ABSTRACT

Social care systems, residential care centers and directors are under pressure to provide the best service to children and youngsters. At the same time, there is also a concern for personnel well-being, and personal and professional development. This qualitative and exploratory study aimed to identify, with semi-structured interviews with directors of residential care centers, what are the most recent practices in terms of personnel recruitment, in-service training, supervision, and the promotion of caregivers’ well-being. The results revealed that workers were perceived as the most important resource in an organization. Promoting personnel training and the concept of care for caregivers were, therefore, identified as strategies to preserve adequate workers’ commitment to this demanding career, to avoid worker turnover. As workers are asked to apply their soft skills daily, training offered to these workers should focus more on knowledge about mental health and psychological and physical well-being, to assist them in providing adequate care. The results indicated that these subjects, and those specifically connected with at-risk children/youth, were identified as essential to the directors interviewed but were not yet broadly available as training offers. Implications drawn from the findings are presented for practice and for research.

摘要

社会照料系统、寄宿照料中心和主管都承受着为儿童和青少年提供最佳服务的压力。与此同时，员工福利以及个人和职业发展也受到关注。这项定性和探索性研究旨在通过对住宿护理中心主任的半结构化访谈，确定在人员招聘、在职培训、监督和促进护理人员福祉方面的最新做法。结果显示，员工被视为组织中最重要的资源。因此，促进人员培训和照顾护理人员的概念被确定为保持工人对这一高要求职业的足够承诺的策略，以避免工人流失。由于员工被要求每天运用他们的软技能，因此向这些员工提供的培训应更多地侧重于心理健康和身心健康方面的知识，以帮助他们提供足够的护理。结果表明，这些主题，以及那些与高危儿童/青少年特别相关的主题，被认为对接受采访的董事来说是必不可少的，但尚未作为培训机会广泛提供。从研究结果中得出的启示被提出用于实践和研究。被确定为对接受采访的董事至关重要，但尚未作为培训机会广泛提供。从研究结果中得出的启示被提出用于实践和研究。被确定为对接受采访的董事至关重要，但尚未作为培训机会广泛提供。从研究结果中得出的启示被提出用于实践和研究。