Toward coherent practice in shared residential care: Program methods, tools, and intervention models

• First study to conceptualize SRC practice models across programs. • SRC services focus mainly on mothers as primary intervention targets. • Some programs do not work directly with children, despite their protection mandate. • Educational and psychological tools are frequently combined in SRC. • Programs vary across five practice dimensions shaping family support. Within child protection, Shared Residential Care (SRC) allows parents and children to co-reside in supervised settings where staff support the enhancement of parenting capacities while safeguarding children and fostering their development. Despite being implemented in some countries, these programs remain little known and scarcely studied. This article examines how they operate in terms of methods and tools. As part of a national study on SRC in Italy, based on online surveys conducted in 2023–2024, we analyzed a dataset of written responses from 31 program managers to three survey questions: 1) What tools/methods are used with children? 2) With mothers? 3) With the mother–child relationship? Responses were examined through Qualitative and Quantitative Content Analysis and Thematic Analysis. Managers provided 106 responses, identifying 478 tools, mainly educational-support tools and most often targeting mothers. Thematic Analysis revealed five overarching dimensions −Approach, Care Settings, Community Orientation, Participation, and Process- each representing a methodological continuum. A subsequent program-level analysis mapped how respondents positioned their services along these dimensions. Programs differed widely across the identified continuums, reflecting varied understandings and practices of SRC. The absence of a shared methodological framework highlights the need for more theoretically grounded and coherent approaches. This study sheds light on how professionals conceptualize intervention and offers a basis for improving practice with highly vulnerable families.