New project on resilience among young people in special residential homes

The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) has granted funding to three ICON members for their project “Which aspects of the stay in special residential homes for young people can contribute to resilience?” (WIRE). WIRE is a two-year project that will produce new knowledge on resilience-promoting factors among particularly vulnerable groups of young people.

Each year, around 1 000 individuals are placed in special residential homes for young persons, operated by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS). Placements in these so-called SiS-homes are typically due to the young person’s considerable problems with, for example, substance misuse, criminality, or other destructive behaviours.

We know that young people who have been placed in SiS homes generally have really poor future prospects. However, this does not apply to all of them – and we want to understand these exceptions better.

Interview with Ylva B Almquist

The aim of the project is to identify aspects of the stay in SiS homes that can contribute to improved socioeconomic and psychosocial outcomes after the young person has been discharged. Among other things, the researchers will investigate whether there are differences based on treatment program and support measures, and what role that experiences of, for example, collaboration, participation, and empowerment can play.

The project will be based on compilations of administrative data on all young persons that were placed in a SiS home between 2000 and 2021 (approximately 19000 individuals).