Looking into care: The reliability and feasibility of a Taxonomy of Care for Youth

Abstract

Summary

Classifying the care provided to children with emotional and behavioural problems can provide empirical insights into the relationship between child characteristics, the care offered and outcomes after leaving care. The Taxonomy of Care for Youth (TOCFY) has recently been shown to validly classify this care in six domains covering all aspects of care. The aim of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability and feasibility of TOCFY. Two raters independently classified the care provided to 200 children (50 per organisation) from organisations in primary health care, child and youth care, and mental health care (two organisations), based on their care records. We assessed inter-rater reliability and the degree to which TOCFY categories could be applied anyhow, that is its feasibility.

Findings

Mean agreement was 89.8% between raters; excluding the cases scored as ‘unknown’, the mean agreement was 82.2%. TOCFY-categories could be applied for over 90% regarding each of the six domains.

Applications

TOCFY is a valid, reliable and feasible instrument to classify care within different types of care organisations. Give these promising findings, application and further evaluation of TOCFY is recommended.

Keywords

Social work reliability taxonomy mental health child and family welfare social work practice

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