1.
Eriksson, Maria, 1969-
(författare)
I skuggan av Pappa : familjerätten och hanteringen av fäders våld
2003
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The aims of this thesis are to shed light on the handling of fathers’ violence in the context of separation and divorce in Sweden today; and to analytically and empirically relate age, gender and kinship to each other. The aims are fulfilled by three interlinked studies of what constructions and the constructing of age, gender and kinship mean for the handling of fathers’ violence against mothers/co-parents and children: in social policy; by separated mothers; and finally by family law secretaries. Each study builds upon a separate set of qualitative material: public documents from three policy areas; thematically structured interviews with abused, separated mothers and family law secretaries. The empirical results make visible some unintended consequences of current attempts in Sweden to create gender equality, shared parenting, a “new father” and to promote children’s interests. Study one demonstrates that when the politics and policy regarding parenthood, separation and divorce are taken as the point of departure, the contemporary age-, gender-, and kinship-order stands out as patriarchal: as marked by father-power based upon ties of blood to not yet adult children. Furthermore, violent fathers neither exist as a concept nor as a policy problem. The interviewed mothers narrate how they have tried to deal with the co-parent’s/ex-partners’ behaviour as violence but have encountered hindrances; the interviewed family law secretaries’ handling fathers’ violence stands out as more of a non-handling, especially in the case of violence against children. When the everyday constructions and constructing of age, gender and kinship discussed in study two and three are taken together, the contours of the patriarchal order seen through the lens of policy are also made visible: fathers’ space for action is vast; children’ and mothers’ more limited. The analysis shows how political and professional handling of fathers’ violence through a non-handling is made possible by well-established notions of heterosexual relationships, fatherhood, motherhood, age- and kinship-relations, as well as family law secretary-professionalism. However, the two studies based upon interviews demonstrate not just how the everyday constructions and constructing mentioned above can be used to reproduce father-power, but also how this power can be challenged.
2.
Forssell, Emilia
(författare)
Skyddandets förnuft : en studie om anhöriga till hjälpbehövande äldre som invandrat sent i livet
2004
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This dissertation aims to examine and deepen the knowledge of family member caregiving where the care recipient is an elderly person who immigrated late in life. It also aims to contribute to the knowledge of the complexities underlying informal care giving and add to our understandings of what it means to be an immigrant in Sweden. The caregiver is in focus. The research conducted is explorative and partly inductive. The main material used is a qualitative interview study carried out with family members from different countries who are providing informal care to elderly immigrant relatives. The analysis gives three patterns of caregiving. One shows help from informal caregivers only who are not compensated economically. Another shows help from family members who are compensated. The third shows help from family members and staff from the public care system. Three ideal-typical informal caregiver roles show different positions vis-à-vis the new: “guardian”, “filter” and “reinterpreter of traditional care ideals”. Swedish born and immigrated informal caregivers are also compared through analysis of data gathered in telephone interviews with a representative selection of inhabitants in the County of Stockholm.A philosophy of action together with theory on integration and multiculturalism serves as theoretical frameworks to understand discrepancies and ambiguities in the data. Young immigrants experience different integration processes than do the older ones. They strive to protect older family members from changes linked to the migration experience. Talk about dependence on culture underlines family feelings and legitimates the processes of protection. Preconceptions about great differences between Swedish born and immigrant families are not supported by quantitative data. A conclusion is that protection can be understood in relation both to the traditional and the new, the latter in the forms of meetings with Swedish society where unequal relations prevail. It is a kind of counter-strategy where the range of actions is diminished, and thus it has its own logic. Protection can be loosened up when the circumstances change and the range of actions grow.
3.
Karlsson, Magnus
(författare)
Själv men inte ensam : om självhjälpsgrupper i Sverige
2002
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In this thesis, self-help groups are defined as small, autonomous groups of people that meet regularly to cope with a shared problem through mutual aid. There is reason to believe that self-help group activity is increasing in Sweden. Since no general attempts to map self-help group activity have been made in Sweden, one aim of this study was to map such activities in ten strategically selected geographical areas. A second aim was to analyze the internal and external circumstances of these groups in order to improve our knowledge about Swedish self-help groups in general.The thesis builds on four empirical studies. The first study aimed to map self-help group activity in the ten selected regions, using a questionnaire sent to vicars in the Church of Sweden, heads of welfare offices, head counselors in the health service and representatives of voluntary organizations (n=599). The second study sought a broader understanding of the internal and external circumstances of self-help groups. Eight groups, strategically selected from the outcome of the first study, were group interviewed. The aim of the third study was to examine whether the results of the group interviews were valid for all the groups found in the initial mapping. A questionnaire (27 items) was sent to key persons (n=73) in the groups. The fourth and final study had a partially deductive approach. One aim was to improve our understanding of the roles played by different kinds of knowledge in the groups. A second aim was to test whether the participants in the groups were “peers” or whether there were leaders in the groups in terms of creating, upholding and representing different kinds of knowledge. Four groups, comprising 18 migraine sufferers, were examined by means of a personal questionnaire, a network test and group interviews.The results of the studies showed that 0.5 percent of the population in the selected regions belonged to a self-help type of group at the time for the study. The most common problems among the 228 groups found were related to alcohol (44), illness and physical disorder (41), grief (22) and parenthood (21). Group members emphasized the importance of mutual understanding in their groups, and in the thesis the groups are understood on the theoretical basis of sociology of knowledge. The thesis argues that a specific kind of knowledge - experiential knowledge - is developed in self-help groups. This kind of knowledge is based on mutual understanding and contributes to a deeper understanding. Some differences between experiential knowledge and professional knowledge are highlighted. Besides mutual understanding, the participants valued the spirit of community and the information given in the groups. Finally, the results indicate that groups that had a formal leader (representing professional knowledge) tended to value information more, while groups where the participants were peers (relying on experiential knowledge) primarily valued mutual understanding.In this thesis, self-help groups are seen as belonging to the third sector, and therefore as related to voluntary organizations. However, it is argued that self-help groups may be a contemporary phenomenon with the participants often being consumers rather than members. Despite the group constellation, self-help groups may sometimes have the value of an individual project.
4.
Whitaker, Anna
(författare)
Livets sista boning : Anhörigskap, åldrande och död på sjukhem
2004
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This thesis is based on an empirical study carried out as a case study at a nursing home ward in the region of Stockholm. The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the conditions of ageing and dying for the old persons living in a nursing home, as well as for their relatives. Different methods were used: participant observations, informal conversations with the elderly residents, with the staff and with visiting relatives. Furthermore, twenty-one (in-depth) interviews with eighteen relatives were also conducted. From the results it became clear that the two major features embedded in the overall experience of the nursing home setting were: a sense of waiting and the presence of dying and death. For the residents a major part of daily life was marked by their dependency on others and on their bodily decline. It is argued that the institutional features contribute to reinforcing the images/pictures of bodily decline. As such, the nursing home also had a significant impact on the experiences of the relatives. The compact environment of frailty and death could arouse feelings of anxiety and worries among the relatives about their own ageing and death. Analyses of the data based on the interviews with relatives indicated a number of central patterns: accompanying each other, understanding the old person’s health and needs, recreating roles, sharing the care and preparing for dying and death. These also form the theoretical structure of the thesis. A finding of the study was that the relationship between the old person and the relative underwent important changes. Not only the placement in itself but also the poor health of the old person contributed to this change. As a consequence new roles emerged within the relationship, as well as with the staff. Many relatives continued to visit and also contributed to the care even though this care work could vary and mostly was quite limited in both content and extent. One group among the relatives not only visited, but they truly shared the old person’s daily life. It was found that relatives, irrespective of the caring role, try to guard and maintain the identity and dignity of the old person. Based on an analysis of the different themes/processes found in the data, four core categories emerged: time, space, body and dignity. They all constitute the existential condition that affects the lives of the old persons and their relatives in an institutional setting. They also embrace the complexity and contradictions that characterise the data. Therefore, in the concluding chapter, the spatial and temporal contradictions of the nursing home are discussed. Another issue concerned the bodily themes found in the data and how these illuminate the diverse meanings and the, sometimes, contradictory images of the body. These themes led to the conclusion that it is not death, but the bodily disintegration and unboundedness that the old persons and their relatives fear most. Finally, it is argued that the “light care work” carried out by the relatives is so much more than sporadic visits. Instead, these visits can be seen as 1) rituals contributing to a sense of continuity and coherence, 2) representations of the relationships and 3) a way in which relatives can maintain and guard the old person’s identity and dignity.
