Representations of Children’s Voices about Their Health in Social Services Arguments in Support of Their Decision

Research points to the importance of involving children in social investigations, since their perception of their own situation and needs may differ from what others take to be the case. There is however no specific recommendation of how children’s voices should be inscribed in such investigations. This study explores if and how children’s voices are represented in the final part of the social investigations where social workers argue in support of their decision. It has a specific focus on how children’s voices about their health are included when, at the point of initiating an investigation, concerns have been raised about their physical and psychological well-being. Inspired by a social constructionist and discursive analytical approach we analyzed 60 arguments in as many social investigations. The findings are that children’s psychological-, physical health or general well- being was mentioned in 46 of the 60 argumentations. The child’s own thoughts about his or her health were represented in12 of these 46 arguments. Instead, children’s health was mostly represented by referrals to other persons. In those 12 arguments where children’s views are presented they were reported in different ways. Their view could, for example, be sparingly reported and be used in order to confirm a previous statement or opinion. Two of the cases go more into details about what the children actually have said about their health. We conclude that if the representation of the child’s own voice is excluded it is difficult to understand if and how children’s perspective of their health has been taken into consideration in the decision process

The quality of details when children and youths with intellectual disabilities are interviewed about their abuse experiences

The question for this study was to further understand how children and youths with intellectual disabilities (IDs) provide central and peripheral details when interviewed about their abuse experiences. Through a quantitative method we examined police officers' first formal investigative interviews with 32 children and youths with IDs. We analyzed the details they reported about abuse in relation to types of questions asked. The findings showed that few open-ended invitations were used and that a large number of option-posing questions were asked. The children and youths tended to agree with option-posing and suggestive statements but were nonetheless able to report important information about their abuse experiences without the ‘help’ from these potentially contaminating questions. The results of this study are limited because of the selective nature of the sample and that we did not have access to complete information about the participants specific diagnosis. Although it shows that police officers need to provide children and youths with IDs greater opportunities to report details using open-ended invitations. If they do not develop their responses when asked open-ended invitations they may be asked open directive questions to facilitate the elicitation of both central and peripheral information

Research Expanding Current Understandings of Bullying in Sweden

This paper discusses the on-going research on the phenomenon of bullying in the Department of Child andYouth Studies at Stockholm University. The paper describes the reasons, and how to contribute with anunderstanding of bullying as a social group phenomenon, and specifically focuses on inductive ethnographicand cyberethnographic approaches toward peer-to-peer interactions in schools, preschools and on theInternet. The understanding of this phenomenon is based on a Swedish interdisciplinary approach whichincludes children’s perspectives. The objective is to explore bullying as a complex social group phenomenonwhich allows for a focus on the process of bullying, thus creating an opportunity for the enhancement of theunderstanding of inter- and intra-connected actions and perspectives. This article is intended to contribute toa discussion on a broadening of the conceptualization of the phenomenon of bullying

The challenge of assessing credibility when children with intellectual disabilities are alleged victims of abuse

Assessing credibility is of importance when deciding the legal outcome of a case. Such an assessment can be especially challenging when the witness is a child with intellectual disabilities. If these children have difficulties making their voices heard in legal proceedings the principal of equal legal rights may be called in question. We openly interviewed 32 lawyers, prosecutors, and police officers about how they assess credibility of these children. The findings indicate that individual perceptions of credibility are filtered through a legal norm of how to understand reliable reports irrespective of the eyewitnesses' ability to reach that standard. Legal representatives are aware that such a procedure may exclude intellectual disabled children from being fairly assessed but they do not deviate from the rules they perceive as required by their legal role. If knowledge about intellectual competence and functional level of an individual child witness was perceived as necessary when putting an adapted legal norm into praxis, this may increase the chance that assessments of credibility are based on knowledge rather then on a simplified general legal classification. Such an assessment procedure may increase the chance that children with intellectual disabilities are not excluded from fair legal trials of their cases

Living with children who have coeliac disease: a parental perspectivec ch_1273 484..489

Abstract Background This study explores how a child's coeliac disease (CD) influences the daily life o

Pesquisa sobre a expansão do conhecimento atual do bullying na Suécia

This paper discusses the on-going research on the phenomenon of bullying in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Stockholm University. The paper describes the reasons, and how to contribute with an understanding of bullying as a social group phenomenon, and specifically focuses on inductive ethnographic and cyberethnographic approaches toward peer-to-peer interactions in schools, preschools and on the Internet. The understanding of this phenomenon is based on a Swedish interdisciplinary approach which includes children’s perspectives. The objective is to explore bullying as a complex social group phenomenon which allows for a focus on the process of bullying, thus creating an opportunity for the enhancement of the understanding of inter- and intra-connected actions and perspectives. This article is intended to contribute to a discussion on a broadening of the conceptualization of the phenomenon of bullying.Este documento plantea la investigación permanente sobre el fenómeno de matoneo en el Departamento de Estudios de Niñez y Juventud de la Universidad de Estocolmo. El documento describe las razones, y cómo contribuir con el entendimiento del matoneo como un fenómeno de un grupo social, y específicamente se enfoca en el empleo de etnografía inductiva y ciber-etnografía hacia las interacciones entre pares en los colegios, preescolar y en Internet. La comprensión de este fenómeno se basa en un enfoque interdisciplinario sueco que incluye las perspectivas de los niños. El objetivo es explorar el matoneo como un fenómeno de grupo social complejo, que permite un enfoque en el proceso de matoneo, y por tanto creando una oportunidad de ampliar el entendimiento de acciones y perspectivas inter e intra- conectadas. La intensión de este artículo es contribuir a la discusión de ampliar la conceptualización del fenómeno del bullying.Este artigo discute a pesquisa em curso sobre o fenômeno do bullying no Departamento de Estudos da Criança e da Juventude na Universidade de Estocolmo. O documento descreve as razões, e como contribuir com a compreensão do bullying como um fenômeno social de grupo e, especificamente, enfoca-se em abordagens etnográficas e cyber-etnográficas indutivas sobre interações entre pares em escolas, pré-escolas e internet. A compreensão deste fenômeno está baseado numa abordagem interdisciplinar sueca que inclui a perspectiva das crianças. O objetivo é explorar o bullying como um fenômeno social complexo de grupo que permite enfocar o processo de bullying criando, assim, uma oportunidade para melhorar o conhecimento das ações e perspectivas inter e intra-conectadas. Este artigo tem a intenção de contribuir para uma discussão sobre a ampliação da conceptualização do bullying

Sexuella övergrepp mot barn : Analys av polisförhör med barn som misstänks varit utsatta för sexuella övergrepp som genomgång av deras domstolsprotokoll. En beskrivning av och en delrapport från ett projekt

Sexuella övergrepp mot barn är inte ett nytt fenomen bara för att anmälningarna till polismyndigheter har fördubblats de senaste 20 åren. Debatten kring detta känslomässigt laddade ämne har varit och är moraliskt infekterad. Kunskapen om sexuella övergrepp har ökat men det saknas fortfarande en hel del information som kan öka förståelsen för detta fenomen. Polisens förhör med barnet har en avgörande betydelse för den juridiska handläggningen av ett övergreppsärende. Det här projektet syftar till att öka forståelsen för hur barnets berättelse konstrueras och förstås av polis, åklagare och domstol. Specifikt innebär detta en kartläggning och analys av samtalsmönster i 192 videoinspelade polisförhör med bam/ungdomar som misstänks ha varit utsatta för sexuella övergrepp vid ett polisdistrikt under perioden 1986-1995. Genom att järnföra polisförhör och akter för de 61 barn vars ärende gick till åtal med de resterande 126 vars ärende ej ledde till åtal (5 är ännu ej redovisade) finns möjlighet att skapa förståelse för vad polis, åklagare och domstol bedömer som trovärdiga berättelser. Åklagaren kan som stöd för sitt avgörande också inkludera bampsykiatriska bedömningar. Därför syftar projektet ocksa till att undersöka de kliniska kriterierna för trovärdiga berättelser. Vilken överenstämmelse finns det mellan de kliniska och de juridiska instansemas bedömningar på vad som är att betrakta som trovärdiga berättelser om sexuella övergrepp? Den här delrapporten är inriktad på att beskriva projektet som helhet men ocksa att ge en översiktsbild av de i studien inblandade personerna

How Social Workers Portray Children’s Perceptions When Constructing Their Identities

Constructions of institutional identities are necessary when assessing children’s needs and making intervention decisions. To be able to make holistic descriptions of children’s identities, social workers have to listen to children’s perceptions of themselves and their surroundings. In this study we explore how social workers construct children’s identities when portraying the children’s perceptions in social investigations conducted according to the BBIC model when concerns have been expressed about the children’s health.  Inspired by a discursive analytical approach, we focused on the language used. We analysed descriptions of children’s perceptions in 35 written investigations. We found that in terms of words used, the children’s perceptions were given greater attention than those of parents and others (e.g. teachers, doctors). When focusing on the quality of these constructions, the main patterns found were that social workers more frequently submitted non-explanatory rather than explanatory descriptions. We also found that social workers differ in the way they handle the task of reporting children’s voices. These findings indicate that the use of the BBIC manual needs to be developed to ensure children are not just listened to and their perceptions described, but also that children are constructed as agents of their life. To obtain a holistic view of children’s life-world, there is a need of identity descriptions that include details of how children understand their problems, what they experience as positive and what is acceptable support for them