| Abstract | Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati prediktorsku ulogu nekih sociodemografskih
obilježja, iskustva, otpornosti, socijalne podrške, stresa i profesionalnog sagorijevanja u odnosu
na mentalno zdravlje udomiteljica djece (emocionalno stanje, anksioznost i depresivnost).
Istraživanje je provedeno na prigodnom uzorku na području pet županija Slavonije i
Baranje, u kojem je sudjelovalo 135 udomiteljica za djecu, koje udomiteljstvo obavljaju kao
tradicionalno i specijalizirano udomiteljstvo za djecu. Glavnom istraživanju prethodilo je
kvalitativno istraživanje koje se provelo kroz dvije fokusne grupe sa 16 udomiteljica djece s
područja Osječko - baranjske županije, a sa svrhom provjere sadržajne valjanosti novo
konstruiranih instrumentarija za mjerenje profesionalnog stresa udomitelja djece i
samoprocjene specifičnih kompetencija udomitelja: Upitnik prisutnosti izvora stresa udomitelja
za djecu i Upitnik samoprocjene specifičnih kompetencija udomitelja djece.
Za provedbu glavnog istraživanja korišteni su instrumenti Skala otpornosti (Resilience
Evaluation Scale (RES) Meer et al, 2018) za mjerenje psihološke otpornosti, Maslachin
inventar sagorijevanja (eng. Burnout Inventory MBI-HSS; Maslach, Jackson i Leiter, 2001) za
mjerenje sagorijevanja, Multidimenzionalna skala percipirane socijalne podrške (Zimet i sur.,
1988, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support - MSPSS) i Ljestvica percipirane
socijalne podrške (Social Support Scale, prilagođena skala Simons, 1996) za mjerenje socijalne
podrške, Skala dobrobiti (WHO Well-Being Index, WHO, 1998) za mjerenje emocionalnog
stanja te PHQ4 skala (Patient Health Questionnaire-4, Kroenke i sur., 2009) za mjerenje
anksioznosti i depresivnosti kod udomiteljica.
Na konstruiranom Upitniku prisutnosti izvora stresa udomitelja za djecu koji pokazuje
dobre metrijske karakteristike, zaključuje se kako udomiteljice pokazuju umjereno prisutnima
profesionalne izvore stresa, pri čemu je značajno kako su izvori stresa povezani s obilježjima
udomljenog djeteta. Na konstruiranom Upitniku samoprocjene specifičnih kompetencija
udomitelja djece, rezultati pokazuju kako udomiteljice procjenjuju visoko na ljestvici svoje
specifičnije kompetencije za udomiteljstvo.
Prediktori profesionalnog stresa udomiteljica za djecu su udomljenje djeteta koje
pokazuje eksternalizirane probleme u ponašanju, kao i nedostatak socijalne podrške socijalnih
radnika. Prediktori sagorijevanja su podijeljeni na tri dimenzije: emocionalna iscrpljenost,
depersonalizacija i osjećaj osobnog postignuća. U pogledu anksioznosti i depresivnosti
prediktori su broj osoba o kojima udomiteljica brine osim o udomljenom djetetu, udomljenje
djeteta koje pokazuje internalizirane probleme u ponašanju, udomljenje beba, niska percipirana
podrška obitelji. U pogledu depresivnosti na nju utječe veći broj osoba o kojima udomiteljice
brinu, veća razina emocionalne iscrpljenosti te niža socijalna podrška socijalnih radnika.
Ovim istraživanje potvrđen je teorijski okvir na kojem istraživanje počiva: transakcijska
teorija stresa i model profesionalnog sagorijevanja po C. Maslach |
| Abstract (english) | Introduction and goal:
Foster care for children in the Republic of Croatia is a form of providing social housing
services to children, who are provided with daily care and care in this way. Foster parents are
often exposed to numerous challenges in their daily work with children who have experienced
neglect and abuse and traumatization. It is also an area of care in which private and business
activity cannot be clearly separated, because the work of a foster parent includes providing allday care and concern for children. Although foster parents receive compensation from the social
welfare system for their work, they are not employees of the social welfare system, but
collaborators. The multitude of roles in which foster parents find themselves can lead to a state
of professional stress, and then possible burnout, which can further affect their mental health.
Therefore, this research aims to examine the predictive role of some sociodemographic
characteristics, experience, resilience, social support, stress and professional burnout in relation
to the mental health of foster mothers (emotional state, anxiety and depression). It is a research
with an exploitative goal. The theoretical origin of the doctoral research is the transaction theory
of stress, the model of professional burnout according to C. Maslach, and the concept of social
support and psychological resilience.
Participants:
Before the implementation of the main qualitative research, preliminary research was
conducted in which 16 foster mothers from Osijek - Baranja county participated, and which
was conducted through two focus groups. 135 foster mothers from five counties of Slavonia
and Baranja participated in the main research, namely Osijek - Baranja, Požega - Slavonia, Brod
- Posavina, Vukovar - Srijem, Virovitica - Podravina. In the main research, only foster mothers
took part, and they perform foster care as traditional or specialized foster care for children. Most
of the respondents are between 40 and 60 years old.
Instruments:
For the purposes of the research, a survey questionnaire was created that consists of
several scales that examine the respondents' general sociodemographic data, their experience,
psychological resilience, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and perception of personal
achievement, then social support, the presence of sources of stress, specific competencies for
foster care and mental health. The measuring instruments used in the research are Questionnaire
of sociodemographic characteristics, Experience of foster care, Resilience Evaluation Scale
(RES) Meer et al, 2018; Maslach's burnout inventory (Burnout Inventory MBI-HSS; Maslach,
Jackson and Leiter, 2001); Multidimensional scale of perceived social support (Zimet, Dahlem,
Zimet and Farley, 1988, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support - MSPSS); Scale
of perceived social support (Social Support Scale, adapted from Simons, 1996); Questionnaire
on sources of stress for foster parents; Questionnaire of self-assessment of specific
competencies of foster carers; Well-Being Scale (WHO Well-Being Index, WHO, 1998); PHQ4
scale (Patient Health Questionnaire-4, Kroenke et al., 2009).
Results:
The results in the qualitative part of the research showed that the foster mothers of
children in the two focus groups stated how they understood the items listed in the newly
constructed instruments, the Questionnaire on sources of stress of foster parents for children
and the Questionnaire of self-assessment of children's specific competencies. In addition, the
foster mothers who participated in the focus groups state that they want to acquire additional
knowledge and skills in the area of child care, child development, educational procedures,
cooperation with experts in the system, knowledge of how to deal with stressful situations, and
computer skills.
Regarding the present sources of stress, they are most often associated with the
characteristics of the foster child, then with the lack of support from the social worker and the
social care system and the characteristics and difficulties of the foster parent. The analysis of
the data also showed how the foster mothers in this research estimate their specific
competencies for fostering as high, with the highest results on the items related to the
competencies for effectively managing foster care focused on the child and managing the child's
behaviour. Also, the results showed that foster mothers mostly do not have pronounced
symptoms of anxiety and depression, and only 23,7% of foster mothers have mild symptoms,
while 4,4% have moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The predictors of the set that include the variables the number of people who actively
participate in the care of a foster child, the experience of fostering a child with externalized
behaviour problems, self-assessment of specific competencies, social support of social workers
in the work environment explain 24% of the variance of the professional source of stress
criteria.
The predictors of the experience of fostering a child with externalizing behaviour
problems, family social support and the presence of a stress source explain 27% of the variance
of the emotional exhaustion criterion, while the set of variables of the experience of fostering a
child with externalizing behaviour problems, perceived social support from friends and the
presence of a stress source explain 15% of the depersonalization criterion. A set of variables,
the way of living, psychological resilience and self-assessment of specific competencies explain
18% of the variance of the criterion of perception of personal achievement. The predictors of
mental health in this research are the level of education and psychological resilience in relation
to the emotional state of foster mothers; the number of people other than foster children cared
for by foster mothers, the experience of fostering a child with internalized behavioural
problems, the experience of fostering babies and the perceived social support of the family in
relation to anxiety, and the number of people other than foster children cared for by foster
mothers and the social support of social workers in relation to depression.
Conclusion:
Among foster carers for children, there are sources of stress related to their role in
providing accommodation services to children, some foster carers experience burnout, and have
symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The experience of fostering a child that shows externalized behaviour problems is a
significant predictor of professional stress, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in foster
mothers. A common predictor of anxiety and depression is a greater number of people that
foster mothers take care of, in addition to the foster child. Lower support from social workers
is a predictor of stress and depression in foster mothers, while the absence of social support
from the family is a predictor of emotional exhaustion. The presence of a source of stress proved
to be a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, which confirmed
the theoretical origin of the draft research model. All of the above indicates that foster mothers
have the right to mental health protection within the social care system because they experience
stress related to their role as foster parents. There is therefore a need to provide foster mothers
with continuous support and supervision to which they have a legal right. It would also be
important for social workers to give them all the necessary information about the child being
adopted, as well as to support the foster mothers in the process of working with the adopted
child, especially when the child has internalized and externalized problems in behaviour |
