A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6-12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations

Abstract

Background: Leaders are struggling to care for the estimated 143,000,000 orphans and millions more abandoned children worldwide. Global policy makers are advocating that institution-living orphans and abandoned children (OAC) be moved as quickly as possible to a residential family setting and that institutional care be used as a last resort. This analysis tests the hypothesis that institutional care for OAC aged 6-12 is associated with worse health and wellbeing than community residential care using conservative two-tail tests. Methodology: The Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) study employed two-stage random sampling survey methodology in 6 sites across 5 countries to identify 1,357 institution-living and 1,480 community-living OAC ages 6-12, 658 of whom were double-orphans or abandoned by both biological parents. Survey analytic techniques were used to compare cognitive functioning, emotion, behavior, physical health, and growth. Linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the proportion of variability in child outcomes attributable to the study site, care setting, and child levels and institutional versus community care settings. Conservative analyses limited the community living children to double-orphans or abandoned children. Principal Findings: Health, emotional and cognitive functioning, and physical growth were no worse for institution-living than community-living OAC, and generally better than for community-living OAC cared for by persons other than a biological parent. Differences between study sites explained 2-23% of the total variability in child outcomes, while differences between care settings within sites explained 8-21%. Differences among children within care settings explained 64-87%. After adjusting for sites, age, and gender, institution vs. community-living explained only 0.3-7% of the variability in child outcomes. Conclusion: This study does not support the hypothesis that institutional care is systematically associated with poorer wellbeing than community care for OAC aged 6-12 in those countries facing the greatest OAC burden. Much greater variability among children within care settings was observed than among care settings type. Methodologically rigorous studies must be conducted in those countries facing the new OAC epidemic in order to understand which characteristics of care promote child wellbeing. Such characteristics may transcend the structural definitions of institutions or family homes.

Department

Description

Provenance

Citation

Whetten,Kathryn;Ostermann,Jan;Whetten,Rachel A.;Pence,Brian W.;O'Donnell,Karen;Messer,Lynne C.;Thielman,Nathan M.;Positive Outcomes Orphans (POFO). 2009. A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6-12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations. Plos One 4(12): e8169-e8169.

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1371/journal.pone.0008169

Scholars@Duke

Jan Ostermann

Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health

Brian Wells Pence

Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Brian Wells Pence, PhD MPH, is trained as an infectious diseases epidemiologist. His research interests focus primarily on the impact of trauma, mental illness, and other psychosocial characteristics on HIV-related behaviors and clinical outcomes and on the development of effective and practical interventiosn to address mental illness in HIV patients.


Unless otherwise indicated, scholarly articles published by Duke faculty members are made available here with a CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial) license, as enabled by the Duke Open Access Policy. If you wish to use the materials in ways not already permitted under CC-BY-NC, please consult the copyright owner. Other materials are made available here through the author’s grant of a non-exclusive license to make their work openly accessible.