Research has highlighted the many challenges that foster carers face in caring for children who have experienced adversity and has charted a growing mismatch between the numbers of children needing placements and the availability of carers. This review synthesises and evaluates the current empirical evidence on the causes and consequences of stress experienced by foster carers and the factors that lessen or increase it. PsychINFO, ASSIA, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched for relevant studies, 15 of which met the specific inclusion criteria. The factors identified included both system variables, such as working in a wider service framework, and individual ones, such as children’s behaviour. One consequence of this stress was reduced foster carer retention. Scrutiny of the papers also revealed methodological issues related to sampling, research design and cultural variability. Topics for future research were identified, especially an analysis of the perspectives of people involved in the system around foster carers, such as social workers and the carers’ birth children. Clinical implications were also highlighted, most notably the promotion and provision of effective training and support and the development of integrated ways of working with services and foster carers’ families.

中文翻译：

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我们对压力对寄养者和促成因素的影响了解多少？

研究强调了寄养照顾者在照顾经历逆境的儿童时面临的许多挑战，并表明需要安置的儿童数量与照顾者的可用性之间越来越不匹配。本综述综合并评估了当前关于寄养者所经历压力的原因和后果以及减轻或增加压力的因素的经验证据。搜索了 PsychINFO、ASSIA、Web of Science 和 Google Scholar 的相关研究，其中 15 项符合特定的纳入标准。确定的因素既包括系统变量，例如在更广泛的服务框架中工作，也包括个人变量，例如儿童的行为。这种压力的一个后果是减少了寄养者的保留率。对论文的审查还揭示了与抽样有关的方法论问题，研究设计和文化变异。确定了未来研究的主题，特别是对系统中涉及寄养者的人的观点的分析，例如社会工作者和照顾者的孩子。还强调了临床意义，最显着的是促进和提供有效的培训和支持，以及开发与服务和寄养照顾者家庭合作的综合方式。