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- Andréasson, Frida
(författare)
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Doing informal care : Identity, couplehood, social health and information and communication technologies in older people’s everyday lives
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the thesis has been a) to analyse how informal care influences the identity of carers and care recipients, their sense of couplehood and social health, and b) to explore the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the context of informal care and the everyday lives of older people. Study I focused on how older carers conceptualised their identity as carers on a Swedish online social forum, using a netnographic methodology. The findings indicated a change in self-perception as the carer role was acquired. Carers’ capacities were filtered through the needs of the care recipient, making their carer identities into invisible selves. The findings revealed that online communication had the potential to create a virtual space of social recognition. Study II aimed to reflect on carers’ experiences of participation in a co-design process consisting of user group sessions with carers and researchers. The goal was to develop a web-based support programme for carers. The findings emphasised a need to consider carers’ lifeworlds and to develop flexible human-centred design methodologies, that are able to balance carers’ needs and ideas with proposed research outcomes. Studies III and IV utilised an ethnographic methodology. In study III, the notion of couplehood in informal care was analysed. The findings showed that in the process of becoming a carer and a care recipient previous (often gendered) responsibilities were re- negotiated and new practicalities emerged. Although these changes were understood as a natural part of family life, they nevertheless led to changes in the (power) balance between spouses, expressed in terms of a professionalised relationship and a sense of social isolation. ICT was used as a means to get a respite from caring and uphold a social connection with others. In study IV, the social implications and consequences of spousal informal care and carers and care recipients’ experiences of illness and the ill body was explored. The findings showed that the participants experienced barriers to living life as before. Thoughts about or the presence of ill and “leaking” bodies thus lead to “self-chosen” social isolation or social distancing by others. The thesis highlights that informal care needs to be understood as an identity forming practice, having a significant impact on involved parties’ sense of couplehood, their social health and that ICT can contribute to ease carers’ and care recipients’ daily life.
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| 2. |
- Grönte, Maria
(författare)
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Skam, moralarbete och faderskap : en studie om mötet mellan socialsekreterare och pappor vid våld i nära relationer
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Men's domestic violence and/or abuse (DVA) is a widespread social issue. Often, the men are fathers, and the victims are mothers and children. In Sweden, social workers (SWs) are expected to involve these fathers in child protection investigations (CPIs) and work towards changing their behavior. However, engaging fathers in CPIs has proven to be a challenging task, especially when they involve DVA by fathers. The overall aim of this licentiate thesis is to examine how fathers can be engaged in CPIs initiated as a result of their suspected DVA against the mothers of their children. The licentiate thesis is a compilation thesis that consist of two articles, with the first having been published in a peer-review journal and the second submitted to a journal awaiting review. Using qualitative methods. I conducted semi structured interviews with 15 social workers on a total of 31 occasions during their work with 12 ongoing CPIs. Seven fathers have also been interviewed. The interviewed fathers had been involved in CPIs as a result of their DVA against the mothers of their children and had undergone treatment targeting their violent/abusive behavior.The interviews with the SWs are addressed in the first article, and the interviews with the fathers in the second article. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The first article examines the strategies used by SWs to achieve cooperation with fathers in CPIs that involve the father being suspected of DVA against the child's mother. This analysis is rooted in the framework of shame, guilt, and social bonds. The results suggest that whether social workers succeed in achieving cooperation with fathers is related to the social workers' strategies of building secure social bonds with the fathers, which may alleviate the fathers' feelings of shame. However, there is a risk that these strategies may lead to DVA being minimized or overlooked. Striking a balance between building a social bond and addressing DVA is crucial, and the timing of addressing DVA plays a central role. The second article highlights fathers' experiences of interactions with SWs in the context of CPIs initiated as a result of their DVA against the mothers of their children. In particular, the focus is directed at how ideals of fatherhood, power relations, and shame influence fathers' experiences of engaging in these meetings. The analysis is guided by shame, guilt and social bonds linked to a gender theoretical framework. The results suggest that DVA contributes to fathers violating moral ideals of good fatherhood, which threatens to deprive them of contact with their children and also triggers feelings of shame. In the CPIs, it is the SWs, often female, who hold power over the processes while fathers are subordinated, which challenges expected power structures and hegemonic masculinity ideals. Fathers' engagement in CPIs is enabled when fathers adopt a subordinate position, which is facilitated by SWs meeting them with care and non-judgmental attitudes. This subordinate position can be a useful means for fathers to maintain an intact masculine position when DVA is exposed, shame is triggered, and their fatherhood and social bonds are threatened. However, SWs need to be attentive to the risk that fathers may both downplay their DVA and adopt positions that may be perceived as caring, egalitarian, and change-oriented even though their dominance – in the form of DVA – may persist.In summary, the study indicates that it is challenging but possible to successfully engage these fathers in CPIs. The study suggests that SWs need to balance building social bonds with the fathers and addressing the violence without imposing further shame. The findings highlight a particularly crucial aspect in the interaction, which is the SWs' ability to meet the fathers in a way that they do not feel judged for who they are - perpetrators of DVA. Instead, focusing on the violence as actions, on what they have done. In doing so, actions are separated from the self and can instead manifest as guilt. This approach can both facilitate fathers' engagement in CPIs and point towards taking responsibility for and changing the violent/abusive behaviors.
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| 3. |
- Hoppstadius, Helena, 1970-
(författare)
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Mäns våld mot kvinnor : Diskurser och kunskap i det sociala arbetets praktik
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I avhandlingen analyseras vilken kunskap och diskurser som vägleder socialtjänstens arbete med mäns våld mot kvinnor. Avhandlingens övergripande frågeställningar fokuserar på: diskurser om mäns våld i Socialstyrelsens utbildningsmaterial, socialarbetares kunskapsbehov och hur dessa tillgodoses, samt socialarbetares uppfattningar om mäns våld mot kvinnor. Avhandlingen har ett feministiskt och intersektionellt perspektiv och bygger på två delstudier. I den första delstudien används kvalitativa metoder, och empirin består av fem utbildningsmaterial om mäns våld mot kvinnor som publicerats av Socialstyrelsen. Empirin analyserats med hjälp av Carol Bacchis policy approach What’s the Problem Represented to be?, och Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys. Empirin i den andra delstudien utgörs av enkätdata som inhämtats bland 153 socialarbetare verksamma i socialtjänsten i tre svenska kommuner med olika demografi och geografisk placering. Avhandlingen visar tre centrala resultat. För det första framställs mäns våld i könsneutrala termer och våldet beskrivs som ett relationsvåld och/eller familjevåld. För det andra problematiserar utbildningsmaterialens texter inte mäns överordning, de fäster inte heller någon särskild vikt vid strukturella orsakssammanhang. För det tredje centreras kunskapen och diskurserna kring individuella behov och orsaker. Främst fokuseras behoven hos de grupper av kvinnor som Regeringen menar är särskilt sårbara för våld. Det senare leder till att kvinnor kollektiviseras och att mäns ansvar för våldet, i synnerhet svenska män, och sambandet mellan våld, jämlikhet och andra sociala strukturer förbises. Professionell erfarenhet i ärenden där våld förekommer och utbildning inom området är faktorer som socialarbetarna anser bidragit till att öka deras kunskap. Trots detta uppger respondenter med lång arbetslivserfarenhet, hög utbildning, och fortbildning att de saknar kunskap om mäns våld mot kvinnor. Även fast att socialarbetarna upplever kunskapsbrist, visar resultatet att socialarbetarna endast tagit del stöddokument i begränsad omfattning. Den här avhandlingen bidrar med kunskap om vikten av språkanvändning och hur vi förstår mäns våld mot kvinnor. Resultatet kan användas för att ifrågasätta och utmana rådande normer om mäns våld i samhället.
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