Measuring the restrictiveness of Portuguese residential care for children and youth

Mary Elizabeth Rauktis, Margarida Rangel Henriques, Maria Acciaiuoli Barbosa‐Ducharne, Orlanda Cruz, Marina S. Lemos, Julia Lee - International Journal of Social Welfare

Abstract

Restriction of living environment refers to limits, rules, and structures in place in an out‐of‐home residential placement for children/youth. This article describes the process of revising a measure of out‐of‐home living restrictiveness to be culturally congruent for Portugal, providing preliminary data on validity and reliability, and discusses the feasibility of using this measure in Portugal. The findings suggest that the Portuguese language version has acceptable reliability. The interviewers identified several additional content areas to increase coverage of the construct. Additional validity analyses are needed, but the preliminary findings suggest that measuring the restriction of living environment could provide a concise youth‐informed perspective of living environment not currently being obtained in Portugal.