| 1. |
- Ahnlund, Petra, 1973-
(författare)
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Omsorg som arbete : Om utbildning, arbetsmiljö och relationer i äldre- och handikappomsorgen
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: At the central administrative level in Sweden, care work is presented as a complex task for which personnel require special qualifications. In elderly care, questions of training and qualifications form the highly topical theme noticed by central actors. According to The National Board of Health and Welfare, the supply of manpower and the educational levels of the workers are the most important factors in ensuring high quality care for the elderly. The question of educational levels is, however, with the exception of personal assistants, not given as much attention in care for people with disabilities. Aim: The aim of this dissertation is firstly to compare elderly care and care for persons with disabilities with the focus to describe and analyse education and work environment in these sectors. Secondly, the aim is to analyse if, and if so how, questions of education interacts with personnel’s view of the social work environment. Methods: The thesis is comprised of four studies and paper 1, 2 and 3 are based on the results of a qualitative interview study, which was comprised of 48 persons who worked in elderly care and the care for persons with disabilities. Of the 48 persons who took part in the study, 11 of them worked as middle managers and 37 worked as care workers in the every day care. Paper 4 consists of a research summary on how education for care workers is being studied in a Swedish and an international context. The personnel who participated in the interview study work in different care settings; in elderly care the personnel work in both sheltered housing and public home care services. In the care for disabled persons, the personnel work in residential housing with special services, in public daily activities for people with intellectual disabilities and as personal assistants. Result: Both managers and personnel find it important for care workers to have a degree of educational background as a basis for the learning process at the work place. The results also show that educational levels and the work environment are themes that are discussed differently by different actors. In previous research on education for care workers in both elderly care and the care for People with disabilities, academic education or education at a ground level has been seen as problematic due to the distance it is said to create between the worker and the care recipient. My results show that the discussion about education for care workers has become rather biased, and that highly educated personnel tend to be more aware of the power they possesses and that the relation to the care receiver is important. In elderly care the issue of education seems to be more a question of a general educational level. In the care for people with disabilities, the question of education for personnel is on a more individual basis, where the care workers learn together with the care recipient. Educational levels, the work environment and relations with colleagues and care recipients are connected and support from the managers is important for understanding the work and the relational perspective.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Katarina, 1963-
(författare)
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Omsorg under förhandling : - om tid, behov och kön i en föränderlig hemtjänstverksamhet
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish welfare state, and public elderly care of today in particular, is under transformation in many respects. Organisational restructuring, such as downsizing and new forms of organisation, mainly influenced by New Public Management, are some of the factors that have affected home care service. The purchaser/provider model is the applied organising model in the investigated municipality in one of the bigger towns in Northern Sweden. These changes, in combination with demographic changes which means an increasing elderly group who receive home care service, and the fact that more men carry out the care work, point towards some important themes such as time, needs and gender. The empirical material, consisting mainly of interviews, has been analysed from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. The voices of three groups; the care managers’, the care workers’ and the elderlys’ have been allowed to “inform” each other. The focus has directly and indirectly been on the elderly and the care they do or do not receive. The aim is to describe and analyse the conditions for meetings that take place between the elderly and staff in a home care service in transformation, based on the statements given by the different actors. Twelve women and four men in the group of care workers and six female care managers were interviewed. Four women and two men represented the group of elderly. A perspective on strangership, influenced by Simmel, is introduced to illustrate some of the aspects that cannot be taken for granted in care in a changing public home care service. Methodological choices and how these are handled, have been crucial. Important conclusions made are that meetings that take place in the home care service may look very different and can therefore not be viewed in terms of either only one aspect or another, or a combination of both, but rather as in concurrence. Time, needs and gender are subjected to negotiations in the hierarchy of the social services. The problems connected with time and the view of needs, are constantly moving around within and between the groups, but nevertheless remain. Gender is present in home care service in a way that contradicts the officially fixed neutrality of gender. A typical example is when care managers argue that gender is not a relevant factor in the needs assessments, even though this seems to be the case. The public home care service constitutes an arena, where constant negotiations between different groups and on different levels take place. In this divided organisation, negotiations concerning time, needs and gender are continuously in progress. Keywords: Care, elderly care meetings, elderly, care managers, care workers, public home care service, home care service in transformation, time, needs, gender, strangership, negotiations
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| 3. |
- Blomberg, Barbro, 1946-
(författare)
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Inklusion en illusion? : Om delaktighet i samhället för vuxna personer med utvecklingsstörning
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The background to this thesis lies in the great changes that have occurred in the disability field during the last threes decades. The purpose of this thesis is to describe, analyze and try to understand how these changes impact on life conditions for adult persons with mild intellectual disabilities. The main focus in this study is to listen to the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities themselves. The questions addressed in the study are; how do people with intellectual disabilities experience participation, citizen-ship, social exclusion and social inclusion in society? Where are their daily arenas and what characterizes those arenas in terms of citizenship, exclusion and inclusion? What type of experiences do they have from encountering people in the community, from encountering the organisations and staff that provide support and service and from the consequences of disability policies in practise? How do staff close to them work to reach the goals of participation? What role can professionals play in supporting participation? Which possibilities and barriers do the staff experience?Empirical data for the study has been gathered by qualitative methods, mainly participant observations and interviews but also from document analysis of local authority documents, official guidelines, laws and national and international disability policy documents.The theoretical framework is based on theories about citizenship and participation. Social exclusion and social inclusion are the sensitizing concepts in this study. For the interpretation and analysis theories about citizenship, participation and categorization were used.In the light of the empirical findings the results of the study show that three main themes were promi-nent. The first theme concerned the daily arenas, were there were both excluded arenas and included are-nas with various forms of interaction with the society. The arenas for support and service in housing and daily activities are described as excluded arenas with mainly internal social interaction. On the other hand the new arenas such as daily activity centres, located in the community, such as cafés, shops run by peo-ple with intellectual disabilities together with staff had frequent interaction with other people in the soci-ety. The second theme concerned the content in the encounters between respondents with intellectual disabilities and different actors in the community. The informants had both positive and negative experi-ences of these encounters. The encounter with the disability policy was, according to this dissertation, that the user informants hade many experiences of lacking social citizenship but also that they experienced structural inclusion when politicians listen to them and answered their questions. The third theme con-cerned how the staff works to reach the goals of participation where both possibilities and barriers exist on structural and individual levels. This study illustrates the user informants’ many experiences of citi-zenship and social exclusion but also examples of social inclusion.In the concluding chapter the results are discussed and analyzed in relation to the theoretical frame-work, where the concept of categorisation was very important. Finally, the description of the process clearly illustrates the difficulties for disability service organisations to develop support and services that are adapted to the actual disability policy. The results shed light on the gap between theory and practise.Some of the most positive changes towards inclusion in society for people with intellectual disabilities come from services run by users and staff close to them. Final conclusions and reflections of the results in the study are that support and service also can be discussed in terms of universalism in order to reduce the process of categorisation.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Hjelte, Jan, 1965-
(författare)
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Samarbete i gränsland : Om relation och kommunikation i samarbete mellan skola och barnomsorg
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is a case study about the forms of appearance and the consequences of relations and communication in collaborative work between school and child-care providers. The empirical data consists mainly of interviews, but include also a number of written documents.The aims of the study are:• First, to review how relations and communication appear in collaborations between school and child-care.• Second, to examine the consequences of relations and these communica-tions for cooperation between different professions in school and child-care.• Third, to review how these relations and communications between child-care and school are influenced by organizational conditions.The theoretical frame of reference has four sections. The first comprises some comprehensive assumptions for the thesis. The second deals with perspectives on relation and communication. The third discusses cooperation as organizing of social processes. The fourth examines, from a neo-institutional standpoint, how organizational conditions influence professional relations and communication in these collaborations.Regarding relations, the analysis shows that there was regular face-to-face-contact between different professional groups but variations in frequency of contact. One contributing cause to the variations was geographical distance. Another cause was the extent to which the groups shared common interests. It also became evident that there were variations in the distribution of power partly caused by systemic, structural, conditions and partly by episodic and temporary aspects.The analysis also shows that communication has four content types. First, work communication, refers to the everyday communication in cooperation. News- and status communication concerns actors, at different levels, informing other actors about their status. Management communication, partly concerned the coordination of areas of responsibility on the management level. It also con-cerned the managers’ direction of the operative level. Value and culture communication, included discussions about the underlying assumptions of different programs.Relations and communication affected those areas of knowledge and those programs that would be a part of the cooperation. If the actors did not agree with one another they had to negotiate to reach an agreement that both parties accepted. Communication also influenced the opportunity to organize cooperation around children’s needs. For example communication influenced flexibility in the cooperation. To make this possible continuous communication was necessary as was the opportunities to create similar knowledge about each other’s competence and how it was manifested in the practical work.Regarding the organizational conditions, institutional rules affected the actors opinions about whom they should cooperate, and therefore communicate, with. In spite of that, the actors on the operative level had a space to act strategically. Therefore the implementation of cooperation, to a great extent, was formed in communication between actors who were involved in the every day work.
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| 6. |
- Ineland, Jens, 1972-
(författare)
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Mellan konst och terapi : Om teater för personer med utvecklingsstörning
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this dissertation, a qualitative research project has been conducted focusing on two theatres for persons with intellectual disabilities. The aim of the dissertation was to analyze the ideological tension between artistic practises and the institutional setting in which they are arranged. The aim of the thesis was answered through the following questions: What happens when a new and innovative logic is introduced on a well established organisational field? How do Rebellerna and Ållateatern translate and manage the institutional setting under which they are working? How do Rebellerna and Ållateatern relate to the surrounding environment? The analysis is based on a qualitative research project conducted over a period of two years on Ållateatern and six mounts on Rebellerna. Theoretically, the analysis has been inspired by disability theory and neo-institutional theory. In the dissertation I argue that Rebellerna and Ållateatern, in their formal structure, reflect two different logics, which have influenced their relationship with the institutional environment as well as with the actors working at the theatres. These logics have been interpreted as a consequence of the need for human service organizations to obtain legitimacy from the institutional environment. However, on an individual level the tension between an artistic logic and a therapeutic logic has had a social meaning for the actors working at Rebellerna and Ållateatern. It has generated a selfunderstanding which besides the role of a client to the welfare state also includes the role of an actor. These experiences have generated a stronger belief in their own capabilities and a sense of pride. It has also challenged established social meanings on intellectual disabilities. However, one conclusion in the thesis is that both Ållateatern and Rebellerna have had an impact in influence the organisational field of daily activities. Another conclusion is that the tension between therapy and art on an individual level represents an important building block to generate a formation of identity and sub-cultural belonging.
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| 7. |
- Isaksson, Joakim, 1976-
(författare)
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Spänningen mellan normalitet och avvikelse : om skolans insatser för elever i behov av särskilt stöd
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden, an increasing number of pupils are defined as having some form of difficulties in school. In order to receive special support measures in school, these difficulties must have been subject to a pedagogical examination that state that the pupil is in need of special support measures. This work of identifying and defining difficulties implies that questions about normality and deviance inevitably come into play in school. There has been an increasing demand in school politics to identify these difficulties as early as possible, and this demand has placed further pressure on school personnel in this issue. Furthermore, the personnel’s perspective on the difficulties is also important, i.e., in terms of their origin, because this has importance for the design and content of the special support measures. The overall aim of this thesis is to analyse the tension between normality and deviance that is manifested in the school’s work procedures for pupils with special educational needs. Related to the overall aim, four overarching research questions are addressed. How have pupils with special educational needs and special education been articulated in national policy documents during recent decades? What perspective on school difficulties are being portrayed in schools’ individual educational plans for pupils with special educational needs? How do school personnel identify and differentiate pupils with special educational needs from “normal” pupils? How do pupils with special educational needs and their parents experience the special support measures that they receive in school and what seems to be the main concern of such support measures? The thesis consists of four studies that are based on different empirical materials such as policy documents, individual educational plans (IEPs) and qualitative interviews with school personnel, pupils and parents. The methods that are used for analysing the material are policy analysis, content analysis and grounded theory. The results show that the target group for special support measures has been ascribed with different meanings (over time) in policy documents, something that has affected the recommendations of the support measures and the choice of actors who are assigned to provide such support. Furthermore, the IEPs, as well as the interviews, reveal that an individual perspective on school difficulties seems to be deeply rooted in school. The identification process of special educational needs followed three models: a pedagogical model, a social model, and a medical/health model. However, the process of sorting out and defining these pupils invoked ambivalent feelings in the school personnel and the school class usually became the frame of reference for normal or deviant behaviour. Finally, the pupils’ and parent’ main concern of special support measures in school were described as a struggle for recognition and inclusion. The results are discussed with theoretical perspectives on school difficulties and special education. In the concluding discussion, it is argued that pupils with special educational needs have to balance between normality and deviance in school, but also between a pedagogical and a medical discourse by means of having a medical diagnosis in school.
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| 8. |
- Jacobsson, Maritha, 1960-
(författare)
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Terapeutens rätt : rättslig och terapeutisk logik i domstolsförhandlingar
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this dissertation, I explore a quite unique legal situation, namely administrative court hearings relating to coercive interventions: the Care of Young Persons Act (LVU), Care of Abusers (Special Provisions) Act (LVM), and the Compulsory Psychiatric Care Act (LPT). There are three central participatory roles in the court hearings: The official party is the authority who files the application for coercive intervention – either a chief psychiatrist or a social welfare board (typically represented by a social worker or sometimes a lawyer assisted by a social worker), whereas the citizen party is the person about whom the application is brought. The citizen party is represented by a legal representative. The professionals represent two different logics: therapeutic and judicial.The purpose of this dissertation has been to study the tension between therapeutic and judicial logic in court hearings relating to compulsory care. With theoretical concepts from Scott (1995) and Wetherell & Potter (1998), it is possible to say that the therapeutic and judicial logics are built up by institutional elements that are communicated through interpretative repertoires. Three questions are central:1. How do professional participators handle the different role expectations embedded in therapeutic and judicial logic? In this case, I am particularly interested in role conflicts faced by social workers and psychiatrists.2. How do different institutional elements (regulative, normative/cognitive) play out in the court hearings?3. To what extent can these court hearings be considered a scrutinizing order of discourse, where the arguments of official party are subjected to critical examination?In my analysis I am inspired by both critical discourse analysis and organizational theory, more precisely, new institutionalism. These two perspectives provide useful insights and make it possible to combine the micro- and macro levels in the analysis. Data for the analysis consist of 43 court hearings and 31 interviews, gathered from two different county administrative courts in Sweden. All written documents used and produced by the courts are also part of our data.The dissertation consists of five studies that indicate that the court hearings hardly can be described as a scrutinising order of discourse. In spite of this, the court constantly finds that the legal criteria for coercive intervention are satisfied. Neither the official party nor the legal representative argue according to a judicial logic. Instead, therapeutic logic dominates the order of discourse. When the arguments for compulsory care are therapeutic, they are not explicitly related to the criteria in the law. In my interpretation, the reason why the conflict between therapeutic and judicial logic is not realised can be found in the existence of a logic of normalisation. This ideological logic of normalisation can be found in most of the institutions in the Swedish society and are built on the idea of traditional welfare norms.
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| 9. |
- Karlsson-G, Sofie
(författare)
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Tillsammans men var för sig : Om särboenderelationer mellan äldre kvinnor och män i Sverige
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary family life and intimate relationships today are characterised by increasing heterogeneity. In the growing body of research on this differentiation, the role of the elderly people has largely been ignored. But to an increasing extent the "young old" (65-74 years of age), in particular, are active participants in the process of the differentiation of intimate relationships. One of the least researched contributions of the elderly to the restructuring of contemporary intimate relationships is the establishment of lastint intimate relationships that do not include a mutual home, i.e. an alternative to marriage or other forms of cohabition. This type of relationship is referred to as Living Apart Together (henceforth LAT-relationships. In Swedish: särboende). The aim of this thesis is to examine LAT-relationships among elderly heterosexual individuals in Sweden, focusing in particular on the influence of this type of relationship on commitments, intimacy and autonomy. A major dilemma is the question of who should provide the care and service that ageing often demands. A pluralistic methodological approach has been adopted in the four differnt papers in this thesis, whick includes the use of a qualitative pilot study, a broad quantitative questionnaire study, a qualitative interview study and finally a qualitative study with a lifestory perspective.
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| 10. |
- Levidioti-Lekkou, Spyridoula, 1945-
(författare)
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Adolescents' voices : mental health, self-esteem, sense of coherence, family functioning and life attitudes in Swedish and Greek adolescents
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Several factors have been identified as related to mental health in adolescence, such as competences, behavioural/emotional problems, self-esteem, and sense of coherence. Studies also emphasise the importance of family functioning and cultural factors.Objectives: This study investigates and compares the mental health of adolescents in relation to family functioning and socio-cultural variables in Sweden and Greece. Furthermore, Swedish and Greek adolescents' attitudes about life issues are studied. For Greek youths, mental health and gender variations in attitudes were studied as well.Populations and Methods: The study included 583 Swedish and 238 Greek school-aged adolescents aged 13 through 18 years. The Swedish sample was recruited from students at a Junior High and a High School in the town of Lycksele close to the University town of Umeå and the Greek sample was selected from three High schools and three Lyceums in Patras. The two samples were selected to represent the socio-demographic strata in the study areas.Achenbach's Youth Self Report (YSR), Rosenberg's Self-Esteem, Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence (SOC), and Beavers (SFI) scales were used. Out of the large sample, adolescents who reported either high or low on Achenbach's Youth Self Report–47 Greeks and 47 Swedes–were selected for semi-structured interviews.An interview guide with semi-structured questions was created to gather information about life attitudes. The questions addressed a broad spectrum of everyday life issues to understand how youths orient themselves to life–the central themes of an adolescent life and the basic codes of behaviour related to mental health, family, and culture.Results and discussion: Results revealed significant differences and some simi-larities between Swedish and Greek adolescents. According to YSR, the Swedish adolescents had fewer mental health problems than the Greek adolescents. Although this difference was most evident for internalized problems, it was also evident for externalized problems. These differences were seen for both sexes in most problem areas identified by YSR. In both countries, girls had higher prob-lem scores than boys. Age group comparisons followed the same national differences mostly obvious for the two oldest age groups. As for sense of coherence, all of the Greek groups had higher scores. For self-esteem, no differences were found in the comparison between total group scoring, but Greek girls and Swedish boys had better self-esteem compared to their counterparts. Greek adolescents scored their families higher on family health competence.With respect to attitudes about life issues, Greek youths reported more problems related to self, more fears of social dangers, losses, and illness. In addition, they turned more often to their family for support during difficult times. More Greek youths believed in God than their Swedish counterparts. The two groups identified similar family problems. The Swedes reported more fear about their future and tended to trust public authorities more during times of difficulty. Greek adolescents revealed social concerns, fears about the future and social dangers, and using own coping and family support to face these issues. Mental-health and gender patterns influenced some attitudes. Greek adolescents' attitudes about education, and messages sent to their parents are also presented. Both groups' attitudes about faith and homosexuality are shown.They both emphasised the importance of social and career position. Swedes, however, more often expressed a desire to have a family within five years. We recommend that counselling be offered in schools to provide students with life skills and to improve communication with their parents. This support should help parents and children face relational and behavioural issues of children. In addition, we recommend educational support be provided to Greek youths.
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