Juvenile offender rehabilitation in Estonia: interprofessional collaboration in written assessments and specialists’ perceptions

ABSTRACT

Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to study an interprofessional assessment model in rehabilitation services and its implementation in Estonia based on (1) a sample of rehabilitation plans for 160 juvenile offenders aged 7–18 and (2) expert interviews with 10 members of an interprofessional assessment team. Each specialist’s role was compared with the assessments. While each team member is assigned a discrete role based on discipline, in practice, the disciplines’ work overlapped considerably during the assessment process. The overlap seems to occur because team members conduct their assessments individually, rather than following the collaborative best practice model for interprofessional teams described in the literature. The expert interviews indicate that rehabilitation specialists perceive the individual-level elements of interprofessional teamwork to be consistent with the ideals articulated in the Perception of Interprofessional Collaboration Model, while the substantial overlap in assessments that occurred in practice could be related to lack of interprofessional collaboration at group and organizational levels. Recommendations to improve the functioning of teams serving juvenile offenders include establishing an interprofessional education system, increasing the flexibility of the legal framework for service provision, and improving the interprofessional assessment instrument.

KOKKUVÕTE

Eesti rehabilitatsiooniteenuse interprofessionaalse hindamismudeli ja selle rakendamise uurimisel kasutati kvalitatiivseid ja kvantitatiivseid uurimismeetodeid. Selleks tugineti (1) 160 seitsme- kuni seitsmeteistkümneaastase alaealise õigusrikkuja rehabilitatsiooniplaani valimile ning (2) kümne interprofessionaalse hindamismeeskonna liikmega läbiviidud ekspertintervjuule. Võrreldi spetsialistide rolle ja nende poolt koostatud hinnanguid. Kuigi igale meeskonnaliikmele on määratud kindlad distsipliinipõhised rollid, kattus hindamisprotsessi praktikas distsipliinide töö märkimisväärselt. Selle põhjuseks võib olla asjaolu, et meeskonnaliikmed koostasid hinnanguid pigem individuaalselt, mitte niivõrd teaduskirjanduses kirjeldatud interprofessionaalsete meeskondade parima koostööpraktika mudeli põhimõtteid järgides. Ekspertintervjuude analüüs näitas, et rehabilitatsioonispetsialistid tajusid interprofessionaalse meeskonnatöö individuaalse tasandi elemente sarnaselt interprofessionaalse koostöö tajumise mudelis tooduga. Praktikas tuvastatud märkimisväärne kattuvus hinnangutes võib seonduda vähese interprofessionaalse koostööga grupi- ja organisatsiooni tasanditel. Alaealistele õigusrikkujatele teenuseid osutavate meeskondade funktsioneerimise parandamiseks toodi välja järgmised soovitused: interprofessionaalse koolitussüsteemi väljaarendamine, teenuseosutamise õigusliku raamistiku paindlikkuse suurendamine ja interprofessionaalse hindamisinstrumendi parendamine.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth justice
• professions
• child welfare

VÕTMESÕNAD:

• noortega seotud õigusemõistmine
• professioonid
• lapse heaolu

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Koidu Saia is a PhD student and a research coordinator at Tallinn University, School of Governance, Law and Society. Her research and development activities have been related with the fields of mental health, coping of elderly, community support in social work and children welfare. Her PhD thesis is focused on interprofessional collaboration and teamwork in juvenile offenders’ rehabilitation teams. Her practical professional experience has been associated with supporting children and families at risks as a social pedagogue and a social worker.

Karmen Toros is a professor of social work at Tallinn University, School of Governance, Law and Society. Her research and development activities and also practical working experience have been related with the fields of children welfare, child protection and assessment in social care field. She has been an expert in the advisory bodies, focused on the development of Estonian child protection system.

Diana Maria DiNitto, PhD, ACSW, LCSW, AADC, is a Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Cullen Trust Centennial Professor in Alcohol Studies and Education at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. She is also an affiliate faculty member in Women’s and Gender Studies and the American Studies Department. Her research and teaching interests are in social welfare policy, alcohol and drug problems, and violence against women.

Mare Leino is an associate professor of social pedagogy at Tallinn University, School of Governance, Law and Society. Her research and development activities have been related with the fields of social pedagogy, more precisely with temperament, dropout from education systems, pupils’ problems at school, teachers’ roles, and other social pedagogical and educational topics.

Ingrid Sindi is a PhD student and part-time lecturer at Tallinn University, School of Governance, Law and Society. The central research interest topic is child’s substitute care and deinstitutionalization, focusing especially on what does the changes in care system internally mean in frame of children’s rights. The topic of her doctoral thesis is child substitute care and deinstitutionalisation.

Elisa Tersteegen is a PhD student at Tallinn University, School of Governance, Law and Society and is working as a pedagogical manager in Lighthouse Foundation, focused on supporting youth at risks based on special intervention programmes. The topic of her doctoral thesis is evaluation of individual pedagogical stationary care in Estonia – needs assessment, effectiveness and efficiency.