Independent Life Skills of Youth after Institutional Care: Comparative Study

Description

The objective of the research is to research the problems young people face after leaving institutional care and starting independent life and find out whether improvement of youth independent life skills is observed.. Survey methodology and expert interviews method are employed to reach the research objective. The date were compared to the expert interview results ten years ago (2011-12).Pilot survey (n=60) investigated the understanding of independent life, and the main problems young people face after leaving institutional care, and what independent life skills youth need to develop.Expert interviews (n=6) with social workers helped to better understanding of organisation of youth support organisation in order to improve independent life skills and quality of life of youth, types of assistance to young people after institutional care, and ways, how the independent life skills could be improved.        . The survey data demonstrate different understanding of independent life - starting from independence from adults to independent decision making and financial independence from anybody. Around 60% of respondents think that they have enough skills to independent life, 20% have limited skills of independent life. 10% do not know how to live independently.In accordance to the pilot survey data, young people lack the following life skills - cooking, laundering, paying bills, shopping. Data from the expert interviews show that readiness to independent life is closely related to the training that was provided at the institution and the support system young people receive after institutional care.. Both survey data and expert interviews demonstrate the progress of independent life skills among young people leaving institutional care. Training independent life skills during institutional care, the work by the youth support centres, and other policy measures introduced in Latvia have helped youth to obtain independent life skills. However, training of some practical life skills needs to be improved.

Period	29 Mar 2023
Event title	RSU Research week 2023: Society. Health. Welfare
Event type	Conference
Conference number	9
Organiser	Rīga Stradiņš University
Location	Riga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International