The importance of the physical and socio-spatial environment for young people who are cared for in the special youth homes
Short description
In the special youth homes run by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS), young people are cared for in accordance with the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (LVU) and the Act on the Enforcement of Closed Youth Care (LSU). The young people's problems are often multifaceted and consist of a complex web of personal and home and environment-related factors. Being cared for at SiS means being cared for without consent under duress.
Being cared for at SiS means being cared for without consent under duress. What distinguishes SiS from other forms of care is the staff's access to so-called special eligibilities, which, for example, means using isolating measures in the event of threats and violence. All in all, this means a complex care environment that must balance care, treatment, safety, social protection, a good work environment and children's rights. Research on the care environment at the special youth homes is both a new and important field of research.
More about the project
Research shows that the environment plays a role in rehabilitation and treatment, both directly through how the environment is designed and indirectly, through the symbols and the meaning conveyed by the environment.
Previous research on the importance of the environment for young people who are cared for in locked institutions is, however, very limited. Instead, knowledge has previously been obtained from other fields such as somatic and psychiatric care and forensic psychiatry.
The current research project studies both the direct physical aspects of the environment and how these affect the treatment of young people, but also the psychosocial aspects and interactions between people in the environment. The young people's lived experiences of the institutional environment are at the center, as are the staff's experiences of working in a locked care environment. The purpose of the project is to investigate the importance of the physical and socio-spatial (intertwined physical and social) environment for the rehabilitation and treatment of young people who are cared for in the special youth homes.
As research on the care environment at the special youth homes is new, method development is also included as part of the research project. The project uses, for example, ethnographic methods that combine images and sketching, with interviews, to make it easier for young people to express their thoughts and feelings about the environment. Other methods used within the project are focus group interviews and register and questionnaire studies, as well as categorization of the physical environment from an architectural perspective. Ethical aspects of research with children and young people who are cared for under duress is an important and high-priority issue within the project.