| Summary: | Continuity is seen as a central element of care for children and youth. This report aims to summarise the effect of interventions that influence continuity of care on the psychosocial development of looked-after children and youth (LACY), and how they experience such interventions. Continuity of care as a concept is challenging to measure. We have operationalised continuity using five types of interventions: staffing patterns, and increasing/decreasing: degree of staff turnover, use of substitute caregivers, caregiver to child ratio, or availability of caregivers. Six studies met the inclusion criteria regarding the effect of continuity promoting interventions. The evidence for these findings was assessed to be of very low quality.1. It is uncertain if reducing the number of children per caregiver has an effect on problem behaviours or the cognitive development of LACY.2. It is uncertain if cohabitation compared to normal staffing patterns affect problem behaviour or satisfaction among LACY.3. It is uncertain if multiple continuity promoting interventions, including increasing the caregiver to child ratio and changing the staffing model has an effect on cognitive og general development or attachment to caregivers among LACY. Nine studies met the inclusion criteria regarding experiences with the interventions: 1. We identified six themes from the included qualitative studies. Youth highlighted the following issues: (a) stability and structure; (b) predictability; (c) wish for attachment to, and (d) availability of (e) fewer caregivers, and (f) a clear preference for the continuity that comes from the cohabitation model. These findings were assessed to demonstrate some evidence of credibility and transferability
|
|---|