Treatment planning in residential institutions

Changes in Life Satisfaction as a Function of Stay in a Residential Setting

“…Because the five domains targeted by the MSLSS are similar to domains that have been urged for consideration when assessing life satisfaction among children in residential treatment settings (Klomp et al, 1997), the residential questions constructed for this study closely paralleled those found in the extant version of the instrument (the MSLSS item "I like spending time with my parents" was modified to state "I like spending time with my family/teachers"; "I looked forward to going to my old school" was modified to state "I look forward to going to Wegner [the residential school at FFBH]"). Thus, five setting-specific familyteacher items corresponded to similar MSLSS Family satisfaction items, three setting-specific school items corresponded to similar MSLSS School items, three items pertaining to residential living satis-faction corresponded to similar MSLSS Living Environment items, and two items pertaining to satisfaction with friends in the residential setting corresponded to similar MSLSS Friends items.…”

“…Given these findings, using only empirical indicators or measures of psychopathology to infer levels of satisfaction among children in residential settings may not be the most accurate method. For these reasons, the inclusion of measures that directly assess childrens' satisfaction with their lives in residential settings has been advocated (Klomp, Van den Bergh, & Harinck, 1997;Pratt & Moreland, 1996;Shennumi & Carlo, 1995). The inclusion of such measures is considered beneficial for at least two reasons.…”

“…Thus, the use of the MSLSS was conceptualized to provide a multicontextual profile of life satisfaction, which might eventually contribute to more context-specific intervention efforts designed to promote childrens' positive well-being (Huebner, 1994;Huebner, Laughlin, Ash, & Gilman, 1998). Given its multidimensional nature, and given that these same domains have been urged for consideration when designing treatment strategies for children in residential treatment settings (Klomp et al 1997), the MSLSS may serve as a useful instrument in assessing various levels of satisfaction for this population.…”