Prerequisites for Maintaining Emotion Self-regulation in Social Work with Traumatized Adolescents: A Qualitative Study among Social Workers in A Norwegian Residential Care Unit

Many adolescents in residential care have a history of traumatization, often with consequences on regulating emotions, thoughts, behaviors, as well as on establishing healthy relationships. Such evidence-based knowledge has paved the way for various trauma-informed models of care that emphasize the adolescents’ need to be other-regulated through caring adults. Being a “regulating other” requires the ability of self-regulation, which may be challenging for staff faced with intense emotional and behavioral expressions from the adolescents. In this qualitative study, fifteen social workers at a residential care unit for adolescents in Norway were individually interviewed on themes addressing w…