1.
2.
Karlsson-G, Sofie
(författare)
Tillsammans men var för sig : Om särboenderelationer mellan äldre kvinnor och män i Sverige
2006
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Contemporary family life and intimate relationships today are characterised by increasing heterogeneity. In the growing body of research on this differentiation, the role of the elderly people has largely been ignored. But to an increasing extent the "young old" (65-74 years of age), in particular, are active participants in the process of the differentiation of intimate relationships. One of the least researched contributions of the elderly to the restructuring of contemporary intimate relationships is the establishment of lastint intimate relationships that do not include a mutual home, i.e. an alternative to marriage or other forms of cohabition. This type of relationship is referred to as Living Apart Together (henceforth LAT-relationships. In Swedish: särboende). The aim of this thesis is to examine LAT-relationships among elderly heterosexual individuals in Sweden, focusing in particular on the influence of this type of relationship on commitments, intimacy and autonomy. A major dilemma is the question of who should provide the care and service that ageing often demands. A pluralistic methodological approach has been adopted in the four differnt papers in this thesis, whick includes the use of a qualitative pilot study, a broad quantitative questionnaire study, a qualitative interview study and finally a qualitative study with a lifestory perspective.
3.
Sjölund, Maria, 1978-
(författare)
Levd erfarenhet av ålder : Föreställningar om och erfarenheter av att vara och bli äldre
2012
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Starting from the perspective that the ageing human body always is a situation and in a situation, the present thesis explores situations in which the meaning of age and ageing is negotiated. The analytical focus is on situations, and more specifically on experiences of age and ageing. The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse the lived experience of age and ageing. A hermeneutic understanding of experience and lived experience is fundamental to the thesis. Three studies are included.The first study is based on descriptions of situations in which older people felt “especially young” and "especially old". The analysis revealed that the same kinds of situations gave rise to experiences both of feeling “especially young” and of feeling “especially old”, but they differed in focus regarding social inclusion/exclusion.The second study is based on interviews with amateur dancers regarding their experiences of a dance project in which the artistic focus is on the aged body. Two themes emerged in the analysis: the dance project as a situation in which the meaning of age and ageing was both given new meanings and restated in stereotypical terms; and the aged and ageing person him-/herself as a situation for negotiating the meaning of age and ageing. The meaning of age was negotiated, as there were tensions between referring to age and ageing as resources and referring to them as a problem associated with restrictions. The situated experiences involved changes in the body, pointed out by other people or felt oneself. The dissociation from being old appeared as an internalized social norm, and one strategy for avoiding old age was to keep active, but not too active.The third study is based on a vignette dialogue with amateur dancers. Text excerpts from Simone de Beauvoir's book The Coming of Age (1970/1972) were used as vignettes to grasp notions about the aged in society as they appeared to the informants. Among the informants, notions of being and becoming old in a society are filled with fears of being dependent, becoming a social burden on society and being reduced to an aged person with standardized needs who is unable to live a worthy life. In sum, the lived experience of ageing is always situated as a complex interplay between the body, social norms, the available language and our notions about these phenomena. The present thesis shows that age and ageing can be filled with various inconsistent meanings that embrace social inclusion as well as social exclusion.
4.
Ahnlund, Petra, 1973-
(författare)
Omsorg som arbete : Om utbildning, arbetsmiljö och relationer i äldre- och handikappomsorgen
2008
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Background: At the central administrative level in Sweden, care work is presented as a complex task for which personnel require special qualifications. In elderly care, questions of training and qualifications form the highly topical theme noticed by central actors. According to The National Board of Health and Welfare, the supply of manpower and the educational levels of the workers are the most important factors in ensuring high quality care for the elderly. The question of educational levels is, however, with the exception of personal assistants, not given as much attention in care for people with disabilities. Aim: The aim of this dissertation is firstly to compare elderly care and care for persons with disabilities with the focus to describe and analyse education and work environment in these sectors. Secondly, the aim is to analyse if, and if so how, questions of education interacts with personnel’s view of the social work environment. Methods: The thesis is comprised of four studies and paper 1, 2 and 3 are based on the results of a qualitative interview study, which was comprised of 48 persons who worked in elderly care and the care for persons with disabilities. Of the 48 persons who took part in the study, 11 of them worked as middle managers and 37 worked as care workers in the every day care. Paper 4 consists of a research summary on how education for care workers is being studied in a Swedish and an international context. The personnel who participated in the interview study work in different care settings; in elderly care the personnel work in both sheltered housing and public home care services. In the care for disabled persons, the personnel work in residential housing with special services, in public daily activities for people with intellectual disabilities and as personal assistants. Result: Both managers and personnel find it important for care workers to have a degree of educational background as a basis for the learning process at the work place. The results also show that educational levels and the work environment are themes that are discussed differently by different actors. In previous research on education for care workers in both elderly care and the care for People with disabilities, academic education or education at a ground level has been seen as problematic due to the distance it is said to create between the worker and the care recipient. My results show that the discussion about education for care workers has become rather biased, and that highly educated personnel tend to be more aware of the power they possesses and that the relation to the care receiver is important. In elderly care the issue of education seems to be more a question of a general educational level. In the care for people with disabilities, the question of education for personnel is on a more individual basis, where the care workers learn together with the care recipient. Educational levels, the work environment and relations with colleagues and care recipients are connected and support from the managers is important for understanding the work and the relational perspective.
5.
Evertsson, Lars, 1964-
(författare)
Välfärdspolitik och kvinnoyrken : organisation, välfärdsstat och professionaliseringens villkor
2002
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The relationship between the Swedish state’s welfare political commitments and the emergence and development of three female-dominated welfare state occupational groups - nurses, home relief helpers and occupational therapists - is at the heart of this thesis. The primary aim is to study the professional possibilities and limitations created by the state’s welfare political commitments in health care, family policy and rehabilitation. The thesis emphasises the importance of regarding the state as a historically conditioned actor and as an organisation of organisations. The state is not a unified and static actor and this makes it difficult to speak of the state’s relationship to different welfare occupations in general terms. Nurses, home relief helpers and occupational therapists have encountered the state in different historical contexts and established ties to different parts of the state. Abbott’s (1988) term jurisdiction is used to characterise the area within welfare politics that nurses, home relief helpers and occupational therapists have made claims on or been allotted. The struggle for jurisdiction takes place on three, analytically separate but in reality interconnected arenas. These arenas are the workplace, the media arena and the legal arena. The thesis limits itself to the legal arena, that is, the state’s administrative, planning and legislative structures. At the centre of the analysis of the legal arena are the Swedish Government Commission and the welfare political reform work that to a large degree has been formed by these institutions’ function and work. An important conclusion from these three case studies is that the state’s welfare political commitments have been central for the emergence of nurses, home relief helpers and occupational therapists and their development into welfare state occupational groups. The state’s welfare political ambitions have contributed considerably to the transformation of nurse, home relief helpers and occupational therapists into modern occupational groups. Dependency on the state has not always been easy to handle however. The state’s welfare political interests have often contradicted the wishes of the professions regarding the content, length and organisation of training programmes, as well as regarding continuing education and licensing. The state has been unwilling to provide more training than deemed necessary from a welfare political perspective. An important conclusion from this study is that it is difficult for welfare state occupational groups to steer their professional project in a direction that falls outside of the state’s welfare political commitments.
6.
Sauer, Lennart, 1966-
(författare)
Teater och utvecklingsstörning : En studie av Ållateatern
2004
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation is an inductive, qualitative study of a theatre programme with persons with intellectual disabilities. The aims of the dissertation were: • to explore the experiences had by the actors as expressed through their descriptions, images and narratives, • to explore the context in which these descriptions, images and narratives take place and, • to conceptualise the experiences had by the actors. In the project, the following three qualitative methods were combined: qualitative interviews, participant observations and research circles. The theoretical framework is mainly built on three theoretical standpoints - social constructionism; the theoretical perspective that describes disability as a balance between deviance and normality; and cultural analysis. The analysis shows that the theatre and artistic programme are experienced as something new, interesting and qualitatively different from their earlier experiences. Their daily activities in the theatre are organized around and influenced by an artistic rationale. The work, the physical environment, and relations with the leaders of the theatre are different from the traditional social care setting (daily work places, group homes etc.) in which the actors are socialized. The analysis also shows a tension, in the theatre practice, between disability policy and artistic aims. On one hand, the programme has to consider the consequences of disability and disability ideology in their daily work. On the other hand, the focus of the theatre is on artistic aims and on the actors’ skills as producers of theatre and art. The social care setting, of which the theatre is a part, emphasises deviance (the problems and shortcomings of the actors) whereas the theatre emphasises normality (the artistic skills of the actors). Through their participation in the theatre company, the actors have gained a new role - the role of actors and producers of theatre and art, and not only the role of clients in the social service system. The actors also experience ambivalence from their social surroundings, such as in the theatre arena where the audience applauds their acting, whereas in other arenas they experience dissociating interaction. Both roles, being a client and being a theatre actor, are integrated in the self-understanding of the actors. In this way, the actors’ self-images can be described as a balance between deviance (intellectually disabled) and normality (theatre actor). Through their participation in the theatre, they also gained fellowship among other actors and between the actors and the leaders. This is analyzed in terms of affinity grouping. That is, the theatre can be understood as a community where the members share common interests and goals. Through the processes and acts in this community, the actors develop confidence and the strength to stand up for themselves. Against this background, parallels are discussed to disability culture and disability arts.
7.
Snellman, Marie-Louise, 1974-
(författare)
"Det är ju inte hela tiden bara lycka heller" : äldre kvinnors berättade liv- om arbete, omsorg och åldrande i landsbygdsmiljö
2009
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Even though ageing in Western society has been a major issue in research and politics in recent years, there is still a distinct lack of knowledge about elderly people and their experiences. As much of the ongoing research has focused mainly on the oldest of the old and elderly people in need of public care, research about elderly people in general is needed. Ageing in a rural environment is of interest, because research about the elderly and ageing generally concerns urban areas. The study of old women has grown during the last decades in the academic fields of social gerontology and feminist studies. Older women’s disadvantaged position has been highlighted from a structural perspective. This knowledge needs to be combined with knowledge from a micro level in order to make other experiences of being an older woman visible. The importance of considering ageing as an integral part of life has been stressed by social gerontological research during the last decades. The focus of this thesis is the life stories of ten women aged between 75 and 85 years of age. The study has two main aims: firstly, to analyse the diverse meanings involved in being a woman who was born between 1920 and 1930, and lives in the Swedish or Finnish rural countryside. Secondly, the aim is to highlight and analyse how caring is reflected in the women’s stories about their lives. A broad understanding of caring as a fundamental condition for human existence is stressed in the thesis. Life stories are never complete, nor do they cover the totality of a life lived. The life story is a story told from a certain perspective in a specific situation and the meaning in the life stories is produced through interaction with the researcher. The women who participated in the study have lived their lives through major societal transformations. Historical events that have affected women’s rights, possibilities and conditions, have served as a framework for understanding the women’s life stories in a wider context. Structural and individual conditions have been taken into account, and indicate that the enabling and limiting conditions are both multi-dimensional and vary from individual to individual. A contextual framing is needed to understand expressions of care in the life stories. The life stories make visible caring as changeable; caring is carried out differently in different contexts and situations. An extended understanding of caring makes it possible to gain additional insights into meaningful expressions of caring during the life course, and these insights reach beyond conventional definitions in theories on caring.
