https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3416-8544
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ABSTRACT
Occupational stress is commonly experienced by professional caregivers working in Residential Youth Care (RYC), due to the psychological demands of their work. Although the influence of stress has been studied on this helping profession, there is still no measurement tool to assess the potential sources of stress for these professionals. This study aimed to validate the Stress Questionnaire for Residential Youth Care Professionals (Stress-RYCaregivers), a self-report questionnaire assessing different sources of occupational stress experienced by RYC professionals. Dimensionality and psychometric properties were investigated using a sample of 360 professional caregivers (88.6% female) working in 41 residential care facilities. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 25 items grouped into six factors (i.e., Caring of Children and Young People, Work overload, Career progression and salary, Relationships at work, Training activities, and Home-work interface). All subscales showed adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Construct validity in relation to external variables was also found. Significant differences in stress sources were found concerning personal and work variables. Understanding the causes of stress is the first step to prevent it, which may impact in the caregivers’ quality of life, in the care provided, and, ultimately, in the quality of life of children in RYC.
Acknowledgments
We thank to Professor Rui Gomes, from the School of Psychology, University of Minho, author of the original scale for the approval to adapt the scale. We also thank to Joana Martins for helping in the data collection process, and to the Portuguese Residential Care facilities and their staff that collaborated on this study.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data Availability Statement
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request. The corresponding author take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Notes
1. In Portugal, RCHs have the main aim of temporary protection of youth at-risk. Most placements (87%) are due to maltreatment (neglect and/or psychological, physical, and/or sexual abuse), and the remaining are related with abandonment by caregivers or with the absence of family support (Instituto da Social Social [ISS], Citation2021). RCHs included in this study are open facilities, which vary in the number of children and youngsters fostered and may be mixed or segregated by gender. Each RCH has technical (case managers), educational (ensure the daily routine and care provision), and support (cooking and cleaning) professionals. Despite their different roles, all professionals are directly involved in the delivery of services to children and adolescents on a regular basis within each RCH.