Hedersrelaterat våld och praktiserandet av traditioner som arrangerade äktenskap och polygami har aktualiserat diskurser rörande erkännande av kulturella divergenser i en rad västliga länder. Studiens syfte är att belysa ståndpunkter i diskursen som rör kvinnors individuella rättigheter och gruppens rättigheter i ett mångkulturellt sammanhang vilket sker ut ett textanalytiskt perspektiv samt ur det levda livets. Jag utgår från filosofen Martha Nussbaum teori om mänskliga funktionsförmågor och definition av mänskliga rättigheter. Jag har analyserat två aktörers texter i diskursen, Susan Moller Okin (förespråkar individrättigheter) samt Charles Taylor (förespråkar grupprättigheter). Studiens centrala fråga samt övergripande frågeställningar är:

Vad är mänskliga rättigheter?

- ur det filosofiska perspektivet,

- ur Taylors respektive Okins ståndpunkter och

- ur det levda livets?

Jag har intervjuat en kvinna, från en annan kulturell kontext än den svenska, om hennes valmöjligheter och handlingsutrymme. Jag kom fram till att Okins perspektiv överensstämmer med Nussbaum angående huruvida individens rättigheter skall ges företräde framför gruppens preferenser, vilket de bör enligt min analys, medan Taylor står längre ifrån och i vissa avseenden går helt emot Nussbaums teori.

Syftet med denna studie var att belysa ensamhet bland äldre. För att få en djupare förståelse för betydelsen av de äldres sociala förhållanden, gjordes en kvalitativ intervjuundersökning med tre äldre människor boende i eget hem med hemtjänstinsatser samt tre boende på servicehus, med avsikt att jämföra upplevelsen av ensamhet i de olika boendeformerna. Resultatet tematiserades kring följande teman: ålder och aktivitet, åldrande och sociala kontakter, åldrande och upplevelse av ensamhet/gemenskap, boendeformen och dess betydelse för ensamhets-/gemenskapsupplevelsen, hemtjänstens betydelse samt strategier mot den eventuella ensamheten. Analysen av resultatet gjordes utifrån följande gerontologiska teorier: rollteorin, aktivitetsteorin, disengagemangsteorin, teorin om gerotranscendens och livsloppsperspektiv på åldrandet. Undersökningen visade att samtliga respondenter upplever en minskning av de sociala kontakterna på grund av åldrandet och medföljande funktionsnedsättning och att detta har bidragit till en ökning av fysisk ensamhet. Upplevelsen av ensamhet tycks däremot inte vara påverkad av vare sig ålder eller boendeform. Alla respondenter tyckte att fysiska aktiviteter var viktiga och deltog själva i någon form av aktivitet oavsett om de kände sig ensamma eller ej. Hemtjänstpersonalen har en stor betydelse i respondenternas vardag. Den minskar deras ensamhet och är en trygghetsfaktor. Positiva omdömen är återkommande i respondenternas beskrivning av hemtjänstens roll i deras tillvaro.

The aim of this study was to reach an increased understanding about how the changing process with regards to criminality and violent behaviour of men may look like. The questions on these issues were: (1) How do three men describe the changing process of their life manner from violence and criminality into non violence and non criminal way of life? (2) How do three professionals from the probation service describe the life changing process of men from violence and criminality into non violence and non criminal way of life? Our research study was thoroughly done based on a qualitative approach method, interviewing six individuals by following the theme focused interview guidelines. Three men with previous violence and crime records, actors, and three professionals working in the probation service, observers, were interviewed and the selection was intended to highlight the problem from two angles. The interviews were analyzed through social psychology and pattern which describes the process of changes. The results showed that the changing process from violence and criminality is complex and there are indeed several factors likewise major cause such as important circumstances, supporter and mentor, altered self-image and motivation was of great importance. The results correspond with previous research.

Syftet med denna c-uppsats har varit att kartlägga Pensionärernas riksorganisations (PRO) roll inom äldreomsorgen i Österåkers kommun. I vilket avseende PRO är ett komplement eller en ersättning till kommunens verksamhet. Den här studien faller under kvalitativ forskning och bygger enbart på skriftligt underlag. Materialet är PRO: s mål, handlingsprogram på riksnivå och verksamhetsberättelse 2004 för Österåkers kommun och kommunens mål, riktlinjer och verksamhetsberättelse 2004. Studien har visat att frivilliga organisationer i nästan alla under-sökningar man har gjort har haft en stark roll inom den offentliga sektorn. Även från politiskt håll har man också velat att dessa organisationer ska sköta en del av kommunens verksamhet. Studien har också visat genom resultatet och analysen att PRO som frivilligorganisation i Ös-teråkers kommun varken är ett komplement eller en ersättning till kommunens verksamhet. Däremot har PRO en roll som kooptering d.v.s. att de kan påverka beslut som berör äldre människor genom sin plats i pensionärsrådet.

Studiens syfte har varit att undersöka tonårstjejers syn på och konstruktion av genus och sexualitet och huruvida de anser att det finns samband mellan genus, sexualitet, jämställdhet och feminism. Fokus har legat på sexuellt handlingsutrymmer, förhållandet mellan kärlek och sexuella handlingar, på vilket sätt utseende och klädstil kopplas till kön och sexualitet, syn på hetero-, homo-, och bisexualitet samt tonårstjejernas grad av feministisk medvetenhet.

Studien har byggts på kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer med sammanlagt sju tonårstjejer mellan 15-20 år. Studien gör en postmodernistisk feministisk ansats och utgår i sin analys ifrån Yvonne Hirdmans och Judith Butlers teoribildning om genus, kön och sexualitet. Det blir genom studien tydligt hur de studerade tonårstjejerna förhåller sig till olika genusnormer kring hur en normal tjej bör vara, se ut och uttrycka sin sexualitet.

This study aims to highlight the crisis and adjustment process in individuals who suffered myocardial infarction. The research questions focus on the informants’ experiences of the crisis and life adjustment process, and illuminate the coping strategies that the informants describe important. By using a narrative method and applyingthe crisis theory and coping theory as theoretical guidelines, this study endeavors to illuminate individuals' experiences of the disease from their own perspective. The empirical material consists of four life stories gatheredthrough semi-structured interviews. The result indicates general patterns that characterize the course of the diseaseat the same time as individual aspectsof the crisis process are shown, where individual coping strategies have proven necessary through the different phases. The individual aspect on how one cope with crisis seems to depend on personality and life situation. Major life adjustments have proven necessary in the course of the disease. Changes and priorities seem to be revalued through the different phases, along with a greater appreciation for life. Importance of social support is being emphasized; however the most important element appears to be their own, personalefforts and transformation.

Social work is a social phenomenon, existing in most societies, that has given rise to a multitude of special organizations and professions. For that reason social work is dealing with a complex identity. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how social workers and the scientific discourse interpret the concept of social work. In addition to that the study intends to show similarities and differencies. The research process containes two studies, one based on qualitative interviews with five social workers and the other consisting a surway of academic litterature. To enable a comparison of the results the studies start out of some, deliberatly choosen, themes. These are “definitions of social work”, “socialworkers”, “society, law and organization” and “ethics”.

In summary, the results, reviled a surprising unity in the interpretations of social work. Social workers, as well as the scientific discourse, manifest social work as a profession that promotes social change and problem solving in human relationships. The differencies concern social work beeing interpret normative by the social workers and more descriptive by the scientific discourse.

We examined age, period, and cohort patterns in musculoskeletalpainprevalence between 1968 and 2002 in the Swedishpopulation. A repeated nationally representative survey allowed cross-sectional comparisons of ages 18–75 (5 waves n ≈ 5000), and ages 77+ at later waves (2 waves n ≈ 500). Cross-sectional 10-year age group differences in 5 waves, time-lag differences between waves (shifts across time) for age groups, and within-cohort differences between waves for 10-year birth cohorts followed over time were analyzed using graphs and ordered logistic regressions. The outcome scale was based on the three items measuring slight or severe pain in back, shoulder, and joints during the past 12 months. Age–period–cohort models showed that painprevalence increased with age – mild or severe at all locations. Adjusted for the age-related increase, the cohorts followed over time did not show significant period change, except for cohorts born during 1940s. Beginning with the 1940s’ cohorts painprevalence increased over the period, and after baseline later cohorts also entered adulthood and the study with a higher painprevalence. The prevalence of pain in the adult population thus increased with the passage through age and time of the 1940s cohorts. While there were no pronounced cohort differences at baseline in 1968, results demonstrated strong age effects in pain. The results indicate that the prevalence of musculoskeletalpain among the oldest age groups may increase in the future, when more baby-boomers are entering their oldest ages.

Objective. Smoking is related to many later life health outcomes. We examined age, period, and cohort patterns in smoking between 1968 and 2002. Methods. A nationally representative panel study allowed repeated cross-sectional comparisons of ages 18-75 (5 waves n approximate to 5000), and ages 77+ at later waves (2 waves n approximate to 500). Cross-sectional 10-year age group differences in 5 waves, time-lag differences between waves for age groups, and within-cohort differences between waves for 10-year birth cohorts were evaluated using graphs and ordered logistic regressions. Results. Age-period-cohort models suggested that period and age effects dominated smoking patterns, showing decreases over time and age. The 1935-44 and 1945-54 cohorts, however, showed lesser period decline. Moreover, men showed a period reduction of smoking rates but no age related decrease, while women showed an age related decrease but no period effect. The genders' cohort patterns were similar, with higher smoking rates in the last waves for some cohorts, for men the 1945-54 cohort and women the 1935-44 cohort. Conclusions. Cross-sectional studies of cohorts must be aware of age effects. Due to the coming of age of the 1940s' cohorts smoking may increase among women in the oldest age groups.

Background. It is well known that socioeconomic indicators, such as income and education, predict both stroke incidence and stroke mortality. This means that persons in lower socioeconomic positions are less likely to survive their stroke, and there will be a selective survival in the group discharged from hospital after their first stroke. Question. Does socioeconomic position continue to predict mortality, stroke specific, or from other causes, among patients surviving their first stroke in spite of this selective survival? Methods. All persons in Sweden aged 40–59 years who were discharged after a first hospitalization for stroke in 1996–2000 were included (n = 10,487), then followed up until the end of the fourth calendar year after discharge. Data were analysed with Cox regressions controlling for age, sex, and stroke type. Results. Persons with high socioeconomic position, measured by education and income, have lower mortality than those of low position. Education was not significant when adjusted for income, however. The risk of dying was similar for stroke-specific mortality and all-cause mortality, for those with cerebral infarction as well as for all patients. Conclusions. Socioeconomic position predicted stroke-specific mortality also in the selective group of persons who survived their first stroke.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate how the Child mental Health Service, BUP Ektorp, textually constructs its demarcation, by studying case records from the first evaluations of the patients. The main questions were: In what way are the competitors and their problems represented in the texts, how is the solution justified and explained, and how do these factors relate to each other? The method being used is discourse analysis, influenced by Mörkenstam. The main conclusions are that the demarcation consists of a number of onceptions about the child, the parents, and the therapist. The conceptions, together with the way the problem is being described, justifies the proposed solution, proclaiming termination of the case.

The main focus of this study is to explore Swedish soldiers’ experiences of the transition back to everyday life after international service missions. This includes the help and support that they have received and also what barriers to care they have experienced during the transition back to everyday life. The theoretical perspectives of this study are social identity and stigma theory. This study was performed using a qualitative method and includes six individual interviews with active duty officers within the Swedish armed forces. All of them have participated in international service missions. The results of this study show that the soldiers experience barriers to care during the transition back to everyday life in Sweden. What emerged is that they are experiencing mental depression and a need for a recovery period. It’s also revealed that the stigma surrounding mental illness in the military and in society precludes a good reintegration into everyday life. The study concludes that more research is needed on what support soldiers need when they return home, and that the responsibility for veterans support efforts need to be clearer between all responsible parties in Swedish society.

Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för den process som leder till hemlöshet. Utifrån intervjuer med nio personer belyses de hemlöshetsgenererande processer som för var och en av dem lett till att de förlorat sin bostad och inte kunnat få någon ny.

Intervjuerna har analyserats med hjälp av fattigdomsspiralen. Analysen visar hur de intervjuades resurser successivt har utarmats när de passerat genom olika stadier av kriser och svårigheter. Successivt har de förlorat makten över sina liv och för några av dem har detta lett till permanent fattigdom och utslagning. Genom att använda ett krisperspektiv kan utslagningsprocessen göras tydlig.

Studien visar också hur socialtjänsten för flera av de intervjuade medverkat i utslagningsprocessen. Samtliga intervjupersoner har varit med om svåra trauman som de inte fått möjlighet att bearbeta. I mötet med socialtjänsten har deras trauman inte uppmärksammats och insatserna har i stor utsträckning inte varit individuellt anpassade.

Även ett historiskt perspektiv kan tydliggöra utslagningsprocessen. Litteraturen visar hur attityderna gentemot fattiga och hemlösa har växlat genom historien.Till stora delar kan dagens sociallagstiftning härledas till medeltiden. Samtliga intervjupersoner har mött regler och förordningar vars underliggande attityder har sina rötter långt tillbaka i tiden.

En viktig slutsats av studien är att socialtjänsten och andra berörda myndigheter bör sträva efter att i mycket större utsträckning än i dag ge varje hemlös ett individuellt bemötande. Åtgärder bör anpassas efter den hemlöses uppfattning om sina behov och inte efter myndighetens åtgärdsrepertoar.

The purpose of this study is to present dominant discourses of sex buyers in public documents published before and after the implementation of the Swedish sex buyer law; making the purchase but not the sale of sexual services illegal. The purpose is further to examine what consequences these discourses might have on social work with sex buyers. We also aim to illustrate how language, gender, sexuality and power can be understood in the reading of the empirical material stretching from 1981 to 2016. With a discourse theoretical approach drawn from Laclau and Mouffe (2008 [1985]), five prominent discourses are identified; the average man, the homosexual man, the woman as a sex buyer, the man with the problematic sexuality and the sex buyer in need of help. The main findings are that processes of conflict among the discourses outlines a social problem where discourses that don’t include the heterosexual man as a sex buyer are subdued. Gender and sexuality in general and male heterosexual sexuality in particular is performed. As demands on a stricter legislation is propositioned we identified a linguistic offset; from descriptive graphic characteristics of the sex buyer to a depersonalization focusing on the action rather than the actor. 

The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, CEDAW, in Uppsala local council and county council. The aim is to examine how the respondents, in their daily work, understand and implement the convention as well as how they consider the prerequisites for a successful implementation. The study was conducted using qualitative interviews with three civil servants and four politicians. The theoretical approach was implementation theory whose concepts willingness, comprehension and capability were used as tools for the analysis. The results portray CEDAW as a well-known treaty amongst the respondents but at the same time absent in local politics and everyday work. The convention is perceived as an abstract and ideological document which reveals the respondents’ insufficient knowledge about CEDAW as a human rights treaty and the state´s obligation to eliminate discrimination against women. The results also indicate that unclear instructions and responsibility distribution as well as lack of resources, such as time and knowledge, obstruct successful implementation of CEDAW. In conclusion, gender equality is neither a prioritised issue in Uppsala local council and county council and nor seen as a human right. 

Title: Elderly deaf - The significance of an own senior housing. A qualitative interview studyon how special senior housing affects the experience of well-being of elderly deaf [translated title]The purpose of the study was to examine how elderly deaf people experience living in aspecial senior housing, which is the country’s first and only housing with sign language fordeaf and deafblind in the region of Stockholm. The focus was to study how this seniorhousing affected the well-being of the residents and their experience of this accommodation.The study was based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. Interviews wereconducted with four residents who have lived in the senior housing for deaf and deafblindpeople since it opened in spring 2013. The theoretical perspective of the study was on how tocope with aging. The result shows that the residents chose to live in the sign languageenvironment which positively affected their well-being. In their previous accommodation theyhad felt alone and felt insecure when they wanted to communicate with and understand theirneighbours contrary to living in the sign language community. There were certain negativeeffects on the well-being of the residents since the senior housing did not have a caretaker, noplanned activities, no hobby room and lack of availability in this residential area.

The objective of this study was investigating social worker’s perspective of how alcohol consumption can affect, and what elements in the social environment that may be of significance for, alcohol consumption and development of identity. The questions at issue were: Do social workers experience any positive effects from alcohol consumption in 16-17 year-old girls with problematic alcohol consumption and what influence do the effects have on self esteem, self image and development of identity? What do social workers experience are the negative effects from alcohol consumption on self esteem, self image and development of identity? How important do social workers find the social environment and how do they believe the social environment affect the alcohol consumption and development of identity? This was investigated with a qualitative approach from a social worker’s perspective, hence social workers were interviewed. The study’s theoretical basis was Symbolic Interactionism and Erikson’s theory of Psychosocial Development. According to interviewed social workers results showed only short-term positive effects on self esteem and self image and the negative effects were primarily feelings of guilt and shame, which could cause a long-term deterioration of self esteem and self image. Alcohol consumption brings only negative effects to development of identity, according to social workers who also stated that the social environment is of significance for the alcohol consumption and the development of identity.

This article describes the Swedish rules about experiments on animals and the function of the Swedish animal ethics experimentation committees. A small survey of the rules about experiments on animals in Norway, Denmark, Finland, England and Wales, and the EU, is included. The Swedish rules on animal experimentation are examined in order to see how their form and functions relate to theories about different kinds of decision making in public law. The extents to which the rules agree with the aims of the law and with existing normative patterns are also examined. The difficulties to handle the ethical weighting between the importance of the experiment and the suffering of the animals are discussed.

Alexius Borgström, K. Djuren, läkarna och lagen. En rättslig studie om djurförsöksetik. Animals, doctors and the law. A study in the Swedish Regulation of Animals Scientific Procedures.

The aim of this study was to analyse how the Swedish rules about experiments on animals and the animal ethics experimentation committees relate to different kinds of decision-making models, such as the legal-bureaucratic, the professionalistic, and the corporatist model for decision making in public law. The aim was also to study the extent to which the theoretical design of the rules about animal experimentation, on the one hand, and their practical application on the other hand, agree with the political intentions and valuestructures that exist. The study was conducted with the methods of legal dogmatism and sociology of law. The study found that the valuestructures in the law on animal experimentation consist of freedom of research, advocacy of regulation, abolitionism, species hierarchism, and general intrinsicality. In addition, it was found that ethical considerations of animal experimentation are difficult to handle, since the factors that are weighed up against each other, i.e., the importance of the experiment and the suffering of the animals, are incommensurable. The consideration of pros and cons is governed in practice by the committee members who are connected to research, since they are granted a professionally based preferential right of interpretation of biomedical claims. The study also showed that the rules about experiments on animals are not applied with full legal security and that the committees have been constituted on the basis of deliberative consensus without consideration for the fact that the balance between human and animal interests is sometimes part of a struggle over interests and opinions.

In Sweden cruelty to animals can be penalized according to chapter 16, section 13 of the Penal Code (1962:700). Since the law demands the cause of the cruelty to be improperly, the crime often includes a weighting between the suffering of animals and the grounds of human behaviour that caused the suffering. The aim of this article is to study difficulties in the weighting between these factors. Methods of legal dogmatism, legal history and history of ideas are used. The article finds that suffering of animals and grounds of human behaviour often can be seen incommensurable factors, and that weighting between these factors therefore depends on the values of the person making the decision.

The purpose of this project is to study the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman Institution (JO) and its supervision of civil servants in the 20^th century. Liability for misuse of office, the obedience obligation and the shaping of the principle of independence will also be considered. The study proceeds from a jurisprudential framework and is based on a legal dogmatic approach, although statistical information and other materials from the social sciences are also included. The findings of the study are as follows. The abolition of criminal liability for misuse of office in the mid-1970s resulted in a termination of the relationship which originally existed between civil servants’ authority under the principle of independence on the one hand, and their liability for service irregularities on the other. As a result, this reform entailed a pervasive change in one of the mainstays of the Swedish administrative model. The change was however of marginal importance to the activities of the JO, since a small and extraordinary office cannot effectively enforce legality and civil rights within a large public sector by initiating proceedings and demanding liability for committed errors. During the latter part of the 20^th century, the JO thus evolved from having been a prosecutor who ensured that civil servants did not neglect their official duties into serving as a source of preventive guidance for government and municipal agencies. The question of how congruence is to be achieved between the civil servants’ liability for service irregularities and the powers of public authority is however, given the findings of this study, still largely unanswered.

In this study, 23 cases reported to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate are analysed using qualitative content analysis derived from a framework based on Swedish legislation. The results show that school staff and parents often expressed that those who had themselves behaved aggressively should not be viewed as victims of abuse. In most cases, there were divergent perceptions of what had happened as well as of social values and behavioural norms. The study highlights that the efficiency and the pros and cons of the broad and blurry distinction of the concept of degrading treatment in the Swedish Education Act should be discussed and that abusive actions should be counteracted regardless of relational contexts.

This study set out to analyze how background-context, prognoses and evidence-based facts are referred to in child welfare investigations and judgments concerning coercive care of neglected children. The texts of social investigations and court judgments in 16 cases concerning parents (30) and their children (29) in two counties in Sweden were analyzed by a hermeneutic case study. All cases concerns section 2 in The Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (1990:52), which states that coercive care shall be decided if, due to neglect or some other situations, there is a “palpable risk of detriment” to the child’s health or development. Theoretical framework of sociology of law and of normative legalism were used. The study shows that background-context, prognoses and evidence-based facts seldom are connected in the texts. Background-contexts quantitively dominates, while prognoses are vestigial and rarely enunciates as emanating from evidence-based facts. Instead of describing risk-assessments a plurality of the descriptions in the texts pictures the children as already harmed by neglect. The conclusion of the study is that the sociological conceptions of “a palpable risk” differ a great deal from the legal-theoretical interpretation of the concept.

In this article a precedent from the Supreme Administrative Court in Sweden is analysed (RÅ 2009 ref. 64). The case concerns an application for a care order by a local Social Welfare Authority according to section 2 inThe Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (1990:52). It regards the child of a single mother with an intellectual disability. The purpose of the article is to study the interpretation of the legal requirements of a “palpable risk of detriment” to the child’s health or development and to what degree the evaluations are based on the knowledge of risk assessment in social sciences. The study shows that there are limited possibilities to anticipate and calculate the palpable risks of detriment caused by facts of neglect, that sometimes are the consequences of intellectually incapacitated parents´ inabilities. Assessing a specific child’s social prognosis is always complex, difficult and occasionally almost impossible. Present demands of evidential value when establishing “palpable risk of detriment” to the child’s health or development are therefore unrealistic. The conclusion of the article is that the legal demand for risk evaluations in section 2 in The Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act is inadequate designed. The author recommends that the words of the act are focused on the present and the past instead of the future.

Swedish schools are required to counteract degrading treatment. If the school staff fails to counteract properly, damage might be claimed. The aim of this study was to examine the Education Act and to perform a qualitative content analysis of descriptions of countermeasures in 16 cases of peer abuse reported to the School Inspectorate. A framework of legal sociology was used. The results show that the requirements of countermeasures in the Education Act are vague. The results also show that the school staff and the reporting parents had divergent perceptions of what had happened. They could therefore not agree on what countermeasures should have been taken. The reporting parents described every measure that was unsuccessful as inadequate. The school staff, on the other hand, described measures that seemed to have been the best possible options as good enough, even though the abuse had not actually been stopped. It is argued that school staff needs competence and resources to counteract peer abuse more than they need an increase in rules and administrative procedures.

Vid omhändertaganden av barn ska barnets bästa vara avgörande för de beslut som fattas. I den praktiska tillämpningen innefattar begreppet ofta tolkningar av barns behov, såsom dessa definieras av kompetenta vuxna, och barnets vilja, såsom denna uttrycks av barnet eller uttolkas av vuxna. I denna studie undersöks uttrycken barns behov och vilja samt hur barns behov och vilja bedöms i sociala utredningar och domar som rör tvångsomhändertaganden till följd av omsorgssvikt av barn i familjer där någon förälder har intellektuell funktionsnedsättning.

This study set out to analyse how parenting and the needs of the children are assessed by social authorities and courts in families where one or both parents have an intellectual disability (ID). The texts of child welfare investigations and court judgements in 16 cases of care orders concerning parents (30) with IDs and their children (29) in two counties in Sweden were analysed by a hermeneutic case study. The study shows that even though many of the children are described as already harmed by neglect, clear assessments of care needs are not presented and it is uncertain which of the children’s needs a placement in a family home is assumed to satisfy. The conclusion of the article is that, even though no direct discrimination can be established, the particular individual and structural difficulties of the families’ life circumstances are not taken into consideration. This can be seen as a discriminatory practice.

Under 1980- och 1990-talen har i Sverige inrättats ett flertal s. k. intresserepresentativa ombudsmän. Mot bakgrund av bl. a. den etiska och rättspolitiska debatt som numera pågår om djurens ställning i olika sammanhang diskuteras i denna artikel frågan om det nu inte är dags att de allt talrikare svenska ombudsmännen får sällskap av en  Djurombudsman, dvs. en ombudsman som tillvaratar djurens intressen.  Diskussionen förs utifrån analyser av ombudsmännens demokratiska och rättsstatliga legitimitet, fri- och rättighetsbegreppet samt djurplågeribrottets utformning.

The usage of agency social workers in Sweden have increased during the past few decades and there is a lack of research on this topic. This study aims to describe how the agency social workers experience the work within the swedish social services and how it affects their role with regards to their deviant type of employment. The study is comprised of qualitative interviews with seven agency social workers who have differentiated experience in social services assignments. The results of the study is based on thematic analysis and Becker’s theory of outsiders. The results show that the agency social workers don’t necessarily regard themselves as outsiders in a negative sense, but rather in a positive way. However, they tend to use strategies to avoid behaviour that can appear deviant and therefore avoid being labelled as outsiders. This includes for instance living up to both formal and informal expectations, being careful when it comes to criticizing the hiring organisation and being cautious in their involvement in social relationships to the permanent staff. Opposed to previous studies, these results indicate that the agency social workers expresses more positive experiences in relation to the hiring organisation.

Purpose:

Denna studie handlar om de svårigheter äldre upplever i ordinärt boende och orsakerna till att de önskar flytta till servicehus. Dessutom undersöks om de äldre upplever att de har möjlighet att påverka beslut som fattas beträffande deras boendeform. I den kvalitativa studien intervjuade jag fyra personer varav två redan bodde på servicehus och de andra två ville flytta till servicehus. De äldre upplevde att bristen på gemenskap och samverkan i aktiviteter samt otrygghetskänsla i det ordinära boendet var grunden till att de ville bo på servicehus. Samtliga respondenter ansåg att servicehus innebar en större trygghetskänsla och gav möjlighet till gemenskap. De intervjuade upplevde att de inte själva kunde påverka beslut som fattades beträffande deras boendeform. I studien tydliggjordes att fysiska besvär vägde tyngre än psykisk ohälsa när det gällde sannolikheten att få en plats på servicehus.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the concepts of the interpersonal actions 'to motivate' and 'to manipulate' and also to examine possible differences and similarities between the two. The method used is a conceptual review based on the Self-Determination Theory, related to the concept of motivation, and Machiavellianism, related to the concept of manipu-lation. The results show that 'to motivate', according to Self-Determination Theory, concerns influencing the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is related to the feeling of self-determination, inner locus of causality, being or feeling competent and exercise activities for the pleasure of it, whilst extrinsic motivation is related to external locus of cau-sality, external pressure and engaging in activities for the purpose of reaching a goal or re-ward. 'To manipulate' is according to Machiavellianism based on the manipulator doing whatever it takes to reach a certain goal and gain something for himself with no regard of what methods being used. The comparative analysis showed that the crucial difference in how an behaviour is interpreted as either, or both, motivating and manipulative is based on who is doing the interpretation, what information she has and which aspects that are focused on.

The main purpose of this thesis was to take part of girl’s descriptions and experiences of their treatment for deliberate self-harm and to investigate whether they still experience effects of the treatment today. Our main research questions where; how do the girls describe their experiences of the treatment method, do the girls describe that they still experience any effects of the treatment, and finally how do the girls look back on their treatment today? In order to answer these questions, we carried out eight qualitative telephone interviews with girls that had undergone treatment in a specific treatment centre. We chose to analyze the material from the salutogenic theory and the concepts of SOC (sense of coherence) and with a hermeneutic approach. Our result showed that the treatment methods that where most important where dialectic behaviour therapy, horse therapy and finally environmental therapy. Several of the girls could see remaining effects of the treatment today, while other girls could not see any of these effects. A couple of the girls expressed that they should have been dead if they had not been taken care of by the treatment centre while other girls meant that the treatment did not make any difference.

The aim of this study was to investigate how counselors who work at youth clinics relate to the question of the integrity of adolescents who are under 18 years old in relation to the parents rights to information. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with eight counselors from youth clinics in the StockholmCounty. We have analyzed our empirical material by categorizing the statements from the counselors and by using two different theories. The first one is a consequential ethics theory and the second one is a cognitive theory. These two theories have helped us to understand the thoughts and actions of the counselors. The results show that the counselors try to protect the integrity of the adolescents and that they only consider breaking that trust if they are concerned about the young persons physical or mental health. Often it is only in these situations, when the counselor might have to report to the social services, that the parents are given right to receive information. This indicates that the counselors have a strong belief in letting the adolescents keep their integrity and this ethical dilemma is only present in situations where the counselor is concerned for the adolescent.

Studiens syfte var att öka kunskapen och förståelsen kring det sociala arbetet med deprimerade ungdomar. Detta genom att ta reda på vad socialarbetare anser vilka faktorer som påverkar ungdomar i åldern 13-19 år att hitta ut ur sin depression. Syftet var även att belysa likheter och skillnader i socialarbetarnas arbetsmetoder med deprimerade ungdomar. För att uppfylla detta syfte ställdes följande frågor: Vilka metoder använder de intervjuade socialarbetarna i arbetet med tonåringar som har depression? Hur hjälper socialarbetaren ungdomen att komma ur sin depression? På vilket sätt finns det likheter och skillnader i socialarbetarnas arbetssätt med deprimerade ungdomar? Studien genomfördes med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med socialarbetare utifrån en temainriktad intervjuguide. Resultaten analyserades utifrån ett kognitivt, systemteoretiskt och nätverks perspektiv. Resultaten i studien visar att det är flera olika faktorer som påverkar ungdomen att komma ur sin depression. Dessa är att socialarbetaren skapar god kontakt och ger uppmärksamhet till ungdomen och att föräldrarna får stöd och hjälp att samspela med den deprimerade ungdomen. Socialarbetarna använder olika arbetsmetoder för att uppnå detta.

Children whose parents experience adverse social, economic, or health-related living conditions are more likely to face similar types of disadvantage in their adult life. However, a limitation of many earlier studies is that they do not account for the multidimensionality of the concept of living conditions, and that the child generation’s life courses are targeted as static and independent from the societal context in which they are imbedded. The current investigation addressed these aspects by focusing on the complexity, duration, and timing of disadvantage with regard to how adverse circumstances in the family of origin are associated with trajectories of social, economic, and health-related living conditions across adulthood. We also examined the role of educational attainment for these associations. Analyses were based a Swedish cohort born in 1953 (n = 14,294). We first conducted sequence analysis, followed by hierarchical cluster analysis, to generate ‘outcome profiles’, i.e. trajectories of adult disadvantage. Second, several indicators of adverse circumstances in childhood were analysed by means of multinominal regression analysis, showing the odds of ending up in the different trajectories. The results indicated that individuals who grew up under adverse conditions were more likely to experience disadvantaged social, economic, and health-related trajectories. This was particularly the case for trajectories characterised by a high degree of complexity, i.e. coexisting disadvantages, and—among men only—by a longer duration of disadvantage. Educational attainment was identified as a powerful mediator, suggesting that efforts to increase equal educational opportunity may be a way of reducing the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.

Background: Past research has consistently identified children with experience of out-of-home care (OHC) as a high-risk group for premature mortality. While many have argued that educational success is a key factor in reducing these individuals’ excessive death risks, the empirical evidence has hitherto been limited. The aim of the current study was therefore to examine the potentially mitigating role of educational success for the association between OHC experience and premature mortality.

Methods: Drawing on a Stockholm cohort born in 1953 (n=15,117), we analysed the associations between placement in OHC (ages 0-12), school performance (ages 13, 16, and 19), and premature all-cause mortality (ages 20-56) by means of Cox and Laplace regression analysis.

Results: The Cox regression models confirmed the increased risk of premature mortality among individuals with OHC experience. Unadjusted Laplace regression models showed that these children died more than a decade, based on median survival time, before their majority population peers. However, among individuals who performed well at school, i.e. scored above-average marks at age 16 (grade 9) and age 19 (grade 12), respectively, the risks of premature mortality did not significantly differ between the two groups.

Conclusion: Educational success seems to mitigate the increased risks of premature death among children with experience of OHC.

The aim of this study have been to examine how lagen (1988:870) om vård av missbrukare i vissa fall [LVM] (involuntary treatment for addicts) is constructed in Swedish news press and what discourses are being produced regarding LVM and involuntary treatment. Out of the 195 articles that fit the search criteria, extending a period of ten years, 36 were selected and analyzed, using a critical discourse analysis according to the three-dimensional model proposed by Fairclough. The theoretical perspective derives from the hypothesis of social constructionism. This study shows that LVM is subject to a silent assumption of an economic constraints discourse that´s being produced in news press, regarding the shortage of funds in public sector. In turn, this discourse also exhibits close relationship with the greater addiction discourse, which deems drug- and alcohol abuse as sickness, or disease. Furthermore, a set of minor discourses are identified, that to some degree stems from the economic constraints discourse. The media depiction presents an ongoing medicalization process that in social practice results in a higher death rate among drug abusers. The notion that medicinal treatment of addiction is more cost effective than LVM, nonetheless spurs society in adding evermore medicinal treatment of addicts.

The aim of this study was to examine the definition and meaning of a relationship-based social work, and what conditions are required for the professional to manage such. Based on seven qualitative interviews with professional social workers who work with children and adolescents, a thematic analysis was conducted based on the theoretical frameworks of Symbolic Interactionism and the organisational theories of Human Service Organisations and Street-Level Bureaucracy. The main results confirm the importance of the relationship between the client and the professional according to the respondents. Role clarity and empathy through self-awareness were seen as important qualities of the professional to maintain a good relationship with the child, for whom this might lead to a sense of security through the relationship continuity. Mentioned conditions that facilitated the possibility of relationship based client work were mostly organisational variables such as time and discretion. These were variables that varied depending on the organisation that the professionals worked within, leading to a comparative discussion between the organisational conditions of social services and schools. Another theme identified was experience which seemed to matter as a personal skill. These conditions affect the professional’s ability to create and maintain relationships with the children.

The aim of this study was to examine the definition and meaning of a relationship-based social work, and what conditions are required for the professional to manage such. Based on seven qualitative interviews with professional social workers who work with children and adolescents, a thematic analysis was conducted based on the theoretical frameworks of Symbolic Interactionism and the organisational theories of Human Service Organisations and Street-Level Bureaucracy. The main results confirm the importance of the relationship between the client and the professional according to the respondents. Role clarity and empathy through self-awareness were seen as important qualities of the professional to maintain a good relationship with the child, for whom this might lead to a sense of security through the relationship continuity. Mentioned conditions that facilitated the possibility of relationship based client work were mostly organisational variables such as time and discretion. These were variables that varied depending on the organisation that the professionals worked within, leading to a comparative discussion between the organisational conditions of social services and schools. Another theme identified was experience which seemed to matter as a personal skill. These conditions affect the professional’s ability to create and maintain relationships with the children.

Ungdomsbegreppet får olika innebörd beroende på vem som använder det och i vilken situation det används. Då vi anser att språket bestämmer hur vi tänker om olika fenomen anser vi att det är viktigt att reda ut hur det inom socialt arbete talas om de ungdomar de arbetar med.

Det ursprungliga syftet med studien var att redogöra för de innebörder av ungdomsbegreppet som lyfts fram i utvecklingspsykologiska och sociologiska verk samt vilken relevans det har för det sociala arbetet med ungdomar. Ytterligare ett syfte har under studiens gång utkristalliserats, att urskilja de centrala teman som återfinns i diskursen kring ungdomar i artiklarna från det sociala arbetets fält.

Våra teoretiska utgångspunkter tas i de biologiska, utvecklingspsykologiska och sociala definitioner av ungdomsbegreppet som vi skapat utifrån tidigare forskning. De biologiska definitionerna utgörs av den fysiska utveckling som sker under puberteten. De utvecklingspsykologiska definitionerna utgörs av de utvecklingsfaser adolescenten genomgår. De sociala definitionerna utgår från individen i olika sociala sammanhang.

Våra resultat visar att de teoretiska resonemangen inte kommer fram men att de finns under ytan, att det finns ett eklektiskt tänkande och arbetssätt. Resultaten visar också på mönster av motsatspar. Dessa är normalisering kontra marginalisering, integrering kontra segregering och slutligen diskuteras insatserna för ungdomar utifrån frivillighet kontra tvång.

The aim of this quantitative study is to describe the prevalence of mental health problems within the group of children and adolescents who receive support from two in home care units within the social services of Rinkeby-Kista and Södermalm stadsdelsförvaltning in Stockholm. Another purpose is to examine whether socioeconomic background and/or gender are associated with the prevalence of poor mental health, or mental health problems of a specific kind, in the studied population. Mental health is measured with the SDQ, a behavioral screening questionnaire that is widely used in Sweden and internationally. The study is based on data collected by the two units, which routinely screen children and adolescents with the SDQ. The main results of this study indicate that mental health problems are common in the studied population. The proportion of the children and adolescents who are found to be at risk of developing mental health problems that amount to a psychiatric diagnosis is twice as large as in a community sample. Very few statistically significant associations were found between the variables gender or socioeconomic background and mental health. We have analyzed the results of this study with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory.

The aim of the study was to seek further understanding of what school staff, social services and staff at the shelters consider to be the difficulties in the work of children's schooling when staying at shelters for abused women. The method used was qualitative semi structured interviews and the empirics consist of six interviews, two from each profession. Despite a comprehensive searching strategy, only a few studies were found that had examined the subject and those studies described the problem briefly. This indicates that the subject has been little researched and that children's schooling in shelters for abused women is a subject we have little knowledge about. The results show that there usually are no systematic routines for dealing with the issue among professionals involved. It is difficult to get a new school place for children staying in shelters for abused women. Professions involved with these children in society need more knowledge in the subject to develop a systematic approach. In future, more research on the subject and its consequences for children in shelters for abused women is needed.