In contrast to the international context of residential care and the preference for family based care, residential care in Portugal is the only option for most young people in the child protection system. Despite this, research in Portugal has yet to focus on Therapeutic Residential Care (TRC) and has rarely considered the narratives of young people. By adopting the conceptual framework proposed by Farmer et al. (2017) and focusing on five critical domains (Setting, Staffing, Treatment Approach, Safety, and Milieu Factor), we aimed to identify a subset of factors that contribute to youth improvement. This convergent parallel mixed methods study involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 14 young people, mostly female (71%), aged 14–18 years (M = 16.3, SD = 1.8), at five TRC facilities in Portugal. Young people and staff also completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the youth self-report or child behaviour checklist to assess internalising and externalising symptoms. Content analysis revealed mostly positive perceptions and experiences across the domains (Setting, Staffing, Treatment Approach, Safety, Milieu Factor and Profile Characteristics). However, half of the youth reported being vulnerable to peer contagion and females with higher internalising and externalising symptoms reported more negative perceptions and experiences of TRC. These findings highlight that creating an organisational social context that supports participatory approaches to assessing quality may provide invaluable insights into how services can be responsive to young people’s needs. Focusing on establishing high-quality relationships with staff, peers, family, and the community may be key to ensuring the long-term success of TRC.

与国际上对寄宿照料和偏爱以家庭为基础的照料相比，葡萄牙的寄宿照料是儿童保护系统中大多数年轻人的唯一选择。尽管如此，葡萄牙的研究尚未关注治疗性住宅护理 （TRC），也很少考虑年轻人的叙述。通过采用 Farmer 等人（2017 年）提出的概念框架并专注于五个关键领域（环境、人员配备、治疗方法、安全和环境因素），我们旨在确定有助于青年进步的因素子集。这项收敛的平行混合方法研究涉及在葡萄牙的五个 TRC 设施对 14 名年轻人进行半结构化访谈，其中大多数是女性 （71%），年龄在 14-18 岁之间 （M = 16.3，SD = 1.8）。 年轻人和工作人员还完成了一份社会人口学问卷和青少年自我报告或儿童行为清单，以评估内化和外化症状。内容分析揭示了跨领域（环境、人员配备、治疗方法、安全性、环境因素和概况特征）的大部分积极的看法和体验。然而，一半的青少年报告说容易受到同伴传染，而内化和外化症状较高的女性报告了对 TRC 的更多负面看法和经历。这些发现强调，创建一个支持参与式质量评估方法的组织社会环境可能会为服务如何响应年轻人的需求提供宝贵的见解。专注于与员工、同行、家人和社区建立高质量的关系可能是确保 TRC 长期成功的关键。