Perceptions of Stigmatization and Satisfaction with Services Received,Among Users of Social Welfare Services for the Child and the Family in 3 European Regions

A system of psychosocial indicators, based on atheoretical model describing stigma perceptions byusers and practitioners of social welfare services forchildren and their families, was tested in 3 Europeanregions: Catalonia (Spain), Wales and the Netherlands.Data collection from users included questions on theirsatisfaction with the professional providing theservice and on their involvement in decisions abouthim/her and his/her family. In the Catalan sample oneadditional item asked about satisfaction with theoverall support received.Multiple correspondence analysis showed a consistentpattern of answers for our construct stigmaperceptions, using our indicators system.Discriminant analysis showed that our model works withattributions as expected in 86,32% of cases.Surprisingly, in the discriminant analysis all thesatisfaction indicators were excluded by the stepwisemethod, showing no strong relation between stigmaperception related to a service, and satisfactionusing such a service.Such results suggest that service users clearlydiscriminate between the fact that a service isfunctioning in a stigmatizing way, and the fact theyare satisfied or not with the practitioner helpingthem, with services involving them in decisions, orwith the overall support received from welfareservices.