Evaluación de la calidad de la atención residencial en Mallorcaacogimiento residencial del sistema de protección a la infancia

Laburpena

One of the main measures of child protection established by current legislation is residential foster care. Residential care resources put into practice different intervention programmes in order to cover the many diverse needs of children, offering a space of comprehensive care, of protection and safety in order to repair the situation of vulnerability suffered and undo its effects. In order to do this, the presence of a minimum standard of quality in residential foster care resources directly influences the wellbeing of these children. The aim of the present study was to draw up and subsequently validate a comprehensive operational instrument which, after its application, would helps to appreciate the standard of quality of care present in residential foster care centers. Hence, the work explained in this doctoral thesis consists of a descriptive observational study of a representative sample of staff and minors from residential foster care centers, managed directly by the Public Administration in Mallorca. Once the questionnaire had been built, an analysis of internal consistency reliability was performed through Cronbach’s alpha; in relation to validity, through a review of the literature and expert opinion (based on a nation-wide Delphi Panel), content validity was analyzed. Concordance analysis (inter-judge consensus) was conducted using Kendall’s W and other tests, depending on the nature of the variables. Confirmatory factorial analysis was also performed. After carrying out a bibliographic review of reference models, a questionnaire on the quality of residential care in Mallorca - called AQUARMA - was designed and validated, taking as a benchmark the quality standards developed by Jorge Fernández del Valle and his team (EQUAR). Once designed, it was reviewed by education professionals from IMAS [Mallorca Institute for Social Affairs] centers (peer to peer validity), as well as by experts on the issue from all over the Nation (validity by judges). A pilot test was conducted to see whether it was understandable and whether the consultation form was adequate. Subsequently, we proceeded to apply the instrument, in which staff and minors working or residing in the centers participated between April and June 2014. The questionnaire was administered anonymously, through a computer application that automatically sent the answers to a database. These were analyzed using SPSS statistical software, version 20 for Windows. Then, after applying the questionnaire, the data obtained were processed, and a series of suggestions for improvement were drawn up based on the results as a work tool for the education teams. The questionnaire obtained good validity results, as it was possible to check content validity; it achieved good measures of internal consistency; and collected all the variables liable to assessment in terms of residential quality. It can be concluded that AQUARMA is a valid, reliable instrument that is sensitive to change. It quantifies the standard of quality present in residential foster care centers, and makes it possible to detect qualitative aspects that are liable to improvement. It does not present any difficulty in its understanding or comprehension.