Feelings and Emotions in Residential Settings: the Individual Experience

Summary This paper examines the impact of admission to residential care,makes a distinction between feelings and emotions, and suggestsways in which emotional habits are formed. Some of the feelingssurrounding primary needs are considered and examples are givenof the powerful emotional drives which result from the dailyinteractions of staff and residents. The need to acknowledgeparallel feelings and emotions in both the cared-for and thecare-givers is underlined together with the importance of constructinga framework of care which allows for the growth of the individualemotional lifestyles of residents.     

The Effects of Group Living in a Residential Home for the Elderly

Summary The group-living system of care is becoming increasingly popularin residential homes for the elderly. This study examined purposefulactivity, as measured by engagement, in one such home beforeand after changeover to group living. It was found that engagementwas significantly increased after the changeover. In addition,life satisfaction was increased and orientation unchanged bythe changeover in a small sample of residents. These resultsare interpreted as supportive for the effectiveness of groupliving.     

Dependency and its Relationship to the Assessment of Care Needs of Elderly People

Correspondence to Dr Ian Gibbs, Social Policy Research Unit, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD Summary A number of previous studies of old people in residential homeshave suggested that a substantial minority are not in need ofthat form of care. The rapid growth in the number of peoplein private homes, supported by social security payments andentering without any independent assessment, has led to concernthat many more people enter residential homes without needingto be there. Social workers were employed in four areas to assess the needsof residents newly admitted to homes in the independent sectorand over eighty per cent were found to be in need of residentialcare. It is suggested that the measures of dependency used toindicate need in some previous studies fail to take into accountthe complex factors involved in deciding whether a person needsresidential care.     

Factors Predicting Admission of Elderly People to Local Authority Residential Care

Correspondence to Dr Ian Sinclair, Director of Research, National Institute for Social Work. Mary Ward House, 5–7 Tavistock Place, London WCIH 955 Summary Successful community care may partly depend on identifying thoseat risk of entering residential homes and targeting servicesto them. This article is concerned with how this identificationcan be achieved. It considers a sample of old people livingalone. in touch with home helps or social workers and followedup for between two and four years. The research examined thefactors likely to produce admission, and used discriminant analysisto predict it.     

Private Children's Homes

Summary The paper provides survey and intensive research material onthe private children's homes sector. It is shown that this sectoris currently in decline. Private homes are found to be shelteringchildren with long and complex care histories and to adopt adistinctive residential style. Although private homes providevaluable long term continuity, they are less likely to offerthe same range of community services as do residential settingsmanaged by the local authority and voluntary child care agencies.     

Institutionalization, Management Structure and Therapy in Residential Work with Emotionally Disturbed Children

Summary The author discusses the term institutionalization and attemptsto define it. From this point he examines residential socialwork from the premise that it must be treatment orientated ifit is to avoid the pitfalls of institutionalization. The needfor treatment to be contained within a flexible management structureis explored in detail and, following from this, five criteriafor the running of a therapeutic residential unit are outlined.The latter half of the article concentrates on how these theoreticalpoints have been developed in practice in the unit in whichhe works, amplifying their relevance by describing a typicalday of work for the author     

Foster and Residential Children's Perceptions of Their Social Environments

University of Oxford, Department of Social and Administrative Studies, Barnett House, Wellington Square, Oxford OXI 2ER. Summary This paper compares foster and residential children's perceptionsof their social environments (placements). The exercise formedpart of a larger examination of care practice in special fosterhomes and Children's Homes. The application of a combinationof quantitative and qualitative techniques showed that the fosterchildren's perceptions of their placements generally comparedfavourably with those of the residential children.     

The Problems of Managing the Family Contacts of Children in Residential Care

Summary The study explores the problems of managing the family contactsof children in residential care. It focuses on the family linksexperienced by two children undergoing a two month long periodof observation and assessment. It is seen that the family linksof these children take a low priority, particularly as socialwork plans change and the informal world of the institutionbecomes pervasive. The outcomes of the two cases are charted.     

Caring for Troubled Children in Flanders, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom

Correspondence to Dr Matthew Colton, Lecturer in Applied Social Studies, Centre for Applied Social Studies, University College of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This article reviews research on residential care and otherservices for troubled children in Flanders, the Netherlands,and the United Kingdom. We begin by looking at Flanders andthe Netherlands. This includes an account of the organizationof services and a critical evaluation of initiatives resultingfrom the growing dissatisfaction with residential care overrecent years. We then compare the evidence from these two countrieswith the situation in the United Kingdom. Notwithstanding importantdifferences, there are clear similarities in the issues surroundingthe residential care of children in the three countries. Weconclude by outlining likely future developments in residentialchild care.     

Residential Programmes for Children and Youth: An Exercise in Re-framing

Summary The key functions of residential programmes for children andyouth irrespective of their location in the health care, education,social welfare or criminal justice system are identified inthis paper. The issues of mandate for and status of those servicesis addressed. Finally, a series of propositions are offeredwhich seek to show how those factors influence the social positionand public credibility accorded to those important componentsof the group care field.     

Residential and Foster Care in the European Community: Current Trends in Policy and Practice

Correspondence to Dr Matthew Colton, Department of Social Policy and Applied Social Studies, University College, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This article compares residential care, foster care and theiralternatives in the countries of the European Community. Thefollowing common trends in policy and practice are examined:the decline of residential child care; changes in the populationof separated children; the trend towards small-scale provision;the development of an ecological perspective; increasing differentiationof care provision; professionalization; and alternatives toresidential and foster care. The pace of development is uneven across EC countries. Overall,the trends high-lighted are more apparent in the northern countriesthan in the southern states.     

Entry into Residential Care

Summary This paper examines the interaction between the organizationalstructure of social services departments and procedures foradmission into residential care. By drawing on research experiencea 'placements table' is proposed which contains the key operationaldecisionstaken by the department when the client becomes a resident.It is argued that, in accordance with the structure of the department,it is possible to suggest appropriate staff to make each keydecision in order that departmental criteria for admissionsmay be met.     

Including Families in Residential Work: Educational and Agency Tasks

Correspondence to Stephen Casson, Social Services Department, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8PA, England. Summary This paper identifies obstacles to the inclusion of familiesby residential establishments. A review of the literature indicatesthat the notion of including families is a worthwhile consideration,but that few programmes have committed themselves with sufficientenergies over time to test the worth of this assumption. Tobring families centre stage a set of obligations is proposedto managers and certain principles from the family dynamicsliterature are identified for inclusion in the training curriculumof residential workers.     

"Contract" and Admission to Old People's Homes

Summary Various authors have recently recommended that residents inOld People's Homes should have ‘contracts’. Thisarticle begins by discussing the nature of contracts in general,and the circumstances under which contracts are or are not feltto be appropriate. The nature of Old People's Homes is discussed, and it is shownthat, under what would be considered good practice, there arefew reasons why Homes should not offer contracts. A final sectionputs forward some advantages which contracts might bring.     

Child Placement Policy: Some European Comparisions

Summary There is consensus among European countries that the first aimof a social policy for families should be to enable childrento remain in their own homes. However, in all countries somechildren require placement apart from their parents, but thereis no agreement as to the best mode of care for these children.Some countries rely entirely on residential care, others almostentirely on family placements in the community. The articlecompares Sweden (high fostering) with Belgium (low fostering),and England and Wales, which is midway between the two, andsuggests that some European models are relevant to English practice.     

Questions Raised for Local Authorities when Old People are Evicted from their Care Homes

Correspondence to Peter Scourfield, School of Community, Health and Social Studies, Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK. E-mail: p.scourfield{at}apu.ac.uk Summary Successive government policies have created a situation wheremost residential and nursing care is provided by the independentsector. It is in the nature of a marketized and privatized caresystem that homes will periodically close or change ownership.The physical and mental well-being of elderly residents experiencingeviction and relocation can be seriously damaged by the experience.No policy and practice guidelines have been issued from centralgovernment to cover how care home closures should be managed.Local authorities are therefore dealing with such events onan ad hoc basis. Understandably, the main emphasis is oftenput on actually finding appropriate alternative placements.Practices vary across different local authorities. This articleasks whether the necessary work required to minimize the harmfuleffects caused by the stress of relocation is actually beingcarried out properly. It also raises the questions of what exactlyshould be offered to older people when they are given noticeto quit, who is best qualified to do the work and whether caremanagement as it has developed within the ‘purchaser/providerframework’, is adequate to the task. In short, where cansocial work for older people be found when it is needed?     

Residential Care for Elderly People: Characteristics of Patients Admitted To Residential and Nursing Home Care from Hospital

Correspondence to Mr W. Power, Department of Social Work, Kingston General Hospital, Hull HU3 IUR Summary Fifty consecutive admissions to residential and nursing homecare from hospital were examined and the results discussed.Patient profile fitted the general pattern expected of frailelderly people with high dependency needs. There was a noticeableshift towards placements in private establishments but onlyabout half the patients were likely to have satisfied criteriafor local authority placement or require nursing home care.Breakdown in care-giver arrangements was found to be a majorreason for entry to care. Apart from a significant number ofwheelchair users going into nursing homes, there were no sharpdivisions between the residential care and nursing homes groups.     

Differential Assessment of Residential Group Care for Children and Young People

Summary Twelve qualitative variables frame the production of outcomesin residential group care for children and young people. Theseare used to examine contemporary themes in social care practicewith children and families. This assessment typology offerssocial workers, managers, researchers and policy-makers bothvalid and reliable baseline measures for use in evaluating residentialservices for children and young people. The typology also providescomparative interval measures for use in longitudinal evaluationsof quality. Close attention needs to be given to the impacteach of these variables has on the quality of residential groupcare services offered to children, young people and their familiesor significant others.     

Evaluating a Group Home: Problems and Results

Summary The need for an evaluative framework for group homes for thementally ill is discussed. Evaluation involves separating implicitfrom explicit objectives. The possible objectives for a grouphome are considered in terms of the questions of who decideswhat the objectives are to be, how they are defined, and theirrelationship to the idea of normality. A further issue in decidingobjectives is whether the client's independence is to be foundwithin the group home or beyond it. The elements of a group home's regime are then considered: theseinclude control and group support. Problems in measuring theelements involved are mentioned. An evaluative scheme based upon this is then drawn up for aparticular group home, and the results described. The residentsare found to have experienced little change overall in theirlevel of independence, and this is associated with a regimewhere residents act in a dependent way towards staff, and staffperceptions of control and support are different from thoseof residents.     

An Attempt to Assess a New Design in Residential Homes for the Elderly

Summary A comparison of the residents of three county council homesfor the elderly is undertaken. The three homes differ both intheir architectural design, and in the role of the staff. Themeasures used are mainly concerned with the residents' dailyactivities, and information is collected both by questionnaireand by personal observation. The results show significant differencesin the three groups and tend to support the authors' predictionsconcerning the residents' behaviour, based on the differencesin the physical design and staff role in the homes