© British Association of Social Workers
The Use of a Modified Repertory Grid Technique for Assessing the Self-Concept of Children in Local Authority Foster Care
Carolyn Hicks gained a BA(Hons) and MA degree in Psychology from the University of Exeter, and a Ph.D. by research into children's learning difficulties. She is a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Recently she has become involved in research on children in Local Authority Care.
Stephen Nixon graduated with a BA(Hons) in Economics and obtained his Post-graduate Diploma in Applied Social Studies at the University of Sheffield in 1969. He worked as a Child Care Officer and Social Worker before undertaking research on client perceptions of social work (Social Work in Focus, E. Sainsbury, S. Nixon and D. Phillips, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982). He gained the degree of M.Phil. by research into social work staff supervision in 1982. He is Lecturer in Applied Social Studies at University of Birmingham and has a particular interest in foster care.
Dr. C. Hicks, School of Continuing Studies, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham, B15 2TT.
Summary
Two studies were carried out using a modified form of the repertory grid technique to investigate the self-esteem of children in Local Authority Care. The aim of the first study was to compare the self-perceptions and self-esteem of Children in Local Authority Care with a group of matched controls. Two groups of ten subjects were given a modified repertory grid task, which involved presenting eight pictorial elements and eight bipolar constructs, and asking the subjects to rank order the elements according to their perception of each construct.
The results indicated that children in Local Authority Care a) have significantly lower self-esteem scores (t=2.25, p<0.025) and b) have significantly fewer positive constructs about themselves overall (X2=7.07. p<0.01).
The second study used a correlational design and looked at the relationship between the number of caretaker changes and self-esteem, in a single further group of eleven children in Local Authority Care.
The same technique for assessing self-esteem was used as in Study 1. The results showed a significant negative correlation (r=–0.638, p<0.025) suggesting that the more moves a child experiences, the lower the self-esteem is likely to be.
The results of both these studies are discussed in terms of their implications for Local Authority Child Care policy and for the use of the repertory grid technique as a procedure for assessing self-esteem.