An Evaluation of the Solihull Approach Foster Carer Course

Abstract

This is an evaluation focusing on the effectiveness of the Solihull Approach foster carer training group programme ‘Understanding your foster child’. Four groups were run, of 12 weekly sessions with a total of 56 foster carers. All foster carers who attended completed both pre and post measures, however incomplete data sets were removed, so in total 27 data sets were analysed. Four questionnaires were used: Parental Stress Index Short Form (PSI-SF), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Carer Questionnaire and the Children’s Expression of Feelings in Relationships (CEFR). Statistical analyses identified that after the group, there were significant increases in foster carers’ ratings of their understanding of their children’s difficulties; their understanding of why foster children behaved the way they did; their feeling of having the required skills to manage difficulties; alongside significant decreases in their ratings of foster children’s hyperactivity and attentional behaviour difficulties.

Keywords:

• Solihull Approach
• foster carer training
• emotional health
• understanding behaviour

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the foster carers who completed the evaluations and to all the social workers who ran the trainings.

Disclosure statement

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

Figure 1 A bar chart showing pre and post intervention mean scores for SDQ.

Figure 2 A bar chart showing the pre and post intervention mean scores for PSI-SF.

Figure 3 A bar chart showing the pre and post intervention mean scores for EFR.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jayne Harris-Waller

Jayne Harris-Waller, After gaining a psychology degree at Durham University and qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist at Oxford University, Jayne worked in Solihull in therapeutic fostering for children and young people who are looked after. She also worked in foster carer training and adoption preparation training. She now works as a Clinical Psychologist in the Warwickshire Primary Health Care team, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust.

Priya Bangerh

Priya Bangerh, Gained a B SC in psychology with criminology at Nottingham Trent University. She worked as a Honorary Research Assistant at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

Hazel Douglas

Hazel Douglas, qualified as a Clinical Psychologist and was Strategic Lead for CAMHS, during which time she established a therapeutic fostering service in Solihull. She is now Director for the Solihull Approach, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, a team that provides resources and training to support emotional health and well-being across the population. She was part of the team that developed the Solihull Approach Foster Carer Course. Correspondence to: Hazel Douglas, Solihull Approach, Bishop Wilson Clinic, Craig Croft, Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham B76 1LU, UK. Email: [email protected]