Views of Female Juveniles in Residential Placement on Their Resilience in Education within Residential Institutions

ABSTRACT

This study examined the views of female juveniles in residential placement at the Adolescents’ Home run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan, on their resilience in education within residential institutions (RERI) by administering the proposed RERI Questionnaire survey to all female juveniles placed in the Adolescents’ Home. A total of 126 complete responses were returned. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 respondents for further exploration. The respondents obtained high scores for their views on RERI, and the respondents’ RERI was affected by background variables. The implications for practice and future research are outlined herein.

KEYWORDS:

• Female juveniles
• residential institutions
• Taiwan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The vision of the Adolescents’ Home in Taiwan is to rehabilitate children and teenagers and provide them with a nurturing learning environment where they can access professional holistic services, receive guidance under competent guardians, and embrace a new life. Juveniles are placed in this home in accordance with relevant Taiwanese regulations (i.e., the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act [2021], Children and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act [2018], and Juvenile Justice Act [2021]); such juveniles include juvenile offenders, youths who engage in sexual intercourse or obscene acts, and children who experience abandonment and physical or mental abuse. The home provides diverse services, such as guidance for schooling, vocational guidance, psychological consultation, career guidance, adaptive education, health management, life care, legal consultation, group guidance, and recreational activities.

2. The data on the characteristics of the participants (Table 1) indicated that most of the female juveniles had been placed for 6–18 months (i.e., 41%); thus, we divided them into three categories on the basis of their placement period (i.e., <6 months, 6–18 months, and >18 months).

3. This factor refers to illegal drug use.

4. This factor refers to the use of antidepressants, anxiolytic/hypnotics, and antipsychotics.

5. According to the regulations in Taiwan, female juveniles aged between 12 and 18 years are placed in the Adolescents’ Home; therefore, the respondents who were aged 18 years or older were placed when they were younger than 18 years.