Experiencing Physical Disability: Young African Women in Lesotho

The article unwraps notions related to young African women’s lifeworld experiences of physical disability. The study is positioned in the broad context of the theoretical frameworks of phenomenology, existential sociology, the social construction of reality, feminist disability theory, and intersectionality. Focus is given to the way social systems of cultural oppression and discrimination impact women with physical impairments and manifest in how they perceive and make meaning of their everyday life experiences. Women with physical impairments often experience a double measure of oppression—being both female and disabled. When these women try to engage in a normal life and interact with others, they experience barriers imposed on them by their social reality—particularly in the form of cultural norms and patriarchal ideals. There are also instances where participants demonstrate resilience in the face of negative social stereotyping, instances that clearly show that they are not different, and do not perceive themselves as being different to able-bodied women. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with eight young Black women who are living with physical disabilities in Lesotho, the objective of this article is to examine their everyday life experiences within a predominantly able-bodied society.Dziekan Wydziału Ekonomiczno-Socjologicznego (B18112CZAS1175.01; MPK: 2122524000)

Brukarens roll i välfärdsforskning och utvecklingsarbete

Tekstene er fra forelesninger samt fra doktorantkurset "Brukarmedverkan i forskning och utvecklingsarbete inom hälso- och sjukvård, socialt arbete och omsorg". Kurset ble avholdt våren 2009.Fra omslag: På 1980-talet blev ”brukare” ett modeord i offentlig förvaltning och förvaltningsforskning. Termen betecknar den som använder sig av välfärdsservice (jfr. engelskans service user), eller ”slutmottagare” av offentlig nyttighet eller åtgärd. Brukare av välfärdstjänster vet hur hjälp och service fungerar i praktiken och kan därför ge synnerligen viktig återkoppling enligt devisen: ”Den som har skorna på fötterna vet var de skaver”. Välfärdsorganisationer har all anledning att involvera brukare i planering och policyarbete i syfte att utveckla förmågan att göra rätt saker. Det finns inte mycket dokumentation och forskning kring brukarmedverkan i utvecklingsarbete och forskning på välfärdsområdet. I synnerhet saknas kunskap om hur välfärdstjänster tas emot och realiseras i brukarens livssammanhang. En ambition i doktorandkursen ”brukarmedverkan i forskning och utvecklingsarbete inom hälso- och sjukvård, socialt arbete och omsorg” var att samla och presentera kunskaper på området. Kursen genomfördes våren 2009 i ett unikt samarbete mellan Karlstads Universitet, Sheffield University i England, Högskolan i Hedmark i Norge, Hälsohögskolan i Jönköping och Högskolan i Borås/FoU Sjuhärad Välfärd. Texterna i denna bok härrör från kursens föreläsningar och paperarbeten. De ger många exempel på hur brukare kan involveras i forskning och utvecklingsarbete, och presenterar en rad praktiska metoder för brukarsamverkan. Boken rekommenderas till välfärdens politiker och yrkespersoner, till studenter som förbereder sig för välfärdens yrken liksom till forskare och utvecklingsarbetare som vill utveckla samarbete med brukare och brukarorganisationer. Den vänder sig givetvis även till brukare och brukarorganisationer som vill engagera sig i forskning och utvecklingsarbete

Making sense of contested illness : Talk and narratives about chronic fatigue.

The primary aim of this thesis is to study how people suffering from chronic fatigue (usually Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFS) make sense of their medically unexplained and invisible illness. Due to the vagueness and indefinable character of this illness, it becomes disputed and doubted in many contexts. Thus, I call it a contested illness. Drawing on data from a patient school as well as from recurring interviews with former participants of this school, the meaning-making processes are examined from a communicative and interactive perspective using a primarily narrative approach. The analysis shows two principle ways of making sense of a contested illness like chronic fatigue, in narrative reconstructions and as interactional processes. Aspects of the narrative reconstructions that can be distinguished as particularly essential to this sense-making are morality and time. Both aspects become closely linked to issues aboutidentity in chronic illness since they concern biography and the personal story of life. In interview narratives, people described the changes in the moral frameworks they use in order to orientate themselves in their quest for what it is to lead a good life. By temporalising their illness, people seemed to deal with issues like responsibility, freedom of liability, blame and guilt, probably prompted by the contestedness of this illness. Through what is described as the discursive management and the sharing of experience, making sense of chronic fatigue in the patient school turned out to be primarily an interactional process. In interaction with the professionals in the school, the ill persons examined their experiences of suffering in relation to the professionals' views of the illness in a way that seemed to lead to a greater ability to manage illness discursively. Sharing experience of illness by telling each other one's personal story, and by co-narrating the story of suffering from chronic fatigue, meant that a joint image of the illness was created and that personal experiences were transformed into shared collectivised experiences. By this process, also the individual suffering was confirmed.All appended articles have been included in the online version withpermisssions from the publishers.Compared to the printed version of the thesis, these revisions have beenmade:- DOI-links have been added to the lists of papers.- Full reference to Paper D has been added to the list of papers.- The Post-print version of Paper B has been included instead in linewith the publisher's guidelines.</p

Fallberättelser om arbetslivsinriktad rehabilitering : En fokusgruppsstudie

Rapporten redovisar en fokusgruppsstudie där personliga handläggare/FK-koordinatorer från Försäkringskassan och rehabiliteringssamordnare från landstingets vårdcentraler i blandade grupper berättade om lyckade och misslyckade fall av arbetslivsinriktad rehabilitering. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vad dessa båda aktörsgrupper uppfattar som lyckade respektive misslyckade rehabiliteringsfall samt att studera eventuella skillnader mellan handläggarnas och samordnarnas uppfattningar och/eller berättelser. Sex fokusgrupper med 5-10 deltagare per grupp genomfördes i samband med lärandeseminarier på tre olika platser i Jönköpings län. Totalt medverkade 44 personer, varav hälften från Försäkringskassan och hälften från Landstinget. Samtalen i fokusgrupperna spelades in som digitala ljudfiler och transkriberades ordagrant. Materialet analyserades enligt modeller för narrativ analys. Totalt identifierades 51 fallberättelser vilka studerades närmare utifrån om berättaren beskrev ärendet som en lyckosam eller misslyckad rehabilitering, vilken huvudaktör berättaren genom sin anställning representerade (FK eller LJ), grundläggande problematik i historien och vad berättaren lyfte fram som avgörande för att det specifika ärendet kunde räknas som lyckat eller misslyckat. Analysen av fallberättelserna visar på både samstämmighet och skillnader mellan FK-koordinatorernas och rehabiliteringssamordnarnas uppfattning om vad som utgör lyckade respektive misslyckade rehabiliteringsärenden. Vad som kategoriseras som lyckade och misslyckade eller problematiska rehabiliteringsfall tycks för båda aktörsgrupperna utgöra en kvalitativ beteckning som kan ses utifrån många olika perspektiv– ur den försäkrades/patientens eller den professionelles synvinkel. Generellt betonar båda aktörsgrupperna behovet av samverkan för att nå framgång i rehabiliteringsärenden. Ömsesidig kritik mot riktas mot sjukvården respektive Försäkringskassan som ”ansiktslösa” organisationer/myndigheter. De skillnader som framträder mellan respektive aktörsgrupps berättelser kan förstås utifrån skilda arbetsvillkor och därmed skillnader i känslan av utsatthet för kritik. Trots att samtalen i fokusgrupperna till en del präglades av det upparbetade samarbetet mellan FK-koordinatorer och rehabiliteringssamordnare – och att detta betonades som viktigt och avgörande i många fallberättelser – framstår de båda funktionerna främst som representanter för två olika aktörer med olika roller och ansvar i rehabiliteringsprocessen

”Röster” i samtal om arbetsförmåga - Kommunikativa processer i avstämningsmöten

Artikeln bygger på material från en studie om avstämningsmöten – ett institutionellt flerpartssamtal där Försäkringskassan, försäkrad och ytterligare minst en part t.ex. arbetsgivaren bedömer den enskildes arbetsförmåga. Utifrån begreppet ”röst” analyserades nio inspelade avstämningsmöten. Ett kommunikativt mönster framträdde med fyra olika röster: medicinens, arbetslivets, regelverkets och livsvärldens röst. Den mångröstade karaktären är sannolikt av stor vikt för att förstå komplexiteten, dynamiken och svårigheterna som hör ihop med dessa möten. Studien är gjord genom Rikscentrum för arbetslivsinriktad rehabilitering (RAR), Linköping.Using the concept of “voice”, statutory multiparty meetings about work (in)capacity were analyzed. A communicative pattern appeared, showing four different voices, each representing a particular perspective on work capacity: the voice of medicine, the voice of working life, the voice of rules and regulations and finally, the voice of life world. In negotiations that typically emerged voices sometimes clashed with one another when debating conflicting ideas, were blended when making a common cause, or, solved communicative dilemmas by adopting the voice of another party. This polyphonic character is probably of importance to understand the complexity, dynamics and difficulties of such meetings

Making sense of contested illness : Talk and narratives about chronic fatigue.

The primary aim of this thesis is to study how people suffering from chronic fatigue (usually Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFS) make sense of their medically unexplained and invisible illness. Due to the vagueness and indefinable character of this illness, it becomes disputed and doubted in many contexts. Thus, I call it a contested illness. Drawing on data from a patient school as well as from recurring interviews with former participants of this school, the meaning-making processes are examined from a communicative and interactive perspective using a primarily narrative approach. The analysis shows two principle ways of making sense of a contested illness like chronic fatigue, in narrative reconstructions and as interactional processes. Aspects of the narrative reconstructions that can be distinguished as particularly essential to this sense-making are morality and time. Both aspects become closely linked to issues aboutidentity in chronic illness since they concern biography and the personal story of life. In interview narratives, people described the changes in the moral frameworks they use in order to orientate themselves in their quest for what it is to lead a good life. By temporalising their illness, people seemed to deal with issues like responsibility, freedom of liability, blame and guilt, probably prompted by the contestedness of this illness. Through what is described as the discursive management and the sharing of experience, making sense of chronic fatigue in the patient school turned out to be primarily an interactional process. In interaction with the professionals in the school, the ill persons examined their experiences of suffering in relation to the professionals' views of the illness in a way that seemed to lead to a greater ability to manage illness discursively. Sharing experience of illness by telling each other one's personal story, and by co-narrating the story of suffering from chronic fatigue, meant that a joint image of the illness was created and that personal experiences were transformed into shared collectivised experiences. By this process, also the individual suffering was confirmed.All appended articles have been included in the online version withpermisssions from the publishers.Compared to the printed version of the thesis, these revisions have beenmade:- DOI-links have been added to the lists of papers.- Full reference to Paper D has been added to the list of papers.- The Post-print version of Paper B has been included instead in linewith the publisher's guidelines.</p

Sharing experiences of contested illness by storytelling

Based on audiotaped conversations from a patient school for adults suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, this article examines sharing experiences of illness as a mutual activity. The analysis shows that sharing experiences in this context is primarily of the narrative kind. Three main types of narratives were found: self-contained personal stories, orchestrated chained personal stories, and co-narrated collectivized stories. Through sharing three things seem to happen: (1) the participants jointly created experiential knowledge and a mutual image of the illness, (2) the individual sufferers could compare themselves to the jointly constructed image, (3) the active sharing of experience bestows a mutual confirmation of suffering irrespective of whether the individual’s experiences correspond or deviate from the common picture. Two parallel transitions seemed to occur: the transformation of personal experience into shared collectivized experiences and the transition when the individual sufferer perceives his/her private suffering through sharing experiences with co-sufferers