A window of opportunities: Composing a relational space for living and telling sustainable stories to live by

This article is based on experiences with the Dreamcatchers, a project involving people living with substance addiction, and their significant others, in which the participants composed and explored narratives through creative, collaborative processes. In the article, we think with a narrative composed by one of the participants in the project to learn from her experiences. Our thinking is inspired by narrative inquiry as a way of thinking about experience. We understand the playful and imaginative narrative processes within the Dreamcatchers project as composing sustainable stories to live by. The Dreamcatchers project demonstrates the necessity of involving people living with substance addiction in naming the problem and in the search for possible and sustainable solutions or improvements. Cover photo: Jerzy Gorecki, Pixabay, open use licens

“Falling off the wagon”: older adults’ experiences of living with frailty in rural arctic communities

Most populations around the world are ageing. The proportion of older adults in the population is larger and is growing more rapidly in rural communities than in urban areas. Longevity increases the risk of frailty. Our aim was to explore how single-living frail older adults experience living with frailty in everyday life in rural Arctic areas. Over eight months, we conducted a series of three interviews with eight older adults identified as frail by home care services in two rural municipalities in northern Norway. We conducted a thematic analysis. We generated three themes. Frailty as a dynamic phenomenon indicated that the participants’ experiences of frailty varied over time. Frailty as part of old age referred to the findings that many participants tried to adapt to the changing circumstances, while others found it more challenging to accept the experienced limitations. Frailty in a rural Arctic context concerned the findings that the rural Arctic environment affected the participants’ experiences of frailty due to its long, snowy winters; long distances between communities and municipal centres; and out-migration. Our results demonstrate that frailty is a consequence of the interplay between ageing persons and their physical and social environments.publishedVersio

Blix Bodil H.

publishedVersio

Professional strategies in upper secondary school dropout management among youth in the Sami areas of Norway: a focus group study

ABSTRACTThe upper secondary school dropout rate is a challenge in many western countries, and measures have been taken to prevent dropout. The dropout rate in Norway is stable but is the highest in the northernmost counties. The aim of this study is to explore the strategies employed by upper secondary school teachers and their collaborators to prevent dropout from upper secondary school among Sami youth in northern Norway. This study is based on three focus group interviews with teachers, advisers, nurses, and counsellors in the Sami areas of northern Norway. The thematic analysis identified two main strategies, namely tracking the student and giving the student time. Transparent environments, cultural competence, and interdisciplinary collaboration were identified as prerequisites for successfully implementing the two strategies to prevent dropout from upper secondary school

Age-inclusive Arctic outdoor spaces: a policy review in four Nordic countries

In the last decade, policy strategies were adopted in response to population ageing in the Nordic countries. Governmental actions have to be evaluated in terms of their efficacy. The objective of this article is to identify and review the policies related to age-inclusive outdoor spaces in the Arctic regions of Nordic countries. Our analysis focuses on central government white papers that address the older adults in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. A review of such policy documents provides insights into the predominant understandings of older adults and healthy ageing. Moreover, such analysis may identify “blind spots” in the national policies, especially regarding the sparsely researched northernmost and rural Arctic territories. Our results demonstrate how the older populations in the Nordic Arctic and their access to outdoor spaces are addressed in the policy documents. We found that with few exceptions, the older people of the rural Arctic is strikingly absent in the Nordic national governmental papers. Moreover, access to outdoor spaces is mentioned in general terms, and specific challenges of the rural Arctic context, such as the harsh climate, long winters and geographical distances are not addressed. The noticed omissions might be the result of “urban-rural”, “south-north”, “indoor-outdoor”, and “generalisation” biases.Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-04-15 (signyg);Funder: The Nordic Arctic Co-operation Programme;Full text license: CC BY-NC</p