SóniaBackground: Residential Care (RC) consists of the placement of a child in an institution which has permanent facilities, equipment and a staff that guarantees the appropriate care of his/her needs and provides conditions to allow for his/her education, well-being and development. Several studies have showed that the prevalence and severity of mental health problems are greater in children and adolescents in RC than in the general population. The risk factors for the problems observed are related, not only to previous family contexts, but also to individual characteristics and contextual variables. Furthermore, there is a significant number of clinical cases that are not timely diagnosed, leading to emotional and behavioural problems and being a risk factor for psychopathology in adult life. Objectives: The main goals of this presentation is to analyse the frequency of Internalization Problems (IP), Externalizing Problems (EP) and Total Problems (TP) of adolescents in RC in Portugal; determine the degree of (dis)agreement between different informants regarding emotional and behavioural problems, and analyse gender differences for emotional and behavioural problems. Method: 256 adolescents (56.6% male), aged 11 to 18 (M = 15.14, SD = 2.08) participated in this study. The information was collected through the questionnaires that compose the ASEBA Battery (CBCL; TRF; YSR) using caregivers, teachers and the adolescents as informants. Results: The three informants classified a high percentage of adolescents as borderline or clinical cases for IP, EP and TP. This result shows the presence of psychological problems and maladaptive behaviours that indicate psychopathological symptomatology. Regarding the agreement between the informants, the highest correlations were found between the self-report and caregivers’ assessment on the EP scales. Moreover, significant differences associated to gender were found, with girls showing more problems and psychological maladjustment in Anxiety/Depression, Somatic Complains, IP and EP. Conclusions: The findings of this study highlight the need for RC professionals to be adequately aware of the signs and symptoms of mental health problems in adolescents. RC centres should adopt evidence-based prevention programmes, require careful assessment of adolescents’ needs, be culturally appropriate and integrate adolescents into psychosocial health policies. It is essential to implement measures to assess the quality of RC centres, provide specific training to caregivers in order to promote proper management of adolescents’ behaviour, build more positive interactions and respect the Children’s rights, thus enhancing well-being.