Exploring the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Adolescents at Children’s Homes in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Psychosocial wellbeing is essential for children’s survival and development. Children’s homes provide temporary care to children until they can return to their families or a long-term alternative living arrangement is achieved. The number of children entering the children’s homes is increasing rapidly. They have to face lots of challenges in their life.  The purpose of this study was to find out their psychosocial wellbeing. The sample of six participants was selected through the convenience sampling method from two children’s homes. They were between the ages of 12 to 18 years. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Research findings indicated that living in children’s homes has been entirely different from living in a family. They have sufficient basic facilities such as food, clothing, medical care, educational facilities, and other sanitation facilities. Although children were meeting their physical needs at the children’s homes their psychosocial requirements remained more or less unaddressed. Most of the children reported that their life in the children's homes was not happy. Accordingly, they experienced one or more psychosocial problems that influenced their psychosocial wellbeing.