Youth in residential care (YRC) are considered a vulnerable population, presenting higher levels of emotional and behavioural problems than normative peers. YRC exhibit a higher pooled prevalence for any mental disorder (49%) than the general children and adolescent population (13.4%). In Portugal, around 6118 youth are placed in residential care (55% of whom are adolescents), 89% due to history of maltreatment (HM) (neglect and psychological, physical and sexual abuse).
Residential care commonly occurs after a HM which, per se, plays an important role in predicting internalizing (e.g. anxiety, depression), externalizing (e.g. poor impulse control, aggression), and emotion regulation difficulties. HM also contributes to high levels of shame (the affective experience of feeling defective, undesirable) and self-criticism (negative self-evaluations which comprise condemning, attacking and judgemental thoughts directed to the self). Furthermore, although residential care is an attempt to provide protection and care, it frequently represents the loss of attachment figures, repeated moving placements, a less home-like environment and less individualized caregiving. Thus, it is essential that YRC receive interventions that counteract these vulnerabilities. Existing programs address mostly behavioural and cognitive domains, however: a) they are aimed primarily at fostering parental skills of caregivers, not fully meeting adolescents' developmental needs, b) they have limited randomized effectiveness evaluation, and c) findings do not show positive effects on attachment security or placement disruption.
Compassion-based interventions have been gaining growing empirical support in treating several mental health problems and have been shown to be suitable for children, adolescents, and adults. Previous research also demonstrated the benefits of targeting compassion related variables in the treatment of childhood maltreatment survivors, mitigating the association between childhood maltreatment and later emotion regulation difficulties.
Compassion is a motivation comprising a deep awareness regarding the suffering of one-self and others, tied to a wish and effort to relieve it. It is linked to healthy psychological functioning and quality of life. Additionally, compassion negatively predicts emotion regulation difficulties shame and self-criticism, as well as psychopathological problems.
The majority of available findings relates to adult samples, but empirical evidence suggests that compassionate mind training may also be well-timed for adolescents. Within adolescents' studies, compassion has been identified as revealing a buffering effect against psychological distress, partially mediating the relationship between victimization and psychological maladjustment. Differences on gender and age seem to be significant, with males and high school students reporting greater levels of compassion. Intervention studies have also provided support for compassion as a protective factor. Compassion training with adolescents in the community predicted reduction in negative affect, perceived stress, and depressive and anxiety symptoms.
In sum, YRC show wide mental health intervention needs that demand tailored interventions. Since the existing interventions showed limited randomized clinical effectiveness and considering the promising results of compassion based-interventions, the present research aims to broaden the spectrum of therapeutic care, developing and assessing the efficacy of a compassionate-based intervention specifically designed to address the needs from YRC.
