Developing a recruitment strategy for potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo : a qualitative measurement based on the Theory of Planned Behavior

Developing a recruitment strategy for

potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo

A qualitative measurement based on the Theory of

Planned Behavior.

Master’s Thesis Persuasive Communication by

Loïs Schut (10003473)

Graduate School of Communication, University of Amsterdam

2014/2015 – Semester 1

Supervised by:

Dr. M.J. van der Goot

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop a recruitment strategy for potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo. To develop a message strategy, the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) is used to categorize the beliefs of potential Muslim foster parents. Besides that, the

abbreviated version of the Integrated Framework of Effective Communication (Van den Putte & Dhondt, 2005) is used to intergrate the beliefs into a message strategy. A qualitative study with in-depth interviews was conducted with a sample of seventeen Muslims representing eight different ethnic groups. Behavioral beliefs consisted of child-centered beliefs, personal benefits and personal disadvantages. Normative beliefs consisted of several motivations to comply with the interviewees’ referents. Control beliefs consisted of emotional control beliefs; (lack of) confidence, reputation of the Child Welfare System, lack of knowledge, religious beliefs and practical control beliefs; financial situation, personal condition, time restraints and housing capacity. Two types of potential Muslim foster parents were derived from the

interviews. The first type thought the behavioral beliefs were the most important and can be targeted with a persuasion strategy in the short term. The second type thought the control beliefs were the most important and can be targeted with a self-efficacy strategy on the long term. After having mapped the message strategy, a media strategy will be needed to reach people and should focus on opinion leaders and areas that Muslim people in Oslo visit.

Introduction

In 2012 about 13.900 children between the ages of zero and 22 in Norway were placed out of home. 70% of these children were placed in foster care (“Child Welfare Statistics”, 2013). About 21% of the children that need support from the Child Welfare Service (CWS) are children from ethnic minorities. Most of these ethnic minorities come from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Pakistan, Somalia and Iraq (Emaerschalk, 2013). Because these countries are predominantly Muslim (“Top 50 Muslim”, n.d.), this research will focus on potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo. Ideally children that are in need of out-of-home-care will be placed in families from the same ethnic group because ethnic congruence between the child and foster parent is important. When there is lack of congruence the child can experience difficulties with racism, loss of cultural heritage and problems with identifying with the foster or adoptive parents, brothers and sisters (Andujo, 1998; Bausch & Serpe, 1999; McRoy, Zurcher,

Lauderdale & Anderson, 1982). While Muslims can come from many different ethnic groups, it is expected that there are more similarities between Muslims because of a shared religion, habits and values than between Muslims and ethnic Norwegians. Furthermore, Muslim parents would rather see that children are placed with foster parents from their own culture instead of foster parents from another culture, so that they can keep learning about Muslim cultural issues and values (Page, 1998). Therefore this research will focus on developing the best recruitment strategy for recruiting potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo.

The goal of this research is to give a clear and in-depth overview of the beliefs that Muslims in Oslo have about becoming foster parents and to form a recruitment strategy to target and challenge those beliefs. Literature on both adoption and foster care will be discussed to give an overview of existing literature as attitudes towards and motivations for becoming a foster parent and adoptive parent are practically the same (Tyebjee, 2003). This makes it plausible that literature on recruiting parents for adoption will also apply to recruiting parents for foster care. Both qualitative (Andersson, 2001; Baum, Crase & Crase, 2001; MacGregor, Rodger, Cummings & Leschied, 2006) and quantitative (Ciarrochi, Randle, Miller

& Dolnicar, 2011; Geen, Malm & Katz, 2005; Randle, Miller, Dolnicar & Ciarrochi, 2014; Townsend & Dawes, 2007; Tyebjee, 2003) research about the general motivations and beliefs of adoptive and foster parents has been undertaken. But, to our knowledge, there is not much literature about recruiting foster and adoptive parents from ethnic minorities (Rodriquez & Meyer, 1990; Andujo, 1998, Capello, 2006) and no literature about recruiting Muslim foster parents. Literature about ethnic minorities is relevant for this research because people from other ethnic minorities can cope with similar problems as Muslim groups

because they are both “minority groups whose unique cultural characteristics are perceived to be different from those characterizing the dominant groups in society” (Delaney, 2014). According to Bausch and Serpe (1999) it is difficult to reach potential foster parents from ethnic minorities with general recruitment strategies because these do not match with the beliefs and cultural values of those ethnic minorities (Bausch & Serpe, 1999). Therefore, forming a recruitment strategy for Muslim foster parents would fill a gap in science because it is expected that different motivations and beliefs will be found when the research is focused on the beliefs of Muslims instead of the beliefs of a different ethnic group.

This article presents the best recruitment strategy for recruiting potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo. The development of a message strategy was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991). To our knowledge there has been only one study that used the TPB in relation to adoption and foster care (Townsend & Dawson, 2007). Their study had as main goal to explore intention to care for orphaned children because of

HIV/AIDS. In addition to covering a different topic, current research is also different because qualitative interviews were used in contrast to the quantitative survey used by Townsend and Dawes (2007). Furthermore, current research chose which message strategy should be used based on the beliefs of the TPB (Ajzen, 1991) and the abbreviated Intergrated Framework of Effective Communication (IFEC; Van den Putte & Dhondt, 2005). To reach Muslims with this message strategy, the most effective media strategy was researched by examining which media potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo consume. The research question is stated as follows: What are the best message and media strategies to target the beliefs of potential

Muslim foster parents? First, an overview of existing literature will provide background

information about the beliefs of potential foster parents. Second, more information will be given about the used interviews. Furthermore, the beliefs of potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo, the chosen message and media strategy will be discussed. Finally, the conclusion and discussion will provide information about the correlation with existing literature,

limitations of this research and practical implications.

Theoretical background

In the theoretical background will be discussed what the function of the TPB is, what we already know about the motivations and beliefs of (Muslim) foster parents and how media could be used to reach potential (Muslim) foster parents. Before starting to discuss the TPB, it is important to describe the behavior that needs to be changed by the recruitment strategy. This behavior is as follows: Muslims in Oslo are becoming foster parents.

Theory of Planned Behavior

The TPB states that changing behavior is predicted by the intention to change the behavior (see figure 1). The intention to become a Muslim foster parent is influenced by three

determinants of intention. The first determinant is the attitude towards becoming Muslim foster parents. This determinant is influenced by behavioral beliefs of the interviewee (Ajzen, 1991). The second determinant is the perceived norm (Ajzen, 1991) about becoming a Muslim foster parent in Oslo. This determinant is influenced by normative beliefs. The third and last determinant is perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991) about becoming a Muslim foster parent in Oslo and is influenced by control beliefs. The perceived behavioral control can also influence the behavior directly (Ajzen, 1991). If for example an interviewee has the intention to become a (Muslim) foster parent in Oslo but does not meet the criteria, the interviewee will not become a (Muslim) foster parent in Oslo.

Figure 1. The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991).

Behavioral beliefs

Behavioral beliefs are the positive or negative evaluations of becoming Muslim foster parents in Oslo. When the interviewees think that becoming a Muslim foster parent in Oslo will lead to more positive outcomes than negative outcomes, the attitude about becoming a Muslim foster parent will be positive. Motivations will also be seen as behavioral beliefs because they are positive evaluations of why people want to become foster parents.

Examples of six possible positive evaluations and one possible negative evaluation from potential foster parents will be discussed. The first positive evaluation to become a foster parent is, according to qualitative research of Andersson (2001) about the motives of becoming foster parents of young children, that parents are used to taking care of children. For these potential foster parents it is not a big effort to become a foster parent because it fits with their lives. Therefore they would rather have another child in their home than having a job out of home (Andersson, 2001). The second positive evaluation is that potential foster parents want to take care of a foster child because they cannot have children themselves (Andersson, 2001; Tyebjee, 2003). The third positive evaluation is that one of the potential foster parents’ relatives or friends has a child who needs to be taken care of. Therefore, these potential foster parents want to take care of their families’ and/or friend’s children (Andersson, 2001; Baum et al., 2001). Baum et al. (2001) concluded this in a qualitative research about the influences on the decision to become a foster parent. The fourth positive

Behavioral  

beliefs  

Attitude  

Perceived  

norm  

Intention  

Normative  

beliefs  

Control  

beliefs  

Behavior  

Perceived  

behavioral  

control  

evaluation relates to the empty nest syndrome. These parents are used to having children around and when their own children leave, they have a desire for children in their house and become foster parents to fill that gap (Andersson, 2001; MacGregor et al., 2006). MacGregor et al. (2006) concluded this after doing research about the motives, support and retention of foster parents in Canada while using focus groups. The fifth positive evaluation has to do with the child instead of parents’ situation and is altruism based. These foster parents want to take care of the child and make sure that the child has a loving, stable and secure home (Baum et al., 2001; MacGregor et al., 2006; Townsend and Dawes, 2007; Tyebjee, 2003). The sixth positive evaluation is that people want to do something good for society (Townsend and Dawes, 2007). The negative evaluation of becoming a foster parent is, according to research of Tyebjee (2003) about the motivations, attitudes and willingness of prospect adoptive and foster parents, that parents are afraid to lose the child to the child’s birth parents.

There are several general behavioral beliefs pointed out in literature. However, there is no knowledge about the behavioral beliefs of Muslim foster parents. Therefore the first research question is as follows: RQ1: What are behavioral beliefs of potential Muslim foster

parents in Oslo?

Normative beliefs

The normative beliefs are the interviewees’ evaluation of how important people in their life act or think about becoming a Muslim foster parent in Oslo. If more important referents already are Muslim foster parents in Oslo or support this behavior, then the social pressure and the perceived norm will be positive (Ajzen, 1991). There are two examples of general motivations to comply with referents from potential foster parent found in quantitative existing literature.

First of all, research from Townsend and Dawes (2007) shows that partners are the most important references when becoming a foster or adoptive parent. Other family and friends seem to be less important to potential foster or adoptive parents (Townsend &

Dawes, 2007). However, this result is in contrast with the results from Ciarrochi et al. (2011). Their quantitative research about the characteristics of people who intend to become foster parents states that social support from friends is more important than social support from family or others. Ciarrochi et al. (2011) also explored that social support has the highest relation to intention to become foster parents. The difference in results could be because of the differences in methods used. Ciarrochi et al. (2011) used people who may become foster parents and Townsend & Dawes (2007) used existing foster and adoptive parents. These two different target groups could have different motivations. Because it is important to persuade the potential foster parents and not the current foster parents the research from Ciarrochi et al. (2011) seems more relevant. Second, Tyebjee (2003) explored that potential adoptive or foster parents are more likely to adopt or become a foster parent when

somebody they know is a foster parent.

If we focus more specific on ethnic minorities, quantitative research from Bausch and Serpe (1999) about recruiting Mexican-Americans to become adoptive parents shows that they would be influenced by religious leaders, community leaders, famous actors or sports figures. Furthermore, according to qualitative research of Page (1998) about family

structures in Australia, in the Muslim culture, it is common that women discuss their financial and caring decisions with their husbands. Sometimes couples ask someone else in the family to make an important decision for them (Page, 1998). This shows that referents of the potential Muslim families are really important when making a decision. It is important to find out who these referents are and how important potential Muslim foster parents think their opinion is.

We have knowledge about general normative beliefs about becoming a foster parent. Besides that we have little knowledge about the normative beliefs of ethnic minorities and more specifically, Muslims. To gain more knowledge about the normative beliefs of potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo the following research question will be answered: RQ2: What

Control beliefs

Control beliefs are beliefs about environmental factors that can make becoming a Muslim foster parent in Oslo easier or harder. If there are more control beliefs that makes this easier, then the perceived behavioral control will be positive (Ajzen, 1991).

There will be given six examples of general barriers that make it harder to become a foster parent and two examples of general factors that will make it easier to become a foster parent as shown in existing qualitative and quantitative literature. The first barrier is that potential foster parents lack confidence and are afraid that they are not suitable to become a foster parent (Clarke, 2009; Geen et al., 2005). This is concluded by quantitative research about several aspects of foster care in the UK (Clarke, 2009) and by both quantitative and qualitative research in the US about the recruitment of adoptive parents (Geen et al., 2005). The second barrier is that potential foster parents and adoptive parents are insecure about having enough time and energy to take care of children (Baum et al., 2001; Townsend & Dawes, 2007; Tyebjee, 2003). The third barrier is being too old to become a foster or adoptive parent (Baum et al., 2001; Randle et al., 2014; Tyebjee, 2003). This is researched in a quantitative study of Randle et al. (2014) about recruiting foster parents. Furthermore, the fourth barrier is not having enough financial resources to become a foster parent (Tyebjee, 2003). The fifth barrier is lack of knowledge about the foster care system. Therefore, many potential foster parents cannot develop motivations towards becoming a foster parent. Besides lack of knowledge about the needs and possibilities of foster care there is also a lack of knowledge about the financial support that foster parents will receive (Clarke, 2009). The sixth and last barrier is that potential foster parents do not have enough capacity in their house to take care of a foster child (Randle et al., 2014; Tyebjee, 2003). There are also aspects that will make it easier to become a foster parent. The first aspect that would make it easier is if potential foster and adoptive parents were to learn that there are other foster parents in a similar situation available for support (Townsend & Dawes, 2007). The final aspect that would make it easier to become a foster parent is receiving financial support (Randle et al., 2014).

Based on studies about Mexican-Americans (Bausch & Serpe, 1999) and ethnic minorities in America (Rodriguez & Meyer, 1990) there are three examples of barriers and one example of a factor that would make it easier to become foster parents for people from ethnic minorities. First, because sometimes there is a language barrier there is a lack of information and resources (Bausch & Serpe, 1999). Second, it can also be difficult for potential adoptive parents to communicate with social workers who select adoptive parents because they sometimes do not speak the language, which makes them less interested in becoming adoptive parents (Bausch & Serpe, 1999). Finally, according to research about minority communities and adoption practices (Rodriguez & Meyer, 1990), some people of ethnic minorities felt that social workers make them feel uncomfortable because of their race. However, if there were people from the same race working for the CWS, this would make it easier for Mexican-Americans to become foster parents (Bausch and Serpe, 1999).

We already have knowledge about general control beliefs of potential foster parents and control beliefs of ethnic minorities. We have no knowledge about the control beliefs of Muslim potential foster parents and therefore the third research question is as follows:

RQ3: What are control beliefs of potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo?

Message strategy

When the behavioral, normative and control beliefs (Ajzen, 1991) are derived from the interviews, a message strategy will be decided. The abbreviated version of the IFEC (Van den Putte & Dhondt, 2005) will be used to choose which message strategy will work best.

The message strategy that should be used will be answered in the following research question: RQ4: What message strategy based on the behavioral, normative or control

beliefs, should be used to persuade potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo?

Media strategy

To reach potential Muslim foster parents with the chosen message strategy, it is important to decide which media should be used. Capello (2006) conducted a study about foster care and

an ethnic minority: Hispanic families in the US. The author concluded that it is important to reach out to Hispanic families in their own language and that recruitment should be targeted at places that are familiar to them and which they use. He also found that foster agencies should work with community houses, that they should advertise in Spanish print media and broadcast on Spanish TV and radio. Besides that, face-to-face contact works best (Capello, 2006). Furthermore, Tyebjee (2003) states that testimonials should be used in media campaigns to persuade potential adoptive or foster parents.

This research needs to find out how potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo use the media so that their beliefs can be targeted in a media campaign. This will be answered in the following research question: RQ5: What media strategy should be used to target the beliefs

of potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo?

Method

As mentioned earlier, the goal of this research is to give a clear and in-depth overview of the beliefs that Muslim people in Oslo have about becoming foster parents and to form a media and message strategy to target those beliefs. A qualitative method is used to achieve this goal because qualitative research can be used to get insights in the values, motivations, beliefs and attitudes of the interviewees (Bryman, 2008). Besides that, according to Richie, Lewis, Nicholls and Ormston (2013): “Qualitative methods are used to address research questions that require explanation or understanding of social phenomena and their context. They are particularly well suited to exploring issues that hold some complexity and to studying processes that occur over time” (Richie et al., 2013; p. 5).

Interviews

First, for this research, semi-structured interviews with individual interviews, duo interviews and one interview with three interviewees were used because of the opportunity to get a clear and in-depth overview of the personal views and the understanding of the interviewees’

personal beliefs. Besides this, duo interviews and an interview with three interviewees made it possible to get hold of the social interaction between parents or friends when talking about foster care. This was necessary because when making a decision to become a foster parent the opinion of others is important. This format made it possible to see how interviewees reacted to each other’s answers. As there were no more than one, two or three interviewees it was possible to go in-depth (Ritchie et al., 2013).

Sample

The sample was formed by a non-probability sample (Richie et al., 2013). The interviewees were selected based on two criteria. The first selection criterion was being Muslim. One of the interviewees did not believe in Islam. However, as he grew up in a Muslim environment and his parents were Muslim, he was interviewed for this research. The second selection criterion was speaking Norwegian because this is an important selection criterion for

becoming a foster parent in Norway. The sample consisted of seventeen people between the ages of 23 and 59 years old (see table 1). The interviewees were Muslim people from eight ethnic groups from both Africa and Asia. A sample with a lot of different ethnic groups is chosen to have a good reflection of different Muslim ethnic groups.

Table 1

Sample

# Gender Age Ethnic group

Edu- cation

Living situation

1 Male 59 Kurdistan HE Married, three children out of home 2 Male 30 Somalia HE Divorced, one child sometimes at home

3 Male 34 Iran HE Married

4 Female 28 Somalia HE Divorced, one child 5 Female 43 Palestine LE Married, two children

6 Female 23 Palestine HE Living with parents and one sibling 7 Female 53 Pakistani HE Married, two children, two grandchildren

8 Female 49 Iran HE Married, children

9 Female 57 Iran LE Married, children

10 Female 59 Morocco NE Widow, two children out of home 11 Female 56 Morocco NE Widow, two children, one out of home 12 Female 55 Morocco NE Widow, two children

13 Female 57 Iran HE Divorced, two children

14 Male 44 Afghanistan LE Married, four children 15 Female 44 Afghanistan NE Married, four children

16 Female 35 Pakistan HE Married, three children, foster child

17 Female 33 Bosnia HE Married, living with two children, mother and brother

Note. HE = Higher Education, LE = Lower Education, NE = No Education.

Procedure

First, to recruit the interviewees a convenience sample was used (Bryman, 2008). A Norwegian psychologist and contact of the interviewer knew a lot of Muslim people and people with Muslim contacts. The interviewees were approached by the interviewer by phone or e-mail. They were told that the interview was about recruiting Muslim foster parents. The interviews were held in November and December 2014 by the first author of this article, who made an appointment with the interviewees herself. The interviews were held at places where the interviewees felt comfortable or at the office at the CWS of the interviewer. When they would come to the office of the CWS the interviewees were told that the interviewer did not work at the CWS and that they were free to say everything they wanted to say. Before the interview started, the interviewees signed an informed consent form. To comfort the interviewees and to show them appreciation they received a small gift after the interview. The interviews were audio recorded and lasted between 45 and 90 minutes.

Second, the interviewer spoke English and the interviewees spoke Norwegian or English. When needed there was a translator who translated what the interviewer asked in English to Norwegian and what the interviewee answered from Norwegian to English. This happened in real-time so the interviewer was able to respond to the answers of the

interviewees.

Finally, an interview guide (see appendix 1) was used to structure the interviews. This consisted of the introduction, five topics and the closing. The interviewees answered

questions about the different topics and the interviewer made observations about how passionate they were when talking about the different topics.

Analysis

The first author used the computer program ATLAS.ti to analyse the data. The first section of coding consisted of open coding. This was done by reading the transcripts closely while thinking about the beliefs of the TPB (Ajzen, 1991). In the open coding phase the author subscribed 30 codes to make a good selection of which segments are relevant for this research.

In the second phase of coding, different codes were linked and relationships between codes were discovered according the TPB (Ajzen, 1991). Atlas.ti calls this part linking codes (Smit, 2002). The first author found segments that belonged to the different beliefs according to the TPB (Ajzen, 1991). Except for the demographic variables there were no segments that could not be linked to the TPB (Ajzen, 1991). It was also important that the author did not only look at the expected themes but also searched for potential new ideas and themes the author did not think of yet (Peters & Wester, 2007). There were some themes that were not expected but these could be linked to one of the beliefs according to the TPB (Ajzen, 1991), for example the reputation of the CWS, which could be connected to control beliefs.

In the last coding phase the author specified different categories by reading the general codes about the beliefs. Subcodes were added and the original code list was expanded to 78 codes (see appendix 2). These subcodes were for example child-centered

motivations, personal benefits and personal disadvantages connected to the behavioral beliefs. In addition, two types of potential foster parents were specified. The first type had the motivation to become a foster parent and was the most adamant about behavioral beliefs. The second type of potential foster parents had a lot of barriers in mind when thinking about becoming a foster parent and was the most adamant about control beliefs.

Trustworthiness

Normally, reliability and validity are important concepts for the quality of quantitative science (Bryman, 2008). However, Guba (1981) proposed more specified quality concepts for qualitative research because the author thinks there is no absolute social truth. Therefore, the credibility, dependability, conformability and transferability will be discussed to show how the quality of this qualitative research is remained. First, credibility can be compared with internal validity. Are the results a representation of reality? To enhance the credibility the interviewer had prolonged engagement at a site (Guba, 1981). To overcome biases the interviewer took classes about cultural differences, racism and discrimination to understand the interviewees better when they were talking about their beliefs and attitudes and to create an environment of trust. Furthermore, dependability is important because other researchers should be able to repeat the research (Guba, 1981). An interview guide is used by the interviewer to enhance the dependability. Besides that, the interviewer described as detailed as possible how the interviewees were selected and how the procedure of the interviews went. Finally, conformability is important because the results of the research should be as objective as possible (Bryman, 2008), therefore the researcher justified all the steps during the analysis as much as possible. The transferability of this research will be discussed in the discussion.

Results

beliefs from the interviews (see appendix 3). The three beliefs according to the TPB (Ajzen, 1991) will be specified below.

Behavioral beliefs

The behavioral beliefs that were derived from the interviewees were child-centered motivations, personal benefits and personal disadvantages (see table 2).

Table 2

Behavioral beliefs

Child-centered motivations. Interviewees experienced four different child-centered

motivations. First, helping others because some of the interviewees thought it is important to give something to the society (1A). Besides that they think it is important to help others, more

Subtype Citation Existing literature 1 Child-centered

motivations

A Helping others The fact that I would help another human being would be the best thing in my life, especially when it is a child (#17).

Baum et al. (2002); Macgregor et al. (2006); Townsend and Dawes (2007) & Tyebjee (2003) B Compassion for the

child

I feel sorry for the children. They need love and they need someone to take care of them (#9).

Baum et al. (2002); Macgregor et al. (2006); Townsend and Dawes (2007) & Tyebjee (2003) C Giving love Because every child from until they are 18 need love and affection

(#13).

Baum et al. (2002); Macgregor et al. (2006); Townsend and Dawes (2007) & Tyebjee (2003) D A duty to teach Muslim

children

I think it is our duty to help these people who, especially the minorities because if they put them in a Norwegian home, they forget their language and identity (#7).

2 Personal benefits

A Wanting another child For people who don’t have children it would be such a beautiful

thing (#17). Andersson (2001) & Tyebjee (2003) B Getting a job It will give me a job and it gives something to society (#1). Andersson (2001) C Being a hero That kind of situation needs a hero so that would be nice to be.

Like I don’t know, a steady figure, a role model for these children. That would be beautiful (#17).

D Contribution to their

home I think that any child could contribute to a home (#17).

3 Personal disadvantages

A Freedom in travelling Traveling quite a lot. Maybe it will be difficult (#1).

B Freedom in private life I had to think more about eh, my freedom. And the way I act and the way I will live (#3).

C Compassion for the

biological parents In the non-western, especially the Muslim culture, the parents own their kids. So I think that will also be in the mentality of the foster parents, they are not mine, they are like somebody else’s kid. It will not be natural for me to take care of this kid (#16).

D Fear for the biological parents

People could be maybe sceptical because of some dangers involved. Recently in Norway there was a case where a father just removed two girls and just removed two girls and he took them back to Russia I think. And it was so painful for the foster father. I have this memories painted in my head, where this father was saying please take care of them. It was painful for him not knowing if they were safe (#17).

Tyebjee (2003)

E Fear of attachment The main thing is that it is really hard that you can become attached. Even though it is an animal like a cat, even then you can get sad if it is taken away (#12).

Tyebjee (2003)

F Contrast of fear for attachment

Being a mother myself. I would think I put my own considerations aside. I think that is the best thing if they will return to the parents (#17).

G No workers CWS with immigrant background

But the people who is sitting in the office. None of them have an

specifically children, because they should not suffer. Second, feeling sorry for the children was a motivation because some of the interviewees felt compassion for the children because they had no place to live (1B). Third, giving love and emotional help (1C) instead of

materialistic help was important for some of the interviewees. This idea is illustrated by the following citation:

Some people say materialistic things are more important than love. So it look likes if you have a villa you can be a good parent. But most of the people, even the Norwegians, they don’t have that. So they should think about more the quality of the people who are going to take good care of the children, not how much money or how big house they have (#2).

Finally, having a duty to teach children about their religion, language and heritage was a child-centered motivation for some of the interviewees because they believe that children deserve to have knowledge about these things (1D).

Personal benefits. There were five types of personal benefits. Some of the

interviewees wanted another child because they could not have children of their own (2A). For some of the interviewees this personal benefit was influenced by religion. This idea is illustrated by the following citation:

And if God forbids I can’t have children of my own. Then I would like to take care of someone else’s kids (#6).

Furthermore, getting a job because they would earn money if they became foster parents (2B), feeling like a hero because they could save a child who is in need (2C) and receiving love because the child contributes to a home (2D) were also personal benefits.

Personal disadvantages. There were six aspects of personal disadvantages. The first

aspect was having less freedom with traveling (3A). The second aspect was having less freedom in their private and social life (3B). The third aspect was having compassion with the biological parents (3C) because they felt sorry for them that they had to give their children away. The fourth aspect was being afraid for the biological parents (3D) because they saw some dangers when the biological parents would not agree with their child being placed in a foster home. This idea is illustrated by the following citation:

Maybe fear of the biological family of the child. That they will do something to the foster parents. Some of my friends’ kids got kidnapped (#14).

The fifth aspect was the fear of attachment to the foster child (3E) because some of the interviewees were afraid that they would have to lose the foster child when the foster child would go back to her or his biological parents. But in contrast to this disadvantage, there were also interviewees who said that they would be happy for the child and biological parents if they would be able to reunite with each other (3F). The final aspect was that some of the interviewees had a problem with the fact that there were no people working at the CWS with an immigrant background (3G).

Normative beliefs

The interviewees had several referents when they considered becoming a foster parent. These referents ranged from their children, partners, friends, brothers and sisters, parents, people they knew who already were foster parents, and opinion leaders. Two aspects of the normative beliefs will be discussed: the social norm of the referents of the interviewees and the motivation to comply with those referents (see table 3).

Table 3

Normative beliefs

Subtype Citation Existing literature 4 Social norm

A Partner did not agree

She said no. Because she is working with children all the time in school (#1).

B Partner did agree She actually feels it is a good thing to do (#3).

C Parents would not

agree I haven’t talked about that with them about this. Because they want us to have our own kids (#3).

5 Motivation to comply

A Partners opinion important

If my husband says I want it I would do it (#9). Townsend & Dawes (2007)

B Friends not important

Other people that don’t live with us don’t have anything to say when it comes to this. It is our own choice (#8).

Townsend & Dawes (2007)

C Opinion leaders important

The mosque, the leaders of the mosque, or [Talking Persian]. Like this, a centre for minorities (#13).

Bausch & Serpe (1999) D No motivation to

comply with anyone

It is our decision. We don’t need to talk about that with someone else (#14).

E Motivation to comply

with other referents Is it important that your children would like it? _{It is very important off course. If they don’t feel okay we would not} do it of course. They are important (#1).

Townsend & Dawes (2007)

F Would convince referents

I would try to convince them why it is the right thing to do (#6). G Some referents

need to agree

You have to have people where you can do activities within the weekend. You have to have children in the area to link up with. You need people like, there is no, you’re not in an abandoned island (#4).

Social norm. The referents from the interviewees had two non-supportive ideas and

one supportive idea about the interviewees’ considerations. Sometimes the partner was supportive (4A) and sometimes the partner did not agree. A reason why the partner did not agree was because he or she was tired of being in contact with children (4B). Finally, the parents from some of the interviewees did not agree because they wanted their children to have their own children instead of a foster child (4C).

Motivation to comply. There were seven different motivations to comply. For some of

the interviewees their partners (5A) and friends (5B) opinion was important. Besides that, the opinion of leaders (5C) was important because they had influence on, and were trusted by, some of the interviewees. This idea is illustrated by the following citation:

You go to the Somali community and talk to them and eh maybe people who are leaders and have a good influence on people (#2).

Furthermore, there were interviewees who had no motivation to comply with anyone but their partners (5D). In contrast, other interviewees had the motivation to comply with referents other than their parents, families or friends, for example their children (5E). There were also interviewees who would convince their referents (5F). Finally, some potential foster parents sought approval from their referents as they needed people to provide a social life for the foster child (5G).

Control beliefs

Emotional and practical control beliefs were derived from the interviews.

Emotional control beliefs

The four emotional control beliefs (see table 4) consisted of (lack of) confidence, reputation of the CWS, lack of knowledge and religious beliefs.

(Lack of) confidence. There were two aspects of lack of confidence and one aspect of

confidence. The first aspect was having lack of confidence because some of the interviewees thought becoming a foster parent was a big responsibility because they did not have the skills (6A). The second aspect of having lack of confidence was because they were afraid that they would worry a lot because the foster children would have so much freedom in Norwegian society compared to the freedom they were used to in their own communities (6B). Some of the interviewees however had confidence about becoming a foster parent because they had experience with children (6C).

Reputation CWS. The first negative aspect for some of the interviewees was the

feeling that the CWS does not explore situations sufficiently (7A). The second negative aspect was that some of the interviewees thought that the CWS paid attention to the wrong criteria when selecting foster parents (7B). The third negative aspect was that some of the interviewees were afraid of being controlled by the government (7C). This fear comes from the fact that some of the interviewees do not trust the CWS. They could not see the

difference between the department that recruits foster parents and the department that takes away the children. This idea of being afraid for the CWS is illustrated by the following citation:

We are calling the CWS the modern Taliban. Like every second of your life is so scary. Maybe in our culture we have like a different kind of affection for our children. When you take away a child from a family from our culture it is like take away your heart and soul. Please help us, or the foreigners, that they won’t, take away their children (#14).

The fourth negative aspect for some of the interviewees was that the CWS does not take cultural differences into consideration when they place children in a foster family (7D). In addition, some of the interviewees felt that the CWS sees people from other cultural

backgrounds as less credible than ethnic Norwegians. This idea is illustrated by the following citation:

I’ve met people with the professions in the childcare service that would say: why is it important that a child from a Somali family should go to a foster home with the same background and religion. Why should these children get less, than the average Norwegian children (#4)?

There were also interviewees who thought the CWS is doing a really important job and they respect the work they do (7E).

Religious beliefs. Religion could make becoming a Muslim foster both harder and

easier. First, for some of the interviewees, religion would make it harder because they thought it was not possible to raise somebody else’s child according to some Islamic values. Some of the interviewees said that according to Islam you are not supposed to show yourself uncovered as a mother to a boy who is not your child (8A). Second, for some of the

interviewees, religion would make becoming a Muslim foster parent easier because helping others is an important Islamic duty (8B).

Lack of knowledge. Based on the interviews we observed that some of the

interviewees had lack of knowledge about the criteria they should meet when they would become foster parents (9A), about the financial rewards they would receive (9B) and about the difference between adoption and foster care (9C). Having lack of knowledge about the difference between adoption or foster care was a problem because this could result in

religious barriers that are not relevant with foster care, but are when it comes to adoption. This idea is illustrated with the following citation:

It is very important for the kid to have their, original, biological, parents or fathers name. And religiously that is very important. You are not allowed to bring a kid into you house and for them to have your name. That is just, that is just in a way disrespectful for the biological parent (#5).

Table 4

Emotional control beliefs

Practical control beliefs

The four practical control beliefs (see table 5) that will be discussed are the financial situation, time constraints, personal conditions and housing capacity.

Subtype Citation Existing literature 6 (Lack of)

confidence

A Not the skills for the responsibility

I think maybe a kid I need to care had special needs. Maybe I cannot help him or she. So that is why I am hesitated so much (#9).

Clarke (2009) B Lack of confidence -Norwegian culture more free

The kids have so much more freedom than in our culture, there is you know, what you can do and what is not allowed to do. Like here, you know, the barrier, you can always worry so much (#3).

C Confidence I work in with some families, not directly with families, but working in court. And I see how difficult it is for some children. And I think I can do a good job (#1). . 7 Image CWS A CWS does not do enough research

I am using a metaphor of a tree. The CWS doesn’t go deep and check the roots. They just take the fruits and give them away. They don’t seek the real problem (#14).

B CWS pays attention to wrong criteria

Yes, we know different criteria. Because some people was talking about. Okay it is material things are more important than love (#2). C Fear of being

controlled

We will be controlled from every corner. Especially if you are a Muslim. They will keep an eye on you and control everything you do (#10). D CWS has no

cultural differences in mind

They don’t see the cultural differences. If the reason they took away the child in the first place is because of the cultural differences then they really haven’t seen that there, there isn’t a, like that’s the problem. They haven’t seen it (#11).

Bausch & Serpe (1999)

E CWS does a really good job

I have a great respect for the organization (#4).

8 Lack of knowledge

A Lack of knowledge about criteria

I don’t know what they have in their criteria or the rules (#8). Clarke (2009)

B Lack of financial knowledge

Do you for example know about the financial compensations you get? No…. no (#5). Clarke (2009) C Lack of knowledge about foster care

Observation Bausch & Serpe (1999); Geen et al. (2005); Clarke (2009)

9 Religious beliefs

A Religious

barriers For example we are bringing a boy or a girl into our home. Let’s say for example that they are young. They are going to reach a certain age eh, eh, of them not being allowed to be in the same house as for example if it it’s a girl, because of my father. And if it is a boy because of me and my sister and my mom. And eh. You are not supposed to let, or live show yourself uncovered for example or show your hair and body in front, of someone you can marry (#5).

B Religion makes it easier

Every religion teaches us that we have to do our best to be good people. To help others. And in Islam that is something that is a pillar that stands strong, you have to give to the poor and you have to help others in need (#17).

Financial situation. This would make it harder for some of the interviewees because

of their scepticism against economical rewards (10A). Another concern was that their financial situation was not good enough to become foster parents (10B).

Time constraints. Time was also a big barrier for some of the interviewees because

for example demands from their work make them unable to become a foster parent (11A).

Personal conditions. Some of the interviewees experienced that their physical

condition (12A) or being too old (12B) stopped them from becoming foster parents.

House capacity. Capacity in the interviewees’ home was another practical barrier.

Some of the interviewees knew that they would need an extra room for the foster child. For some of them this was impossible (13A).

Table 5

Practical control beliefs

Relation of beliefs

The choice of message strategy would be based on the importance of behavioral, normative and control beliefs (Van den Putte & D’Hondt, 2005). During the interviews it became clear

Subtype Citation Existing literature 10 Financial

situation

A Scepticism about reward

Of course it is difficult and expensive, and you need some money. But I am critical about this thing that every Hour you have been spending with the kid, I don’t like this model (#16).

B Not enough money

Yeah but if you have to give up your job for a period, maybe that won’t necessarily ad up for your financial income (#4).

Tyebjee (2003)

11 Time

A Time constraints

If there were any cons I would think personally it is time consuming (#16).

Baum et al. (2001); Townsend & Dawes (2007) & Tyebjee (2003)

12 Personal condition

A Physical condition

She said [Laughing] since she was a child she always wanted to have like adopt or have a foster kid. And if she wasn’t like she has some physical problems (#13)

Tyebjee (2002

B Age I am getting old. And I will not be able to do that. I am almost 60 (#1). Age Baum et al. (2001); Randle et al. (2014), Tyebjee (2003)

13 Housing

A _Housing capacity

Because mostly the people from minorities, they have eh, small places you know. They have not extra rooms (#7)

Tyebjee (2003); Randle et al. (2014)

which beliefs were most important because of the ratings that the interviewees gave to the different topics and due to observations made by the interviewer.

It seemed that behavioral beliefs and control beliefs were most important to the interviewees. Normative beliefs seemed less important to the interviewees both because of their answers and because they were les passionate when they talked about normative beliefs.

Two types of potential Muslim foster parents can be specified when looking at the behavioral beliefs and control beliefs. The first type of potential Muslim foster parents thought that the behavioral beliefs were most important. It seems that these interviewees may be the easiest ones to persuade because they are already considering becoming foster parents. They see the advantages and disadvantages of the behavior when making this choice. The second type of potential Muslim foster parents paid more attention to the control beliefs. They could be harder to persuade to become foster parents because they see barriers that make it harder for them to become foster parents.

Media strategy

Some of the interviewees said that if the CWS wants to persuade potential Muslim foster parents they should reach ethnic minorities at places where they engage with familiar people. The CWS should, according to some of the interviewees, use leaders in the Muslim

community to persuade Muslims to think about becoming foster parents. Besides that, if they advertise, the CWS should do that at places that Muslims visit frequently. This could for example be schools, medical places, community houses, mosques or specialized

supermarkets. There are two reasons why some of the interviewees thought this works better than placing an ad in the national newspaper, on the Internet or on television. The first

reason is that they thought that a lot of people from ethnic minorities do not read newspapers and the second reason is that people from ethnic minorities do not use the Internet so much.

Conclusion

The goal of this research was to form a message and media strategy for potential Muslim foster parents in Norway by making use of the TPB.

First, behavioral, normative and control beliefs were derived from the interviews. Behavioral beliefs consisted of child-centered beliefs, personal benefits and personal disadvantages. Normative beliefs consisted of the social norm and the interviewees’ motivation to comply with their referents. Control beliefs consisted of emotional control beliefs: (lack of) confidence, reputation of the CWS, religious beliefs, lack of knowledge, and practical control beliefs: financial situation, time constraints, personal conditions and housing capacity. Some of the beliefs that were derived from the interviews were also discovered by other authors (see table 2, 3, 4 & 5). Besides that, there were also beliefs that were specific for our target group, Muslims in Oslo.

First of all, when we take a look at the behavioral beliefs we see that the child-centered beliefs about having a duty to teach children about their language, culture and religion is something that to our knowledge is not been discussed before. Besides that, Andersson (2001) discovered that being used to taking care of a lot of people and the empty nest syndrome could be motivations too, this was not discovered in the current research.

Second, if we take a look at the normative beliefs, research from Page (1998) states that Muslims sometimes ask other people to make decisions for them. This result is

something that is not found in this research. Besides that, research from Ciarrochi et al. (2011) states that normative beliefs have the highest relation to intention. A reason why this research found that the normative beliefs are not that important could be that Ciarrochi et al. (2011) used a survey to gather their results to overcome biased results. A reason for this could be that people tend to think others do not influence them. Maybe the interviewees did not dare to tell the interviewer face to face that other people would influence them or maybe they just did not know that other people would influence them. This can be related to the third

person effect, which states that people think that the influence from the mass media on them is always less than the influence on others (Davison, 1983).

Third, when we take a look at the control beliefs we see that the religious control beliefs about not being able to take care of foster children because of Islam, or in contrast that Islam is a strong supporter of helping others, cannot be compared with other research. Besides that, there is to our knowledge no literature about the reputation of the CWS in Oslo. This can be because this research only considers Oslo and quite specific, it could also be possible that literature about this topic exists in Oslo but is not accessed by English speaking researchers. However, the reputation of the CWS is important for the recruitment strategy. We see that there is a feeling of fear of being controlled, distrust and disrespect for the CWS in Oslo, which should be changed or invalidated if not true.

Finally, the first type of potential Muslim foster parents who seem to be most related to the behavioral beliefs could be targeted by making use of the persuasion strategy. This strategy is associated with the instrumental advantages of becoming foster parents and needs to point out the positive consequences of becoming foster parents. The second type of potential foster parents who seem to be most related to the control beliefs should be

persuaded by the self-efficacy strategy. This strategy is associated with the feelings of competence and needs to show that becoming foster parents is in comparison to their feelings not difficult (Van den Putte & Dhondt, 2005).

Discussion

This research has some limitations. First of all, because the research is qualitative, the results cannot be transferred to all Muslim groups in Oslo. However, we think that if we would interview more Muslims from the same ethnicities in Oslo we would not find any new

information. We do think that if we would interview people from more different ethnic groups we would find more information about the differences between those different Muslim groups.

Secondly, during some of the interviews a translator was needed. That made it harder for the interviewer to understand what the interviewees were saying. Besides that, the interviewees who were interviewed in English did not speak their native language, which made it harder for them to explain how they felt.

Finally, the target group can be discussed. The target group for this research was Muslims living in Oslo, but it is not agreed by the interviewees that comparing Muslims from different ethnic groups is valid. The interviewees that were not supporting comparing Muslims, felt that Muslim values are not similar to the values of their own ethnic group. Furthermore, they also had the opinion that children should be able to choose their own religion and should not be placed with Muslim families if they do not want that. There were also some interviewees who supported comparing Muslims with Muslims. First of all, because, in their opinion, the children have the right to take good care of their background, heritage and religion. Secondly, some of the interviewees were shocked that some foster children who grew up with Norwegian families did not know anything about their original language and background. In addition, one of the interviewees stated that Muslim ethnic groups do not have that many differences between them besides the language, food and some cultural values. It would be easier for this interviewee to raise a child from the same ethnic group, but another Muslim ethnic group is better than another non-Muslim ethnic group because you can show them how to cope with religion. Based on research from Page (1998) we have chosen Muslims living in Oslo because this was a useful compromise. If we had chosen Muslims from a single ethnic group, the investigation would have lacked value owing to the large number of Muslim children in need of foster placements. Besides that, Page’s (1998) research states that Muslims would rather see that Muslim children are placed with Muslim foster parents instead of parents from another ethnic group than with a non-Muslim ethnic group.

Future research

a closer look at the differences and comparisons between different Muslim ethnic groups. Furthermore, the beliefs that were discovered during this research should be tested

quantitatively to find out which beliefs according to the TPB (Ajzen, 1991) is related the most to the intention to become Muslim foster parents. The current research can be used to form hypothesizes about behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs. Besides that, quantitative research could bring other beliefs to light that the interviewees did not dare to tell because they for example were ashamed that they felt a certain way. Doing quantitative research is also important in order to generalize the results to a bigger population and to be statistically sure which message strategy should be chosen.

Practical implications

The CWS in Norway could benefit from developing a media strategy where they target the areas where potential Muslim foster parents go. Besides that it seems important to make use of leaders in the Muslim community. If the CWS wants to persuade type one of potential Muslim foster parents in a short-term period, it seems that they should make use of a

persuasion strategy that focuses on the behavioral beliefs of potential Muslim foster parents. The best way to make use from a persuasion strategy for the CWS would be to use positive testimonials that focus on one of the positive behavioral beliefs (Van den Putte & Dhondt, 2005), these can be either be child-centered motivations or personal benefits. For

persuading type two of potential Muslim foster parents in Oslo in the long-term, it seems to be important to persuade potential Muslim foster parents by using a self-efficacy strategy (Van den Putte & Dhondt, 2005). This strategy should point out that their emotional control and practical control barriers are less of a barrier then they think they are. One of the most important control barriers to point out seems to be the reputation of the CWS. To persuade potential Muslim foster parents their trust and the reputation of the CWS according to Muslims needs to be rebuilt.

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Appendix 1: Interview guide

Welcome, I am very pleased that you are willing to participate in this research. Before we start I will introduce myself. My name is Lois Schut I am 22 years old and I am studying in Amsterdam at the University of Amsterdam. I am living in Oslo for a few months to conduct this research.

(Name card with Lois Schut, University of Amsterdam)

We will talk about foster care for Muslim children and about the recruitment of Muslim foster parents. Ideally we would like that Muslim children are able to grow up with Muslim families, so that they can stay true to their beliefs and heritage. But at the moment there are more Muslim foster parents needed because there are a lot of Muslim children that need a foster home.

(Name card with Muslim foster parents in Norwegian and English)

During our conversation I will introduce different subjects to talk about and I will ask about your opinion about these topics. If I am not clear feel free to ask what I mean! I am

interested in your personal opinion. Your personal opinion is very useful for me because you can help me to understand how people think about foster care. The reason I am interviewing you is that I wish to talk with people who are not foster parents because I need to know how you think about foster care. Therefore your personal opinion is really important. I am not trying to persuade you to become a foster parent.

I would like to ask if you give permission to record the conversation so I can use the recording for the report that I will write based on the interviews. I will use the interviews anonymously without using your names. I would also like to ask if you could sign the informed consent form that I have sent you before.

Do you have any questions about the interview? Topic 1: beliefs

Aim Overview of all the potential beliefs. Materials White paper with Muslim foster parents Introduction

We are first going to talk about what you read on this paper; Muslim foster parents. Lets start open and easy. You can write down everything that comes to mind when you read these words.

(Translato writing the Norwegian words in English)

Initial question What are things you think about when you see the words Muslim foster parents?

Further questions - You can write everything down - Can you think of more words? - Etc.

Topic 2: Behavioral beliefs

Aim Description of the behavioral beliefs: how do they think about becoming a foster parent themselves?

Introduction When I look at what you wrote down I think that what you wrote down here belongs together. I would like to talk more about this subject.

Initial question Can you tell me what you mean with …?

To me, they all seem to be about what you would consider when you would become a foster parent yourself. Can you describe to me what you mean?... Would you say these are indeed considerations regarding becoming a foster parent yourself?

Further questions - Can you tell me what you mean with..

- Are there more things that you think of when you think about becoming a foster parent yourself?

(Use a new paper for the extra beliefs)

- Is there more you can think of? Topic 3: Normative beliefs

Aim Description of their normative beliefs: Who are their referents and what do their referents think about foster care?

Introduction Option 1: If I take a further look at this paper I see a few other words that belong together. These seem to be about other people. Can you describe to me what you mean… I would like to talk more about this subject as well.

Option 2: I would also like to talk about who are important to you when

you would make the decision to become a foster parent. (If I choose this option, use this topic as the last topic) Initial question Option 1: Can you tell me what you mean with…

Option 2: Can you write down who are important when you would make that decision?

Further questions - Can you tell me what you think about…. When you think about Muslim foster parents?

- Why are those people important for you? Can you describe the relationship you have with them?

- What do you think these people would think if you would become a foster parent?

Topic 4: Control beliefs

Aim Description about the control beliefs they have about becoming a foster parent: The barriers they feel.

Introduction Option 1: If I take a further look at this paper I see a few other words that belong together. They seem to be about hindrances, difficulties… I would like to talk more about this subject as well.

Option 2: I would also like to talk about the barriers you have when

you would make the decision to become a foster parent. (If I choose this option, use this topic as the last topic) Initial question Option 1: Can you tell me what you mean with…

Option 2: Can you write down what you would see as a barrier when you would become a foster parent?

Further questions -­‐ Can you tell me what you mean with… -­‐ Are there more barriers?

-­‐ When not talked about: CWS/financial situation/living situation Topic 4: Message strategies

Introduction The last subject I would like to talk about is the importance of the different subjects we talked about today.

Initial question If you would have to make a list with the most important things when you would consider becoming a foster parent. What would be the most important word, you see on these papers?

(Write down the numbers)

Further questions What would be number 2? 3? 4? Etc..

Demographics

Before we end I would like to ask you a few simple questions. -­‐ How old are you?

-­‐ Do you have a job, what kind of job? -­‐ Do have an education?

-­‐ What is you ethnicity? -­‐ What is your living situation? -­‐ Do you have children?

-­‐ What kind of media do you use? TV/Newspaper/online/radio? Closing

These were all the questions I wanted to ask. Thank you for all the information you have given me, I have everything really good on paper now. Is there anything you would like to add? This can be anything, not just the last subject we talked about.

Is there anything you would like to ask about the interview?

If you have any more questions after today you can always email me. Thank you for your cooperation!