Tuning in to Teens for Residential Care Workers: A Pilot Study
A Pilot Study of the 'Tuning into Teens for Residential Care Workers (TINT RCW)' Program: Assessing the effect on worker's responsiveness, mental health and the residential care climate
University of Melbourne
130 participants
Sep 2, 2019
Interventional
Conditions
Summary
When parenting does not meet the subscribed Department of Health and Human Services (2013) standard of good enough parenting it may result in children and young people being removed and placed in residential, foster or kinship care due to concerns for their safety and wellbeing. When a young person is placed in residential care, the workers must fulfil the function of a good enough parent. But residential houses are often filled with conflict and difficulties, and many houses are troubled by constant critical incidents and problems with residents and staff. Parenting and parent-adolescent relationships play a central role in adolescent wellbeing. Problems in this relationship are closely associated with poorer emotional functioning in the young person. Little is known about what works for improving the quality of ‘parenting’ care provided to children and young people residing in residential care settings. Tuning in to Teens for Residential Care Workers (TINT RCW) is based on a parenting program (Tuning in to Teens) and aims to improve relationships within residential homes by delivering the program to residential care workers. This study will examine whether TINT RCW increases responsive patterns of parenting/care, reduces negative escalating interaction cycles, improves house functioning, and increases residential care workers’ emotion coaching. Several residential care homes will be recruited to the study and randomised into immediate intervention or a care as usual control condition. Self-report and observational measures will be used to examine differences between houses in the two conditions and to see whether there are changes over time. TINT RCW aims to teach residential care workers to assist the adolescents in their care in understanding and regulating emotions while also helping workers to manage their own emotional reactions. The program aims to increase skills in the RCWs and it is expected that these skills will assist the residents to better manage emotions, reduce conflict, and for the residential houses to function more effectively.
Eligibility
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Interventions
TINT RCW is a six session fortnightly group program running for 2 hours for residential care workers to assist their residents to understand and manage their emotions. The program also provides residential care workers with skills in understanding and managing their own emotions thereby reducing the stress of caring for residents and improving the workers mental health. The program is delivered using psychoeducation, role play practice, group discussions, exercises and home exercises. The program is delivered by facilitators experienced in TINT training and uses a structured manual published by the University of Melbourne (Tuning in to Teens: Program Manual) with fidelity checklists used to ensure maximum adherence to the program. Session one introduces workers to the concepts of emotional intelligence and emotion coaching. Session two builds awareness of emotions; session three targets empathy; session four focuses on emotional self care for the worker and responding to anxiety; session five focused on developing workers awareness of their own response to anger, both in themselves and the residents; session six provides final opportunities to practise the skills and cover any last materials not addressed in the earlier sessions. Workers are asked to try out the skills between sessions with their residents (home activities) however, these are optional and not specifically monitored. The program runs for a total of 6 sessions stretched as fortnightly sessions over a 12 week period. The program is delivered according to the published manual.
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ACTRN12618000456257