| 1. |
- Addelyan Rasi, Hamideh, et al.
(författare)
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Empowering newly married women in Iran : A new method of social work intervention that uses a client-directed problem-solving model in both group and individual sessions
- 2013
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - London : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 12:6, s. 765-781
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We set out to assess the processes by which a personal empowerment-oriented intervention based on learning spaces and the Rahyab problem-solving model can help newly married women in Iran to gain more control over their life situations. Learning to use the problem-solving model independently was an important component of this seven months’ educational program. A descriptive field study design based on qualitative methods was employed for data collection and analysis. The analysis of these processes showed how, through group and individual interventions, these women could influence their intimate relationships by altering their thoughts, their management of emotions, and their overt behavior. We invite more research on how empowerment-oriented interventions can be used to support newly married women as a part of family educational programs.
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| 2. |
- Ander, Birgitta, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
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“We are not like those who/…/sit in the woods and drink” : The making of drinking spaces by youth
- 2020
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 19:3, s. 424-439
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article applies the concepts of place and space to understand youth and their engagement in risky behavior, such as drunkenness. It is based on the prolonged engagement with 23 underage youth coming from smaller municipalities in the south of Sweden. The study was comprised of semi-structured interviews, field visits, and observations at sites relevant for youths. In the stories narrated by youth, drunkenness is no longer an ad hoc activity conducted somewhere at the margins of society. The construction of drinking spaces was accomplished through highly managed, monitored, and organized practices, such as sending out invitations in advance, planning how much alcohol to drink, designating drivers, and securing transport means. Crucial to this was that spaces were products of relations existing between various youth, with no adults present. Spaces of drinking changed as those who participated in their construction changed. In addition, certain rules and codes of conduct (e.g. taking care of friends who drunk too much) were enforced to assure that the constructed spaces provided a sense of safety and enabled having fun. We conclude this article by arguing that a focus on place and space brings forward vital aspects in understanding the role of transforming party spaces that would otherwise remain obscure to social work knowledge and practice.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Peter
(författare)
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Victims, perpetrators, scapegoats and Russian dolls : Narrating violence within secure units for adolescents from a staff perspective
- 2023
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 22:1, s. 47-66
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A rise of violent incidents at secure units for adolescents has been reported by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. Meanwhile, research aiming to understand how staff manage violence seems to be lacking. By examining an in-depth narrative by one staff member, “Meral”, this study aims to understand, on the one hand, how staff describe the violence they encounter in light of the context and situation, and on the other, how they describe their handling of violence from outside the immediate environment. Drawing on Georgakopoulou and Bamberg, identities are understood to be produced and performed within personal narratives from different positions in relation to one’s surroundings. The study shows how Meral’s professional identity is shaped and affected by violence. Of essential importance is the way Meral presents herself to herself: as “not afraid.” A narrative interpretation is that fear does not fit within the framework of the professional identity for staff. A key element of placing essential responsibility on staff to manage violence is keeping lines of communication open, which could be made clearer in policy documents, training and supervision. Therefore, studies like this one could result in the development of communication strategies for staff. This is important because emotional rules can generate emotional cultures that in the long run can be destructive for both staff and young people. Only when the emotional rules are identified can staff develop strategies for dealing with the violent incidents that are part of their professional life in a qualified way.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Blomberg, Helena, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Children helping to co-construct a digital tool that is designed to increase children’s participation in child welfare investigations in Sweden.
- 2022
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:2, s. 367-392
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How do children (aged 6-12 years) understand and make use of a digital tool that is under development? This article builds on an ongoing interdisciplinary research project in which children, social workers (the inventers of this social innovation) and researchers together develop an interactive digital tool (application) to strengthen children's participation during the planning and process of welfare assessments. Departing from social constructionism, and using a discursive narrative approach with visual ethnography, the aim of the article is to display how the children co-construct the application and contribute with "stories of life situations" by drawing themselves as characters and the places they frequent. The findings show that the children improved the application by suggesting more affordances so that they could better create themselves/others, by discovering bugs, and by showing how it could appeal to children of various ages. The application helped the children to start communicating and bonding when creating themselves in detail, drawing places/characters and describing events associated with them, and sharing small life stories. The application can help children and social workers to connect and facilitate children's participation by allowing them to focus on their own perspectives when drawing and sharing stories.
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| 6. |
- Blomberg, Helena, 1970-
(författare)
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“We’re not magicians!” On the use of rhetorical resources in Swedish news media narratives portraying the social services and social workers
- 2019
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications Inc.. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 18:2, s. 229-246
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article focuses on how the Swedish news media depicts the functioning of the social services and the situation of social workers. The empirical material consists of 586 articles published online during the years 2010–2015. A discursive approach makes up the theoretical and methodological framework. The aims of the article are to identify and categorise media narratives about social services and social workers, how they are portrayed, what is conveyed and how the stakeholders’ (politicians, managers and social workers) negotiate the question of responsibility for the situation in the social services. The study identifies and categorises seven different types of media narrative. In these narratives, social workers are portrayed in various ways, such as unwilling to stay in the profession, concerned, hardworking, etc. Reports on the crisis in the social services tend to dominate, e.g. how the social services fail to follow-up cases of child abuse, social workers’ heavy workload and that legal security cannot be guaranteed. Stakeholders, faced with reported criticism, maintain credibility by taking some responsibility and/or displacing liability by using various rhetorical resources. The media produces a public image of the lack of responsibility for solving the problematic situation. In this respect, the take-action-narratives are central to the debate, which argues for joint action to be taken to find solutions. Although the media is a powerful and scrutinising tool, it also needs to report on the improvements that have been made in order to give a more balanced picture of the social services.
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| 7. |
- Borell, Klas, et al.
(författare)
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The Repertory Grid Technique in Social Work Research, Practice and Education
- 2003
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 2:4, s. 477-491
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article provides a brief introduction to the Repertory Grid Technique and aims to demonstrate the use of the technique in different social work contexts. The Repertory Grid Technique draws from an open interview procedure that requires respondents to classify and evaluate elements within the environment on a numerical scale according to their own personal constructs. The result of this interview is a cognitive matrix of elements and constructs that can be explored in both a qualitative and a quantitative manner. Several applications for the practice, education and research of social work are suggested, with the overall purpose to heighten the perception of individuals' mental construction of their social life.
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| 8. |
- Borg, Marit, et al.
(författare)
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The role of work in recovery from bipolar disorders
- 2013
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 12:3, s. 323-339
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being in recovery from bipolar disorder involves work-related concerns. The specific aims of this study are to: 1) understand the role of work in recovery from bipolar disorders, and 2) understand how people with such disorders deal with work-related challenges. These topics are examined from the stance of the recovery process, in which work-related activities were explored. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with persons who had experienced recovery from bipolar disorder. Analysis was performed through thematic and phenomenological analysis, with hermeneutic phenomenology and reflexive methodology as a framework. The findings are presented through the following themes: 1) many types of work - finding meaning and a focus; 2) helpful roles and contexts - to be much more than a person with an illness; 3) making work possible - the role of supportive relationships and supportive medications, and 4) the costs of working too much - finding a meaningful and healthy balance.
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| 9. |
- Bryant, Lia, et al.
(författare)
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Place and space in social work
- 2020
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 19:3, s. 321-336
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 10. |
- Börjesson, Ulrika
(författare)
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From shadow to person: Exploring roles in participant observations in an eldercare context
- 2014
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 13:3, s. 406-420
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores participant observation as a research method and more specifically addresses the intriguing situation of the researcher's role in interacting with participants in the setting. The materials used in the analysis are field notes from participant observations focused on staff at two eldercare units in a mid-sized city in Sweden. Because limitations when referring to Raymond Gold's roles of participant observations are known but sparsely described and discussed, this text attempts to provide that description and discussion. The specific question posed in the article is, (How) do roles for the researcher in participant observations change during the course of fieldwork? Randall Collins' theory on interaction ritual chains is used as an analytical tool to identify symbols in the two staff groups. The examples chosen from the field are symbols displayed at the units, which moreover illustrate that the researcher’s roles in participant observations not only change once or twice during the course of fieldwork but also change continuously. Consequently, fieldworkers shift roles in different situations when observing a variety of people and settings. Observations are developed in the interaction between the researcher and the participants; therefore, referring observations to a number of roles is restrictive and limiting.
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| 11. |
- Degner, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Investing in a Formal Relationship : Support Persons’ View of Treatment Involvement Regarding Young Persons in Residential Care
- 2010
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 9:3, s. 321-342
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- From the point of view of ecological and attachment theory, professional and non-professional support persons can be an important link between young persons placed in Swedish residential treatment centres (RTC), their families, and staff at the centre. Through interviews with 23 support persons, the aim of the study is to explore characteristics of the relationship between support persons and the young person, and the support persons’ experiences of obstacles to and opportunities for treatment involvement at the facility. The findings show that most support persons describe an emotional relationship with the young person, while a few describe an instrumental one. Most support persons report limited opportunities for treatment involvement, mostly due to facility staff’s non-encouraging attitude, whereas a small group report positive involvement strategies from both staff and social welfare agencies. It is noteworthy that those reporting positive involvement opportunities already have access to the facility because of their professional relation to the residents (e.g. as social welfare officer in charge of the resident’s placement). The importance of staff encouragement of relations between support persons and residents during the RTC placement is discussed.
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| 12. |
- Ekström, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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'I don’t think you will understand me because really, I believe' – Unaccompanied female minors re-negotiating religion
- 2020
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 19:4, s. 719-735
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The role of religion in migration has been a contested subject in previous research and social work practice, with religion being considered both a bridge and a barrier to integration. When considering unaccompanied female minors, struggling to be recognised beyond the prevailing image of the victimised refugee girl, religion is sometimes seen as a force of oppression rather than a tool for integration. In this article, we focus on the embodied practices of young women?s lived religion in a context where such practices are constructed as otherness. Based on an interview study with 11 unaccompanied female minors, this article explores the identity negotiations that emerged when migrating from societies where religion plays an integral part in everyday life to a society with highly secular values. By using the concept of (oppositional) gaze, we explore how these young women negotiate their identities at a point where the normative, invisible gaze meets the embodied practices of lived religion. We demonstrate how these young women are themselves agents of their own faith, and we confirm previous research that points to religion as a support structure for unaccompanied minors; however, not without causing friction in their new society. The study shows how lived practices of religion and the development of an oppositional gaze can function as mutually reinforcing processes in identity negotiation. In social work, understanding the role of religion through lived practices might contribute to a more holistic approach when creating solutions for young people experiencing turbulent circumstances of arriving in a new country.
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| 13. |
- Eliassi, Barzoo, 1978-
(författare)
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Constructing Cultural Otherness Within the Swedish Welfare State: The Cases of Social Workers in Sweden
- 2015
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 14:4, s. 554-571
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the article is to analyze how social workers frame the social problems of immigrant clients in Sweden. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 20 social workers in three different Swedish municipalities. While Swedish social work often assumes a discourse of color-blindness and universalism, this study indicates that Swedish social workers not only see cultural differences but also regard these differences as central when they frame, assess, and formulate their interventions. The discourse of culturalization not only produces and reinforces the ideas of cultural hierarchy and Swedish superiority, but it also tends to obstruct non-European immigrants from equal participation in the Swedish society since they are not allowed to enjoy their full citizenship. Consequently, there is a need for social work in Sweden to rethink its culturalist framework and go beyond cultural reductionism and take into consideration other issues such as unemployment, housing conditions, poverty, social isolation, marginalization, and ethnic discrimination.
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| 14. |
- Flinkfeldt, Marie, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Conversation analysis in social work research : A scoping review
- 2022
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:6, s. 1011-1042
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Given the emphasis on communication in social work, the empirical study of social work interactions is an important area for research. By examining recordings of naturally occurring social interaction and analysing participants’ practices in close detail, conversation analysis (CA) provides rigorous resources for understanding the practical challenges and opportunities of professional intervention. Since the origins of CA in the 1970s, this approach has been used for investigating interactions in a wide range of institutional domains. Based on articles published in peer-reviewed journals in English, this scoping review maps the development of CA in social work research. The review gives an overview of the institutional contexts, professional groups and client groups that have been investigated using CA methods, as well as how their interactional practices have been examined. We show contributions of CA to understanding social work in terms of specific interactional practices, how practitioners accomplish challenging institutional activities in interactions and how theories and ideals about interactions relate to social work practice. The review highlights research gaps concerning clients’ resources for pursuing agendas, embodied conduct in social work, contributions to the cumulative body of CA research and implications for practice. We discuss these findings in relation to CA as a relatively new approach in social work research and the challenges which CA may need to address to become a more integrated part of social work research and practice.
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| 15. |
- Frost, Elizabeth, et al.
(författare)
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Outsiders and learners: Negotiating meaning in comparative European social work research practice
- 2017
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 16:4, s. 465-480
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper draws on two experiences of undertaking comparative research in England, Sweden and Italy, and offers a discussion of the kinds of dilemmas raised in relation to language and meaning surfaced by these. Its primary focus is to examine the reflexive construction of meaning, both in relation generally to the workings of an international research team and, more specifically, how such construction of meaning impacts on the process of qualitative interviewing across linguistic and cultural boundaries. The article argues that a culture of reflexive research practice is helpful for approaching national differences, to facilitate understanding in internationally mixed research teams and to support and empower participants in research, in second languages and differing cultures. Overall, the paper attempts to advance some tentative ideas that other inter- national researchers may be able to consider and deploy in relation to their own research ambitions.
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| 16. |
- Gunnarsson, Nina V., et al.
(författare)
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The “good” and the “bad” subject position in self-injury autobiographies
- 2022
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:5, s. 974-994
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Utilizing published autobiographies, we explore how individuals who self-injure discursively construct their experiences of the self and self-injury. The authors construct their selves into two seemingly opposite subject positions, here named the "bad girl" and the "good girl." For the most part, the authors identify themselves with the "bad girl" position. Although there is a struggle to uphold normalcy in front of others, they regard evidence of the "good girl" position as fake. We demonstrate how they, to a large extent, accept the dominant discourse of self-injury as an individual and pathological problem for which they tend to blame themselves. However, they also challenge the negative subject position by separating themselves discursively from the bad "side of the self." Acts of self-injury are described as a way to cope with the negative perception of themselves and at the same time being what causes feelings of self-loathing. Thus, understanding how the psychomedical discourse affects individuals who self-injure as well as the consequences of the medicalization of self-injury are of importance. Furthermore, social workers may be in a legitime position to work with the self-representations and the social factors that may underlie an individual's need to cut or in other ways physically hurt oneself.
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| 17. |
- Gunnarsson, Nina V.
(författare)
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The scarred body : A personal reflection of self-injury scars
- 2022
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:1, s. 37-52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Self-injury is deemed a pathology and a deviant practice that is not socially sanctioned and culturally accepted as soothing and healing the self. The marked female body is also pathologized and perceived as deviant; hence, having self-inflicted scars may easily lead to social stigma, shame, and the need to hide the scars. In this personal reflection I explore how self-inflicted scars can have the same meaning as self-injury to control the self and act as self-expression, and how the marked female body can be a resistance to the cultural idea of femininity. I draw upon my own personal experiences of self-inflicted scars and how these scars have become intertwined with my identity. I have carved or burnt my body in different situations and from different moods in the past, but they are all with me at the present and will be with me in the future. Without the scars, I am not the person that others see me as or I see myself as. I sometimes feel that I would be nothing without my scars.
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| 18. |
- Hammarén, Nils, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Masculinity as a problem: An investigation into social work projects in Sweden targeting young men
- 2015
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 14:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, we report on a study that investigated the motives, interests, and positions of a number of participants in the field of social work and projects for men and equality in contemporary Swedish society. The material used was collected from an evaluation of a number of social projects in Swedish civil society that focused on men and boys. The common goal in these projects is to develop methods and tools that are usable in social work with men and boys. In the article, we will highlight eight of the projects included in the evaluation. The points of departure for these projects are often an agenda putting forward a problematic masculinity and focusing on men at risk of either harming themselves or others. The various social work projects use two different approaches to social work with men and boys. A number of projects tend to lean on “traditional” images of gender, using a compensatory approach to gender and society. Other projects are clearly inspired by a feminist movement among men and lean on a norm critical tradition with influences from, for instance, Judith Butler’s work. The results of the study call for a discussion of how social and economic conditions affect the understanding of masculinity. If the goal is to deconstruct homogenous gender categories, we have to emphasize the variety of gender constructions, identities, and power relations.
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| 19. |
- Hedin, Lena, 1951-
(författare)
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Support and challenges in the process of leaving care : A Swedish qualitative follow-up study of foster youths' lived exeriences
- 2017
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 16:4, s. 500-514
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This in-depth follow-up study presents some foster youths' lived experiences from when they were teens in a new foster family through the process of leaving care. Their transition to adulthood was delayed because of disturbances in their school situation; however, as adults they took advantage of the possibility to study. The narratives reveale the crucial importance of social workers, and what is needed to make their relations with youth trustful. Even though there were placement breakdowns along the way, in retrospect they all see the benefits of their foster family: as a steady base when needed or just as a construction of a 'good family' that they keep in mind. Most striking is the young people's agency in overcoming challenges and obstacles, which led to increased maturity and self-confidence, though it depended on having some kind of security in their social situation. Facebook plays a vital role in keeping relationships alive, which is especially important for those without a secure base in their family or peer group. It appears that their striving for independence is intertwined with a need for interdependence on the way to adulthood, with varying emphasis over time. Mixed qualitative methods were used: interviews, network maps and The Expereince Sampling Method.
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| 20. |
- Henriksen, Oystein, et al.
(författare)
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Communicating parent community at prevention meetings in Norwegian schools
- 2016
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 15:1, s. 55-69
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Parental cooperation has increasingly become a key component in alcohol prevention efforts in schools. Many prevention programs actively utilize parent participation in order to strengthen the sense of community between parents, develop shared attitudes toward alcohol use, delay the beginning of alcohol use for adolescents, and limit alcohol usage by young people. Strengthening community is thus a core goal in prevention activities. This article analyses how community is developed and expressed in discussions during formal school meetings involving parents. The data used in the analysis consists of audio recordings of parent meetings in alcohol prevention programs for eighth-grade students at four separate schools in different regions of Norway. The analysis focuses on how personal pronouns are used in the conversations to signal inclusion or exclusion from the community. The article also discusses how different discursive expressions of community are used by meeting participants to position themselves as responsible parents, and the relevance of these meetings for social work.
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| 21. |
- Hjörne, Eva, 1956
(författare)
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Negotiating the 'Problem-child' in School: Child Identity, Parenting and Institutional Agendas.
- 2005
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 4:4, s. 489-507
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently neuropsychiatric diagnoses have come to play an important role in Swedish schools when handling dilemmas encountered in the context of children who experience difficulties. The general interest of the work reported here is the issue of when and how such diagnoses (notably Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD]) are assigned to children. In the present study, an analysis of the interaction between parents (who are reluctant to consent to testing) and the school representatives is reported. It is shown that the experts have already decided beforehand to get the boy tested for ADHD. The attempts to persuade the parents that this would be beneficial for everyone include such arguments as that it would make it easier for the school to help the pupil, and that it would even make it easier for the parents to relate to their child. Any alternatives, such as pedagogical issues or relational/environmental circumstances, were never discussed during the process.
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| 22. |
- Hosseini, Mostafa, 1988
(författare)
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Toward a creative and imaginative research approach: Collage as a method of inquiry in social work
- 2024
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Qualitative research in social work employs various scientific approaches to explore the diversity and depth of human life, with interviews and observations being commonly used. Situated within an arts-based research (ABR) framework, this study explores participants’ experiences of collage-making, and how collage can be used as a methodological approach for collecting empirical data. Four themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Collage: a dynamic visual language in art and communication; (2) Collage: a method for reflecting, sharing, and bonding; (3) Collage: the ethics of associative creation; (4) Collage: the prerequisites of time, space, and place. Working with collage can be highly participatory and exploratory, developing meaningfulness, imagination, and new insights for both researcher and participant. It promotes an egalitarian and holistic approach to listening to people, enabling them to convey their experiences using visual, verbal, and metaphorical language. Nevertheless, the process is time-consuming given that collage-making lacks a distinct endpoint or limitation. Using this method requires time, participant commitment, researcher involvement, and a trustworthy workgroup. Moreover, the free and associative nature of creating collage, alongside the act of cutting pieces from one’s life and assembling them into a new whole, raises ethical questions. In conclusion, collage as a method of inquiry for collecting empirical data creates promising conditions for capturing stories of people’s lives, aspirations, struggles, and experiences of social processes and political concepts. With appropriate conditions in place, the process can be a meaningful experience for all involved.
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| 23. |
- Hydén, Margareta
(författare)
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The Teller-focused Interview : Interviewing as a Relational Practice
- 2014
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article traces its origin to 25 years of qualitative study of men’s violence towards women in close relationships. Major methodological concerns have involved finding ways to facilitate and support the research participants – women, men and children – in formulating themselves in as genuine and multifaceted a narrative as possible. Over the years, the approach ‘the teller-focused interview’ has emerged, with its theoretical and methodological base in feminist research, narrative theory and methodology, and a dialectical way of thinking about the relationship between interviewer and interviewee. It views them as partners with different tasks and responsibilities in the research process. This dialectic is referred to as a ‘relational practice’. It is argued that the methodological concerns brought up are not limited to the area of violence towards women but are also applicable in studies of various types of human experience that are complex, sensitive, and difficult to bring up. Indications for the use of the approach will be addressed, and basic aspects of the relational practice of tellerfocused interviewing will be presented. Some remarks on the relationship between qualitative research and psychotherapy will also be included.
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| 24. |
- Högström Tagesson, Emmy, et al.
(författare)
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“When We talk about intimate partner violence We talk in an adult way” : Social workers’ descriptions of intimate partner violence between teenagers
- 2022
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:2, s. 332-348
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines how seven social workers within the Swedish social services describe intimate partner violence between teenagers (IPV-BT). The article adds to the literature by examining IPV-BT outside a U.S. context, where most studies have been conducted. Based on semistructured qualitative interviews, the authors analyze descriptions of IPV-BT in relation to Charles Tilly’s notion of category making through transfer, encounter, negotiation, and imposition. They also analyze how the social workers’ descriptions of IPV-BT relate to the intersection between age and gender. The results show that the social workers mostly described IPV-BT by referring to encounters with teenagers and by transferring knowledge and theoretical definitions from their specialized working areas, primarily intimate partner violence between adults (IPV-BA) and troubled youth. More rarely, the social workers based their definitions of IPV-BT upon negotiating dialogues with teenagers. Also, those who worked in teams specialized on IPV had the mandate to impose their definitions of IPV-BT to other professionals and teenagers. When taking age and gender hierarchies in consideration, the results show IPV-BT risks being subordinate IPV-BA on a theoretical level, a practical level and in terms of treatment quality. The study suggests that social work with IPV-BT needs to be sensitive to the double subordinations of the teenage girl and of the teenagers who do not follow gender expectations.
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| 25. |
- Iversen, Clara, Docent, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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The uses of small talk in social work : Weather as a resource for informally pursuing institutional tasks
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:6, s. 1043-1062
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Welfare organisations across the world are becoming more streamlined with less time for building relationships with clients, rendering non-governmental organisations increasingly important for welfare provision. In this paper, we investigate an understudied area in social work: the small talk through which volunteer organisations conduct social work tasks in interaction with clients. The data consist of 108 phone calls to a helpline that offers social contact to older people, recorded in 2020 in Sweden. We use conversation analysis to investigate how callers and call-takers rely on and produce informal sociability in providing support for clients. Specifically, we show that talk about the weather, a prosaic small talk topic, is interwoven with institutional work. By allowing or preventing outdoor activities, weather is a conduit for call-takers and callers to introduce and navigate norms of remaining active as an older adult. Cultural understandings and concerns about good or bad weather allow participants to move between reproducing client/service-provider asymmetries and reaching affiliative affective stances. Thus, the supposedly banal topic of the weather, known as a resource for sociability amongst the unacquainted, is, in this setting, used in ways particular to social work practice.
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| 26. |
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| 27. |
- Karlsson, Lis Bodil
(författare)
-
'Schizophrenic or Occult Harrassed?' : A Narrative Study of an Autobiographical Text about Auditory and Visual Hallucinations
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 8:1, s. 83-100
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article analyses a first-hand account written by a male voice hearer. He believed that he was exposed to black magic, while psychiatric staff diagnosed him as schizophrenic. Narrative analysis of the voice hearer's text revealed important knowledge, unrevealed if only the content of the text had been analysed. The voice hearer wanted to initiate dialogue with his readers, including professionals such as social workers. They should not simply dismiss a person as schizophrenic before listening to the story of one troubled by his voices. This study offers one possible way of using language within social work to communicate with the client about his condition.
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| 28. |
- Khoo, Evelyn, et al.
(författare)
-
Child Welfare or Child Protection : Uncovering Swedish and Canadian orientations to social intervention in child maltreatment
- 2002
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 1:4, s. 451-471
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article details our findings from focus groups with social workers in Sweden and Canada illuminating similarities and differences in the process of social intervention in child mal-treatment. We identified six categories that form the bases for hypothesizing different orientations of child welfare and child protection: Gate Keeping; Skills in Context; Client Identity; Decision Points; Compulsion; and Measures. We analysed participants’ descriptions and uncovered how these descriptions of social intervention in child maltreatment connect to model orientations in both countries. In Swedish child welfare, there is a greater readiness to intervene with more resources and measures, intervention is assessment driven and focuses on family preservation. In Canadian child protection, only the most needy children are eligible for a limited range of services, intervention is structure driven and more narrowly focused on protection and permanency planning. The implications of these findings to social work are discussed.
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| 29. |
- Khoo, Evelyn, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
-
The road to placement breakdown : foster parents' experiences of the events surrounding the unexpected ending of a child’s placement in their care
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 13:2, s. 255-269
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Placement breakdown is a frequently occurring phenomenon in the context of out-of-home care. Although research has pointed to the many problems associated with placement instability and breakdown, less is known about foster parents’ experiences. We carried out deep interviews with foster parents to investigate connections between their caring experiences and experiences of placement breakdown. Results of our study demonstrate that breakdown is a complex process rather than a single event – a process that starts in the discrepancy between the statutory obligations of the social services toward the foster home and the foster parents’ perceptions of the kind if information and support they actually receive from the social services. High demands are placed on foster parents’ ability to provide care and offer a loving home to children who have been raised in difficult environments and who have behaviour problems. The road to breakdown also included a lack of knowledge about the child’s needs, insufficient understanding of the placement process, a difficult relationship with the social worker, and a lack of individualized service with the right supports at the right time. Although the placement may have ended in breakdown, foster parents described a continuing relationship between their families and child which was of lasting significance.
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| 30. |
- Klausen, Rita K., et al.
(författare)
-
Motherhood and mental distress : Personal stories of mothers who have been admitted for mental health treatment
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 15:1, s. 103-117
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a need for qualitative studies on motherhood and mental distress. Many mothers have a diagnosis of mental illness, and their motherhood exists in constant tension with their distress. This paper focuses on 10 mothers' stories about motherhood in relation to being admitted as mental health service users in three different Norwegian community mental health centers. The study has a narrative approach, and through a thematic analysis of personal stories, we emphasize how the 10 women make sense of their experiences of admittance to mental health services in relation to dominant Discourses of good motherhood. Themes identified were: (1) being able to put oneself in the child's shoes; (2) the emotional impact of being admitted; (3) being open with the children about the admission; and (4) being an emotionally available and present mother. Based on the results of our analysis, we suggest the mothers experienced their distress as a natural reaction to life strains over time, and that they relate to the admissions as interruptions. This underlines the necessity of a more holistic approach, with a support system that focuses on both personal and social aspects of motherhood and mental distress.
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| 31. |
- Lindgren, Cecilia, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
-
Here and now - there and then : Narrative time and space in intercountry adoptees' stories about background, origin and roots
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 13:4, s. 539-554
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Intercountry adoption policy emphasizes openness in relation to adoptees’ background. However, because intercountry adoption is a complex web of relations including individuals, institutions and countries, it is impossible to foresee what background, origin and roots will mean to the adopted individual. The present article examines what meanings adoptees themselves ascribe to background, origin and roots. A total of 22 internationally adopted men and women participated in focus group conversations. The participants were invited to discuss their diverse experiences and opinions on these matters and their stories were analyzed from a narrative perspective. The analysis focuses how time and space were made significant in narratives about background, origin and roots. Two contrasting stories – the here-and-now narrative and the there-and-then narrative – are discerned, but further analysis of the narrative space and time dimensions shows a much more complex pattern beyond these extremes. Adoptee narratives characterized by an open time dimension deal with what could have happened, alternative lives, and the analysis shows how these alternative lives are storied and valued. Furthermore, when adoptees tell their stories about background and roots, ‘there’, i. e. the birth country, is ascribed different meanings. Our analysis shows that the categorization of space as wide or narrow, in the sense of collective or personal, respectively, is useful in understanding the different approaches to background and roots. Based on the present results, we suggest that social workers may wish to organize their counseling along the time and space dimensions of adoptees’ narratives.
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| 32. |
- Lynch, Michael
(författare)
-
Re-working Empowerment as a theory for practice
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 17:3, s. 373-386
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores power relations in the classroom and subsequently seeks to rework empowerment as a theory for practice. The discussion is located in a practice setting where an intervention for school children with behaviour and concentration difficulties, delivered by the author, was researched as part of his doctoral thesis. The works of Michel Foucault, seen in this paper as a post-structuralist, are tied together with those of the pragmatist John Dewey in an effort to re-work an understanding of empowerment that can withstand current social work practice tensions of power and control. This theoretical argument is illustrated by referring to qualitative data gathered from vignette interviews conducted with the students at two time points in the research. The concluding position in this paper is one of seeing empowerment in a more robust manner that can incorporate a post-structuralist understanding of power relations and yet allow space for the possibility and development of human agency
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| 33. |
- Majlesi, Ali Reza, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
-
Transferring from wheelchair to bed : (Re)subjectifying and partner-positioning a person with late-stage dementia in the care task
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:6, s. 1185-1210
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Assisting people into bed is in many ways centered around the person's body-it is the body that needs to be moved and laid down. As a result, the body's material and tangible properties-the body as an object-are foregrounded. This study demonstrates, however, how care workers, when assisting a person with late-stage dementia into bed, maintain a balance between handling the body of the care-recipient as an object of care and including the person as a co-participant in the activity, highlighting the participatory role of the person, and thus positioning the care-recipient as a partner in the activity of the transfer. Drawing on multimodal conversation analysis, and presenting two cases of transfer, the study shows that the activity of moving into bed is usually organized into three consecutive sequences of (a) preparing the move, (b) transfer proper, and (c) adjusting the resident in bed. In every phase of the activity, caregivers, through careful and coordinated embodied and verbal interactions, manage the care-recipient not only as an object of care and her body as an objective body but also as a lived body, highlighting the agentive and subjective aspects of the resident's personhood. The results of the study point to care workers' skillful handling of interactional resources to deal with the social sensitivity of moving assistance-dependent residents to their bed through partner-positioning the resident, and thus (re)subjectifying the person with late-stage dementia despite the objectifying aspects of the transfer.
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| 34. |
- Mesinovic Klecina, Lejla, 1979, et al.
(författare)
-
Sweden’s front-line: an ethnographic approach to understanding child protection decisions
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The focus of this article is on exploring the rationales behind social workers’ decision-making in everyday tasks that involve handling new referrals regarding children and families. Such decisions are made in a legal context, but at the same time require the use of discretionary space and reasoning based on sources of professional knowledge. Drawing on qualitative data compiled through an ethnographic approach, this study provides an insight into everyday practice, reasoning and decision-making. The study demonstrates that one of the important rationales for decision-making is derived from the social worker’s direct experience of interacting with parents and children. A particular aspect of the interaction, parents’ reactions to being referred, is scrutinized and serves as a form of validation for legal action.
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| 35. |
- Michelson, Stina, 1979-
(författare)
-
Children’s agency when experiencing family-related adversities : The negotiation of closeness and distance in children’s personal narratives
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 22:2, s. 286-301
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Children’s perspectives on family-related adversities are important to social work practice and theory. Qualitative inquiry into children’s personal narratives can contribute to a deeper understanding of their project of handling difficult relationships and experiences in the family context. The present study explores children’s agency with a specific focus on how they negotiate difficult family-related relationships and experiences in, and through, their personal narratives. The analysis builds on teller-focused interviews with 22 children aged between 6 and 17 who receive support linked to their experiences of family-related adversities. The findings suggest that children negotiate difficult relationships and experiences in terms of closeness and distance. This is shown in their narrative practice of positioning and repositioning themselves and others in, and through, their telling. The findings are theorized in relation to the concepts of power and misrecognition. Finally, the implications for social work practice and research are discussed with an emphasis on how to promote a non-instrumental attitude to children’s perspectives and experiences within the child welfare system. The present study suggests that this pursuit would benefit from a child-centered and narrative understanding of children and their knowledge.
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| 36. |
- Michelson, Stina, 1979-
(författare)
-
Children’s narratives about well-being in the face of difficult life experiences : Renegotiated self-understandings as turning points
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 23:2, s. 282-297
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Children who experience family-related adversity have stories to tell about well-being in the face of difficulties. These stories provide knowledge about how children handle their experiences and make sense of themselves. This study aims to investigate children’s perspectives on experiences that have contributed to their well-being in the face of difficulties, with a specific focus on turning-point narratives. Twenty-two children (aged 6–17) were interviewed, on two occasions each, about themselves and their lives. The findings show that children emphasize protection, support, and knowledge as contributing to their well-being. Furthermore, the findings show that those who narrate turning points do so in relation to three interrelated aspects: identification, directedness, and self-relationship. In their telling, these children are engaged in the project of renegotiating their self-understanding. The core contribution of the study is the notion that a renegotiated self-understanding, in and of itself, may be an important part of children’s well-being. The findings have implications for social work practice because they suggest that children in difficult life situations may benefit from support that offers them a space to examine old ideas about identity and agency in relation to new ones.
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| 37. |
- Moberg Stephenson, Maria, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
-
Constructions of young migrants' situations in kinship care in a Swedish suburb by social workers in a non-governmental organisation mentoring programme
- 2020
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 19:5-6, s. 901-916
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Young migrants defined as ‘unaccompanied’ tend to be constructed as a homogeneous group with specific vulnerabilities and strengths in social work practice. ‘Unaccompanied’ young migrants placed in kinship care in Sweden are constructed with further vulnerabilities. Such constructions of these young people and their situations may have consequences for how social support for them is designed. The aim of this study is to explore how the social workers employed at a non-governmental organisation mentoring programme construct young migrants’ situations in kinship care in a Swedish suburb, and if and how these constructions change during the course of the programme. Methods used are semi-structured interviews with the social workers at the youth centre where the mentoring work takes place and analysis of the non-governmental organisation’s policy documents. The results consist of three constructions of situations the young people are in: (1) loneliness and (a lack of) support in the kinship homes; (2) alienation in the local neighbourhood and the kinship home and (3) social, cultural and family contexts creating a sense of safety. The results show variation in how the mentors describe each situation with both vulnerabilities and strengths. This highlights a complexity in the constructions that contests the image of young migrants in kinship care as merely vulnerable. These results reveal consideration of individual differences and contexts, and are used to discuss how people’s struggles and resources can be dealt with in social work.
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| 38. |
- Neander, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
-
Bridging the gap - the co-creation of a therapeutic process : reflections by parents and professionals on their shared experiences of early childhood interventions
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - London : Sage. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 7:3, s. 289-309
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to explore parents' and therapists' experiences of treatment processes in early childhood interventions. The parents and their therapists reflected on their experiences in joint interviews. The interpretation led to the crystallization of five central themes. The starting point was marked by 'parents' fear versus professional(s') confidence'. This formed the background against which both parties aimed at 'making sense of the situation'. The subsequent therapeutic process was characterized by the parents' and the professionals' 'striving for reciprocal responsiveness' and it led to the 'alteration of inner images'. Finally the two parties made a 'retrospective reflection on the nature of the relation'. Together these themes constitute the co-creation of a therapeutic process by bridging a gap that is created by fear, by power differentials and by differences in familiarity with the context. The parents shoulder responsibility for creating a cooperative relationship, and this is facilitated if they meet a 'normal, friendly and knowledgeable therapist who is capable of admitting that he/she may be wrong'.
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| 39. |
- Neander, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
-
Important meetings with important persons : narratives from families facing adversity and their key figures
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 5:3, s. 295-311
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study families that have struggled with their relationships to their children have identified people who have had a positive influence on the child or the family. By enabling meetings between the parents and these key figures the participants were given an opportunity to together recall their contact. The aim of the study was to examine the understanding they constructed of these beneficial processes. Interpretation according to Max van Manen’s hermeneuticp-phenomenological method led to the crystallization of a number of central themes. These themes together constitute the following whole: these are narratives about ‘emerging mutual trust’, which ‘overcomes obstacles’. The key figures or ‘important persons’ have a ‘clear orientation’ in their occupation and they work in ‘the essential everyday world’ to find and establish ‘contexts that nourish development’ in children and parents. The outcome of this is the creation of ‘new narratives’ that replace the old ones.
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| 40. |
- Nilsson, Elin, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Persuasion in practice : Managing diverging stances in needs assessment meetings with older couples living with dementia
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:6, s. 1123-1146
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Swedish Social Services Act stipulates an individual perspective that promotes self-determination. In practice, this means that relatives lack formal rights to intrude on a person with dementia's right to self-determination in decisions about elder care services. However, the Social Services Act also states that family members who are caring for a close relative should be offered support. This legislation may lead to contradictions within social work practice with couples. The aim of the present article is to explore how social workers manage needs assessment meetings in which couples living with dementia express diverging stances and the partner with dementia resists an offer for elder care services. We benefit from conversation analytic theory and methodology. The findings suggest that social workers accomplish persuasion through these four conversational practices: 'providing information about the offer', 'mitigating the offer', 'positive framing of the offer' and 'laying down conditions for the offer'. Also, local alliances with the partner of the person with dementia were demonstrated throughout. The analysis shows that PwDs provide resistance to the offered services, but there are no examples of a PwD influencing the outcome in terms of offered services. The results raise questions about the effectiveness of persuasion in needs assessment meetings. The findings also add to the critical debate on how social workers may be constrained by institutional logics and where relational competence is needed to balance and coordinate decision-making when assessing the needs of older couples living with dementia.
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| 41. |
- Nilsson, Elin, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
What is yet to come? : Couples living with dementia orienting themselves towards an uncertain future
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 18:3, s. 475-492
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dementia is a chronic illness that not only has substantial effects on the life as well as future for the individuals diagnosed, but also affects those with whom these individuals have relationships. This has implications that need to be addressed by professional practice, not least since social work research has shown that the support available for couples managing dementia is insufficient. There are few studies today of how couples jointly talk about their future with dementia and how they adapt to it as a couple and as individuals. Therefore, this article explores how couples in which one of the spouses has a diagnosis of dementia jointly talk about an uncertain future with dementia. The study benefits from using the conversation analytic method when studying video-recorded interactions among 15 couples living with dementia. The results show that either or both spouses can actively request knowledge about the progression of dementia, but at the same time, the spouses without dementia express awareness of the uncertainty that is connected to a future with dementia. Moreover, either or both spouses may also express contentment with “not knowing.” In all examples, one or several of the participants alternate between taking epistemic stances of knowing and unknowing as well as ascribing stances to others, and spouses can display similar or oppositional stances. The findings suggest a need for developing communicative practice for couples to jointly talk about dementia, as well as a need for social workers to find ways of providing emotional support.
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| 42. |
- Olaison, Anna
(författare)
-
Creating images of old people as home-care receivers: Categorizing needs in social work case files
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 0:0, s. 1-19
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Central to the assessment process in case management is howolder people’s needs are constructed through documentationand case files. This article examines how older people’s needsare categorized in written documentation. Sixteen case filesfrom three social work districts in Sweden were studied usingdiscourse analysis. The results identified two general types ofcase files; the fact-oriented (using objective language) andevent-oriented case file (using more personal language) –which depicted the older individuals quite differently. Allcase files employed several need categories; though socialneeds were important in describing living conditions, it wasmedical and physical needs that impinged on home care decisions.This raises questions about how case documentationdepicts older people through society’s eyes and about thediscourses prevailing in gerontological social work.
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| 43. |
- Osvaldsson, Karin, Professor, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
-
A weak case for solitary confinement : Categorisation, collegiality and accountability arrangements in a special residential home
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:6, s. 1229-1251
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article is a single case analysis of trouble talk taking place between teachers and care workers at a Swedish special residential home for boys and young men (aged 12-20). The topic of the talk is a potentially unwarranted solitary detention of a student. Using sequential- and Membership Categorisation analyses, we examine the participants methods for talking about the event as institutionally problematic while avoiding to blame the teacher responsible for the disciplinary action. Specifically, we demonstrate how the grounds for the confinement were initially disputed by the care workers and how an extended negotiation with the teachers eventually lead to a jointly acceptable account of the event. This involved recasting the event as a real-life experience that should afford the student important opportunities for socialisation into the social and institutional orders which inform daily life at the residential home. More generally, the analysis demonstrates how presumed knowledge of social and institutional structures and practices is mobilised and negotiated - through categorial ordering work (Hester & Eglin, 1997) - in the service of coming to terms with the complex accountability arrangements of the special residential home.
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| 44. |
- Silvén Hagström, Anneli
(författare)
-
'Suicide stigma' renegotiated : Storytelling, social support and resistance in an Internet-based community for the young suicide-bereaved
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 16:6, s. 775-792
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- From a social constructionist and narrative perspective on grief, which emphasizes the connection between situated storytelling, meaning-making and self-formation, this article explores the power of collective storytelling in an Internet-based community of the suicide-bereaved. This is a context where young mourners who have lost a parent to suicide, among others, turn for social support, which is another main focus of the article. Using Scott and Lymanￜs taxonomy of ￜaccounting practicesￜ to explain ￜunanticipatedￜ or ￜuntoward behaviorￜ, the approaches to meaning-making of suicide applied in this context for support exchange are analyzed, in the accounts of the parentally bereaved participants and in a co-produced bereavement story. The results showcase how the narrative framing for the interpretation and organization of the suicide experience provided by the website editors as a resistance to the ￜsuicide stigmaￜ, together with the power of the experience accumulated by many, can potentially work to destigmatize and empower the parentally bereaved participantsￜ grief. In addition, this public storytelling is acting to spread ￜlived knowledgeￜ and thereby to counteract suicide stigma in society. Ultimately, the results constitute a call for a return to a narrative orientation in social work practice. By adopting a teller-focused approach as part of assessment and treatment, social workers could inspire the often traumatized and stigmatized individuals they encounter to become narrators of their own life- and self-narratives, and to assist in the construction of a more tolerable meaning and identity from their experiences.
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| 45. |
- Skillmark, Mikael, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
-
The pursuit of standardization in domestic violence social work: A multiple case study of how the idea of using risk assessment tools is manifested and processed in the Swedish social services
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 18:3, s. 458-474
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This multiple case study examines how the idea of using risk assessment tools is manifested and processed in Swedish social services. Based on the analysis of interviews with different stakeholders and of organizational documents in two social service organizations, we investigate the actors who control local risk assessment practices. The findings illustrate that a relatively small group of social workers in the organizations have been able to forward their claims and decide how risk assessment work should be carried out without much intrusion from local managers or politicians. The findings also validate other studies that found that increased standardization can strengthen social workers’ ability to perform their professional task rather than lead to de-professionalization. This article ends with a discussion of what risk assessment practices might mean for domestic violence victims.
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| 46. |
- Spånberger Weitz, Ylva, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
-
Professional or authentic motherhood? : Negotiations on the identity of the birthmother in the context of foster care
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 20:3, s. 703-717
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores birth parents’ negotiations on the identity of the birth mother in three narratives about shared parenthood in foster care. The article draws on data from an interview study exploring the views of 16 birth parents on their experiences of foster care and non-resident parenthood. Through a position analysis, the authors show how the identity of the birth mother is negotiated in light of the moral discourse on intensive mothering. In these stories, birth mothers are positioned as authentic mothers holding a unique, emotional and life-long bond with their children. In contrast, foster mothers are positioned as professional mothers carrying out the formal activities of everyday care. Birth parents re-negotiate the moral discourse on intensive mothering by downplaying the importance of everyday care. The article thus adds to our knowledge on how non-resident mothers find different ways of constructing a sense of mothering, when they are not able to take part in the everyday care of their children. An understanding of such processes is important for social work practice to handle the challenges that may occur in relationships between foster parents and birth parents and thereby to support a more collaborative approach of shared parenthood.
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| 47. |
- Thell, Nataliya
(författare)
-
“Do I understand you right then?”: (re)formulations of users’ initial problem descriptions in social services’ online chat
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In anonymous online text-based counselling provided by social services, counsellors face specific communicative and professional challenges. Among other things, they need to ensure that they have understood the chat users correctly in order to provide relevant information and advice. The paper studies how counsellors check their understanding of users’ situations by using formulations, namely, summarising and rephrasing users’ initial problem descriptions. The data consists of chat logs from 56 web-based counselling sessions provided by social services in Sweden. Conversational analysis is used to examine the functions of chat counsellors’ formulations. Analyses show that counsellors reformulate users’ initial requests to establish a joint understanding of the users’ situations and help requested. Three distinct functions of the initial formulations are identified: recasting requests in the institutional terms of social services, clarifying ambiguity in the user’s initial posts and affiliating with the user.
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| 48. |
- Turner, Russell, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Navigating survivorhood? Lived experiences of social support-seeking among LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner violence
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : SAGE Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 23:2, s. 242-260
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Seeking and receiving social support following violent and abusive relationships is a complex process, involving a range of barriers for anyone. LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner violence face additional barriers to both seeking and receiving appropriate help, yet few studies have explored the way these barriers are navigated from the experiential viewpoint. Knowledge of the subjective journey to access social support may help improve social work practice with LGBTQ people leaving abusive relationships. This study explored the lived experiences of support-seeking through in-depth interviews with LGBTQ survivors of IPV in Sweden (n = 7, age range 18-56). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used for interview design, conduct, and analysis to offer a detailed, first-person, and contextual account of the support-seeking process. Drawing on a phenomenological analysis of lifeworlds, five main themes were produced which illuminate some of the shared experiential features of participants' journeys to access support. Within each main theme, the analysis also highlights divergences relating to participants' differing lifeworlds. The analysis thus provides an in-depth, phenomenological understanding of the support-seeking process, including the barriers to, but also the individual and social enablers of, seeking support. Support-seeking processes for LGBTQ survivors of IPV may, at the experiential level, be more diffuse than current theoretical models suggest, with relational 'strategies of navigation' being of primary concern to individuals. For policy and practice, the importance of the wide range of generic professionals, who may be the first point of contact, should be emphasised, as well as the role of family and friends as a support and catalyst in the support-seeking process.
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| 49. |
- Verhallen, Tessa, et al.
(författare)
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Family support and child protection approaches : historicising perspectives on contemporary discourses of social work
- 2019
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 8:2, s. 286-301
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines the impact of two prevailing and seemingly opposed ideologies in child welfare in Western societies over the last century (‘family support’ and ‘child protection’) on social work practice. It scrutinises social work practice in two cases of Dutch-Curaçaoan single-mother families experiencing multiple problems. An ethnographic approach was chosen to study the two families in depth. It shows that, although the cases share many characteristics and circumstances, the social work outcomes diverge. This suggests there is a thin dividing line between support and protection. We argue that the interrelationships between the two base categories and social work practice can be better understood through a historicizing conceptualization of discourses. We suggest that an ethnographic enquiry is suitable for grasping the processual dimensions of social work practice with families as it leads to a more in-depth understanding of, paraphrasing Foucault: the historical interweaving of relations of discourse, of power, of everyday life and of truth.
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| 50. |
- Wallroth, Veronika, fil.dr, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Older adults' experiences of being at a senior summer camp : A phenomenographic study
- 2022
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Ingår i: Qualitative Social Work. - London, UK : Sage Publications. - 1473-3250 .- 1741-3117. ; 21:5, s. 956-973
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Senior summer camps are arranged by more and more municipalities in Sweden with the purpose of creating a place where older adults can meet and mitigate their social isolation. The aim of the study is to understand, from their own point of view, how the participants experienced senior summer camp. A phenomenographic approach was used to surface the older adults' experiences and analyze the data. Three descriptive categories evolved: "A pleasant environment to be in", "Something to do for everyone" and "Breaking one's loneliness". Findings from this study suggest that just getting away, not having to cook, seeing and experiencing something else, and having company when eating food or doing activities meant a lot to the participants, who all have different experiences of loneliness. Knowing that other people were lonely made the participants at the senior summer camp realize that they were not to blame for their loneliness.
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