Focus Groups as an Instrument to Define Evaluation Criteria

Abstract

This article reports the results of a research project that aimed to identify the criteria upon which a foster care intervention may be considered as having been successful. The aim was to confirm the existence of shared evaluation criteria among the different groups involved in foster care and, moreover, to investigate possible differences in the meaning given to the foster care experience by the different stakeholders. The data collected from six focus groups was analysed in two ways: first, the criteria necessary to evaluate foster care were derived; second, a textual analysis was undertaken to investigate the associations and the frequency of use of some significant terms.