A Place to Feel at Home? An Exploratory Study of the Perceived Living Environment in Home-Like Groups, Family-Style Group Homes, and Traditional Residential Youth Care

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the RYC settings that are included in the study.

Facility	Target group	Length of stay	Location	Village or City	Live-in professionals	Youth-professional ratio
A Home-like group	8 youth between 4 and 23 years old	Youth can stay up to the age of 23	Neighborhood	Village	Yes; with additional shift by other professionals	3:8
B Home-like groups^1	3–6 youth per house per setting for youth between 12 and 18+ years old	Youth can stay until they are 18+ years old	Neighborhood	City	No	2:6
C Home-like group	5 youth between 12 and 18 years old	Youth can stay up to the age of 18	Neighborhood	City	No	1:5
D Home-like groups/family-style group home^2	4–6 youth per unit between 10 and 25 years old	Youth can stay up to the age of 25 (dependent on indication of care)	Neighborhood	Village	Yes; only in family-style group homes	1:6
E Family-style group home	4 youth between 8 and 18 years old	Youth can stay until they are 18 years (longer if necessary)	Neighborhood	Village	Yes	1/2:4
F Traditional RYC	10 youth between 6 and 12 years old	Youth can stay until they are 12 years old.	Residential terrain	City	No	2:10
G Traditional RYC	8 youth between 12–18 years old	Youth can stay 6 till 12 months (6 months on average), up to the age of 18	Residential terrain	City	No	2:8

^aThis facility contained two units: one for youth between 12–18 years old (1). There are four places for youth in the house and two places next to the house to prepare youth for independent living. The other facility focuses on 16+ youth (2). The youth-professionals ration is lower due to independent living.

^bThis facility included multiple units. In this study, one family-style group homes and two home-like groups (one for 16+ youth) were included. One family-style group house became a home-like group (with different professionals) during the study. This family-style group home is considered as home-like group.

Table 2. Participant characteristics for home-like groups, Family-style Group Homes and Traditional RYC.

Setting	Traditional RYC	Home-like groups	Family-style group homes
Youth
n	5	17	4
M age (sd)	13.80 (3.11)	16.06 (2.05)	15.25 (1.26)
Sex % female	40	52.9	75
First placement % yes	80	41.2	0
M length of stay (weeks) at start data collection (sd)	18.20 (5.97)	26.53 (17.55)	22.75 (10.34)
% facility Table 1	40 F 60 G	41.2A 17.6B(1) 17.6B(2) 11.8C 11.8D	100E
Parents
n	7	6	1
M age (sd)	38.57 (7.28)	48.60 (6.58)	35
% facility Table 1	81.4F 28.6 G	83.3A 16.7B(2)	100E
Professionals
n	10	22	3
M age (sd)	29.30 (6.36)	30.62^b(6.27)	51.67 (6.81)

^an = 5.

^bn = 21.

Table 3. Results of mokken scale analysis (MSA) following the test procedure: sensitivity and group atmosphere (scale: sensitivity).

Item	M	H-coefficient
The professionals think how I am doing is important	2.85	0.54
My friends and family are welcome	2.82	0.42
The professionals listen to me	2.71	0.48
The focus here is on my needs	2.71	0.42
I can discuss everything with the professionals	2.68	0.47
The professionals help me with school/work/daytime activities	2.60	0.39
I can participate in the process of making important decisions in my life	2.59	0.40
I do fun activities with the professionals	2.48^a	0.39
The main focus here is on what I do well	2.41	0.48
I believe the professionals help me to communicate with friends	2.07	0.45
I see this place as home	2.04	0.43
I think the atmosphere here is the same as at a friend’s house	1.73	0.47
	H = 0.43, rho = 0.86

Note. The scale ranges from 1(this is less true) to 3 (this is often true), with a higher score indicating that the statements were easier to recognize (to be experienced more often), based on a free distribution. Based on the dataset with 27 items (n = 73).

^aitem with the highest crit-value (46).

Table 4. Means per item for each subgroup, and the sample independence.

		Y n = 25	Par n = 13	Prof n = 35	HG n = 44	FGH n = 8	TRYC n = 21
Item		M	M	M	M	M	M
The professionals think how I am doing is important		2.72	2.77	2.97	2.91	3.00	2.67
My friends and family are welcome		2.76	2.69	2.91	2.95	3.00	2.48
The professionals listen to me		2.44	2.92	2.83	2.73	3.00	2.57
The focus here is on my needs		2.52	2.62	2.89	2.77	2.88	2.52
I can discuss everything with the professionals		2.40	2.69	2.89	2.73	2.88	2.52
The professionals help me with school/work/daytime activities		2.56	2.38	2.71	2.75	3.00	2.14
I can participate in the process of making important decisions in my life		2.36	2.69	2.71	2.80	2.75	2.10
I do fun activities with the professionals		2.28	2.69	2.54	2.57	2.62	2.24
The main focus here is on what I do well		2.16	2.46	2.57	2.50	2.75	2.10
I believe the professionals help me to communicate with friends		1.84	2.46	2.09	2.16	2.25	1.81
I see this place as home		1.76	2.31	2.14	2.18	2.50	1.57
I think the atmosphere here is the same as at a friend’s house		1.72	2.23	1.54	1.91	1.75	1.33
H		0.38	0.42	0.42	0.33	0.06	0.39
Rho (highest crit)		0.83 (207)	0.90 (134)	0.82 (105)	0.76 (140)	0.39 (383)	0.86 (146)
lowest H (item)		0.21 (2)	0.28 (1)	0.22(1)	0.03 (12)	−0.33 (1)	0.14 (17)
Highest crit item invariance (item)		83 (26)			76 (11)

Note. Based on the dataset with 27 items (n = 73). The scale ranges from 1(this is less true) to 3 (this is often true), with a higher score indicating that the statements were easier to recognize (to be experienced more often), based on a free distribution. Bold text indicates a differentiation from the overall population (Table 3). Y= youth, Par=parents, Prof=professionals, TRYC=Traditional RYC, HG=home-like groups, FGH=Family-style group home.

Table 5. Statements and mean scores per item.

	Statement	M Overall n = 69	M TRYC n = 20	M HG n = 42	M FGH n = 7
1	I can discuss everything with the professionals	2.70	2.55	2.74	2.86
2	I do fun things with the professionals	2.48	2.55	2.55	2.71
3	I think every week here has about the same scheme	2.45	2.70	2.38	2.14
4	I see this place as home	2.06	1.60	2.19	2.57
5	The professionals listen to me	2.72	2.60	2.74	3.00
6	The professionals are my role models	2.38	2.30	2.38	2.57
7	I know the rules to follow here	2.67	2.75	2.60	2.86
8	I think the atmosphere here is the same as at a friend’s house	1.72	1.35	1.88	1.86
9	The professionals think how I am doing is important	2.86	2.70	2.90	3.00
10	I have a good relationship with the other children who live here	2.20	2.05	2.21	2.57
11	The main focus here is on what I do well	2.41	2.05	2.52	2.71
12	My friends and family are welcome	2.81	2.45	2.95	3.00
13	I get support from professionals with my hobbies	2.45	1.95	2.67	2.57
14	I believe my parents are involved in making important decisions	2.52	2.50	2.57	2.29
15	I believe the professionals help me to communicate with my parents (or other important people)	2.54	2.70	2.43	2.71
16	I believe that professionals help me to communicate with friends	2.04	1.85	2.12	2.14
17	I can participate in the process of making important decisions in my life	2.62	2.15	2.81	2.86
18	I am being prepared here to become more independent	2.65	2.70	2.57	3.00
19	I always know who is looking after me	2.57	2.40	2.62	2.71
20	I have a place here where I can be alone	2.81	2.90	2.74	3.00
21	The focus here is on my needs	2.71	2.55	2.76	2.86
22	I have enough to eat and drink	2.88	2.80	2.90	3.00
23	I live near important people in my life	2.45	2.05	2.64	2.43
24	The professionals also help my parents with their problems	2.07	2.00	2.10	2.14
25	I can stay here as long as I need to	2.43	1.90	2.64	2.71
26	The professionals help me with school/work/daytime activities	2.59	2.15	2.64	3.00
27	I can choose what to do here in my free time	2.55	2.25	2.64	2.86

Note. The scale ranges from 1(this is less true) to 3 (this is often true), with a higher score indicating that the statements were easier to recognize (to be experienced more often), based on a free distribution. TRYC=traditional RYC, HG=home-like groups, FGH=family-style group homes.

Table 6. Factors based on participants who ranked 27 statements.

	Statements youth version	Youth 1	Youth 2	Parents A	Parents B	Parents C	Prof |	Prof ||	Prof |||
1	I can discuss everything with the professionals	−1	1	−2	−1	2	1	1	1
2	I do fun things with the professionals	−1	0	−2	−1	1	−1	0	1
3	I think every week here has about the same scheme	−1	−1	2	−1	1	2	−2	−1
4	I see this place as home	−2	1	−1	0	−2	−1	−2	−1
5	The professionals listen to me	−1	1	1	2	0	1	1	1
6	The professionals are my role models	−2	−1	1	−2	1	0	0	−1
7	I know the rules to follow here	1	0	2	0	2	1	−1	0
8	I think the atmosphere here is the same as at a friend’s house	−2	−1	0	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2
9	The professionals think how I am doing is important	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2
10	I have a good relationship with the other children who live here	0	0	−1	−2	−1	−1	−2	−1
11	The main focus here is on what I do well	−1	2	1	1	−1	0	2	1
12	My friends and family are welcome	1	1	1	−1	−1	1	0	0
13	I get support from professionals with my hobbies	0	−1	−2	0	−2	−1	0	−1
14	I believe my parents are involved in making important decisions	1	−2	0	1	−1	0	2	0
15	I believe the professionals help me to communicate with my parents (or other important people)	−1	−2	−2	1	1	1	1	−1
16	I believe that professionals help me to communicate with friends	−2	−1	−1	−1	0	−2	−1	−2
17	I can participate in the process of making important decisions in my life	1	0	2	2	−1	0	1	2
18	I am being prepared here to become more independent	1	1	−1	1	0	0	−1	2
19	I always know who is looking after me	0	−2	2	0	0	0	1	0
20	I have a place here where I can be alone	1	0	1	1	2	1	−1	2
21	The focus here is on my needs	0	2	0	2	0	2	2	1
22	I have enough to eat and drink	2	0	−1	−1	2	2	0	0
23	I live near important people in my life	2	−1	−1	1	1	−2	1	−2
24	The professionals also help my parents with their problems	0	−2	0	−2	−1	−1	−1	−2
25	I can stay here as long as I need to	0	0	0	0	0	−2	0	0
26	The professionals help me with school/work/daytime activities	0	2	0	0	−2	0	0	1
27	I can choose what to do here in my free time	2	1	0	−1	0	−1	−1	0
	% explained variance	22	21	20	16	18	22	20	18
	Total explained variance		43			54			60

Note. The scale ranges from −2 to 2, where −2 means “this is the least true” and 2 means “this is the truest” within a weighted average forced distribution. Bold and underlined numbers indicate p < .01 and mean that these statements significantly distinguish within one perspective (i.e., viewpoints). The number of participants with a significant loading on a factor: youth:15/21, parents:32/34: 12/13, Professionals: 32/34. The correlations between factors within a perspective are overall relatively low: for youth 0.07, for parents between 0.02 and 0.12, and for professionals between 0.36 and 0.55.

Table 7. Descriptive statistics per factor.

	n	Sex % female	First Placement % yes	M Age (sd)	RYC settings: %TRYC %HG %FGH	% Of total group (setting) %TRYC %HG %FGH
			Youth
Total Group	21	66.7	38.1	16.00 (1.95)	14.3 71.4 14.3
Factor 1 Stability	8	37.5	50	15.38 (2.07)	25.0 75.0 0	40 66.7 0
Factor 2 Sensitivity	7	83.3	28.6	17.83 (1.33)	0 83.3 16.7	0 33.3 33.3
			Parents
Total Group	13		38.6	41.58^a (8.47)	46.2 46.2 7.7
factor A Autonomy	3^b		0	44.00 (8.19)	33.3 33.3 33.3	16.7 16.7 100
Factor B Sensitivity & parental involvement	3		50	41.50^c (14.85)	33.3 66.7 0	16.7 33.3 0
Factor C Daily structure	5		40	38.80 (7.53)	80 20 0	66.7 16.7 0
			Professionals
Total Group	34			32.15 (8.86)	29.4 61.8 8.8
Factor | Daily structure	11			28.45 (6.22)	72.7 27.3 0	80 14.2 0
Factor || Stability	9			32.11 (7.91)	10 90 0	10 42.8 0
Factor |||: Autonomy	9			36.89 (12.69)	0 66.7 33.3	0 28.6 100

Note. TRYC=traditional RYC, HG=home-like groups, FGH=family-style group homes.

^an = 12.

^bOne person is excluded from this descriptive analysis, as that person loaded significantly but negatively on this factor.

^cn = 2.