[Follow-up support measures as parameters for the effectiveness of day-care measures in youth welfare - a comparative...

Educational support measures aim at reducing strain on families in precarious life situations. In children and adolescents, measures usually focus on reducing conduct problems and promoting competencies; parents are supported in order to improve their parenting competencies. But youth welfare measures have different effects on children, adolescents, and their parents, and a national comparison reveals that most families require follow-up support measures afterwards. This study compares different courses of youth assistance measures in families with or without follow-up support measures.

A total of 89 families received day-care educational support for an average period of 2 years. Subsequently, 26 families required further support. In order to identify predictors for follow-up support measures, we systematically assessed problem areas indicating a need for further support prior to and after youth help measures, and contrasted them in a pre-post-design.

Children in need of further support displayed significantly more symptoms of strain and less improvement in their competencies after the end of youth help measures. However, the most distinctive differences resulted for ineffective parenting. These groups differed significantly.

The effectiveness of youth welfare measures strongly depends on an improvement of parenting competencies. A lack thereof points toward further need for support, even after intensive educational support measures.