Support Needs & Priorities of Individuals Transitioning From Foster Care to Independent Living

This research addresses current gaps in programming to improve outcomes for youth aging out of foster care (YTC). Targeting health and well-being outcomes for YTC, this community engaged research project was led by OT researchers and a Community Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB provided insights and key stakeholders to participate in a research project that 1) defined life skills in our community and 2) determined what gaps existed that occupational therapy practitioners could fill within our scope of practice. The Delphi Method (Linstone & Turoff, M. 2002) was utilized to define life skills in our community. After completion of this phase the research team held two focus groups with 4 different groups (youth with lived experience, providers, leaders, and policy makers). The first round of focus groups defined life skills education components identified from the Delphi survey. The second round of focus groups provided details of service provision and resources needed. Data from both the Delphi Method and the focus groups will be presented. This presentation will highlight the areas established as important to address from an occupational therapy perspective: social skills, coping skills, communication skills, safety awareness, and self-understanding (Armstrong-Heimsoth et al., 2020). As well we will provide insight into the best approaches to addressing these areas with YTC. This study lays the groundwork for larger studies to implement a uniform intervention and evaluate its effectiveness in improving occupation, participation and health among participants, thereby advocating for occupational therapy’s role with this at-risk population. Occupational therapy can assist former foster youth in improved occupation, participation, and health in adulthood (Armstrong-Heimsoth et al., 2020). Expanding the role of occupational therapy with YTC requires evidence of our effectiveness in this capacity, which can be established through funded research programs.

References

Linstone, H. A., & Turoff, M. (2002). The Delphi method: Techniques and applications. United States: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Advanced Book Program. https://web.njit.edu/∼turoff/pubs/delphibook/delphibook.pdf

Armstrong-Heimsoth, A., Hahn-Floyd, M., Williamson, H.J., & Lockmiller, C. (2020). Towards defining a role for occupational therapy in foster care transition programming. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1726