Background/Aims: Children and young people in residential care often exhibit complex emotional and behavioural needs. Attachment theory is frequently used to explain these difficulties, whereby a young person's early experience can influence their internal representations of relationships and their subsequent interactions within the residential milieu. Thus, residential childcare staff have a fundamental role supporting young people, to facilitate therapeutic change and mitigate poor long-term outcomes. Policy and research often recommend staff training and attachment-informed care, yet there is very limited understanding of how this translates into practice or influences outcomes. Therefore, this thesis aimed to systematically review literature on the types, measurement and effectiveness of residential staff training, focussed upon psychosocial outcomes. It also aimed to construct an explanatory theory of how residential staff make sense of, and use, attachment theory in practice. Methods: Research aims are addressed in two studies. Literature on residential staff training was systematically reviewed in Journal Article 1. This was conducted through a search of electronic databases, quality assessment of included studies, and subsequent narrative synthesis. Journal Article 2 used qualitative methodology in the form of constructivist grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty residential staff members through an iterative process of data collection and analysis, and theoretical sampling, until theoretical saturation was achieved. Results: Eighteen studies were included in the systematic review. Results highlight heterogeneous staff training, often evaluated through measurement of staff knowledge, skills and/or attitudes, and/or child behaviour frequency. Findings offer tentative support for the positive impact of training upon staff skills but other outcomes remain unclear. Results from Journal Article 2 indicate that staff had difficulty articulating attachment theory and often did not have a coherent narrative to describe attachment theory to practice links. Instead, they focussed upon a natural process of building relationships within a challenging context, with attachment theory only coming to the forefront when deemed relevant. Conclusions: The effectiveness of residential staff training remains unclear due to the methodological limitations of included studies. Significant improvements are identified for future evaluations of training to address this issue. Future staff training may benefit from limiting jargon, developing theory to practice links, and facilitating staff reflective function. Recommendations of attachment-informed care must also recognise the complexity of the residential system; and the current disparity between attachment theory narrative within policy and research, and practice.

Syftet med studien är att utveckla kunskap om hur personalen på boenden för ensamkommande barn utifrån empowerment arbetar med att möjliggöra de ensamkommande barnens delaktighet, inklusion och integration i samhället. Vidare syftar studien även till att belysa hur personalen på boenden själva ser på detta arbete. De frågeställningarna som belyses i studien är: Vad i arbetet med förhållningsätt skapar möjlighet till ensamkommande barns delaktighet i samhället, enligt personal på boenden för ensamkommande barn? Finns det skillnader mellan personal på HVB- boenden om vad man anser om att arbeta med delaktighetsfrämjande arbete? Om ja, kan dessa skillnader då förklaras med kön, ålder, utbildning, erfarenhet etc. av att arbeta med ensamkommande barn? Metoder som används i studien har en kvantitativ och kvalitativ ansats och innehåller en enkätundersökning och tre intervjuer gjorda med boendepersonalen i Kalmar län. Resultatet tolkas utifrån teorin empowerment och förklaras med hjälp av begreppen delaktighet, inklusion och integration. Analysen av studien utgår från dessa begrepp, tidigare forskning och teorin samt förklaras med hjälp av grafer och tabeller konstruerade i SPSS- dataprogram och tolkning av tre intervjuer. Studiens resultat visar att boendepersonal har ett respekterande förhållningssätt i mötet med de ensamkommande barnen. Studien belyser betydelsen av boendepersonalens lyhördhet inför barnens synpunkter, vikten av att vara konsekvent, bekräftande samt besitta förmågan att kunna se helheten. Resultatet visar även att trygghet och tillit är viktiga egenskaper i boendepersonalens förhållningssätt som skapar möjligheter för ensamkommande barnens delaktighet i olika sammanhang, vilket bidrar till social inklusion och samtidigt ökad acceptans och integrering i samhället. Resultatet åskådliggör att det inte finns några signifikanta skillnader mellan personalen i vad man anser om att arbeta med delaktighetsfrämjande arbete. Vår slutsats är att boendepersonalen i Kalmar län har ett positivt förhållningssätt som skapar möjligheter för ensamkommande barnens delaktighet och inkludering i gemenskaper som vidare leder till integration i samhället. / The purpose of this study is to develop knowledge of how the professional staff works with unaccompanied asylum seeking children and by the empowerment perspective work to allow the children's participation, inclusion and integration into society. Furthermore, the study aims also to highlight how the residential staff at HVB-homes themselves regards this work. The issues highlighted are: What in the work approach creates opportunities for unaccompanied children's participation in society, according to residential staff at HVB-homes? Is there differences between residential staff at HVB-homes on what one thinks about working with participative work? If so, can these differences be explained by gender, age, education, experience, etc. in working with unaccompanied minors? Methods used in the study have a quantitative and a qualitative approach and includes a survey and three interviews conducted with residential staff at HVB-homes in Kalmar County. The result is interpreted by the empowerment perspective and explained by means of the concepts of participation, inclusion and integration. The analysis of the study is based on our concepts, previous research and theory and are interpreted using graphs constructed in SPSS software and interpretation of the three interviews. The result of the studie show us that residential staff have a respectful attitude in their approach to the unaccompanied children. The study illustrates the residential staffs sensitivity to children's views, the importance of being consistent, affirmative and to possess the ability to see in a comprehensive view. The results also show that security and trust are important features of the residential staff attitudes that creates potential for the children participate in different contexts, which contributes to social inclusion and simultaneously increased acceptance and integration into society. The result of the study illustrates that there are no significant differences between staff in what one believes about working with participative work. Our conclusion is that residential staff in Kalmar County has a positive approach that creates opportunities for the unaccompanied children's participation and inclusion in communities that lead to integration into society.