Author : Kay-Megan Washington
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780542865640
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (656 download)
Book Synopsis Factors Contributing to Attrition and Placement Breakdown in Foster Care by : Kay-Megan Washington
Download or read book Factors Contributing to Attrition and Placement Breakdown in Foster Care written by Kay-Megan Washington and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a partial rationale for high rates of placement disruptions and foster parent attrition, an exploratory study was conducted to explore whether professional burnout was applicable to a foster parent population. A text revision of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI - HSS; Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996) and a questionnaire requesting information on demographics and foster care experiences were administered to a purposive sample of 97 licensed foster parents. It was hypothesized that foster parents would manifest similar patterns of burnout to other human services samples studied. A correlational design was employed to examine whether relationships existed between measures of actual and perceived foster parent performance and each of the three MBI subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA). Results indicated that the current sample differed significantly from Maslach, et al.'s (1996) normative sample in their average level of reported burnout. In addition, only EE was significantly correlated with how long participants estimated they would be willing to continue to foster. Exploratory analyses found that participants' expectations of how difficult fostering would be, the ages of both the foster parents and the children placed in their homes, and the length of time participants had been providing care may have important implications for positive placement outcomes and foster parent retention.