Dept. of social work

BackgroundIt is essential for professionals from different organizations to collaborate when handling matters concerning children, adolescents, and their families in order to enable society to provide health care and social services from a comprehensive approach.ObjectiveThis paper reports perceptions of obstacles to collaboration among professionals in health care (county council), social services (municipality), and schools in an administrative district of the city of Stockholm, Sweden.MethodsData were collected in focus group interviews with unit managers and personnel.Results and discussionOur results show that allocation of responsibilities, confidence and the professional encounter were areas where barriers to collaboration occurred, mainly depending on a lack of clarity. The responsibility for collaboration fell largely on the professionals and we found that shared responsibility of managers from different organizations is a crucial factor affecting successful collaboration. ...

Professionals in healthcare, social services, and schools often collaborate when addressing children and adolescents with complex psychosocial needs. Based on theory of social representations, we investigated how professionals in the mentioned organizations perceived each other through their experiences of collaboration. Twenty-nine unit managers and 35 staff members were interviewed in 12 focus groups, and the data collected were subjected to content analysis. Most social representations indicated complex and problematic interprofessional collaboration, although some were positive in nature. We also found social representations regarding ignorance of each other's organizations, distrust, unavailability, and uncommunicativeness. Conceptions of the other party's way of thinking appeared to include adverse attitudes and low expectations from the other side. Concurrently, there was mutual understanding of the limited room to maneuver and heavy workloads. The professionals' ...

The concept of mental hygiene is historically intertwined with eugenics and what it meant both ideologically and for the care of the mentally ill. A closer investigation of the concept and of the historical context shows that different interpretations existed simultaneously. The aim of this essay is to highlight the literary and scientific works of a Swedish psychiatrist, Josef Lundahl, an advocate of the mental hygiene concept. A close reading of his texts is used to provide an example of how the concept of mental hygiene was understood by a psychiatrist and practitioner of mental hygiene. The practice of childcare and outpatient care that Lundahl founded in Visby is far from what we now associate with mental hygiene in the past.

and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Katarina Piuva THE MEANING OF NORMALITY The controversy about the mental health campaign in Sweden 1969 At the height of the Swedish welfare society, a campaign with the aim of promoting mental health issues within the Swedish labour market was launched. The title and purpose of the campaign, 'Mental healthan action of increased understanding and solidarity at work', was to illuminate mental health issues at work. Surprisingly to the organizers, the mental health campaign stirred up major opposition, especially from the political left. The idea of mental hygiene in an industrial and workplace setting, a crossbreed between the values of the Human Relations School and psychiatric science, was received with deep mistrust. The campaign caused an agitated debate in the media about power relations between employers and employees. The political disagreements were exposed in a number of articles in the daily newspapers and in the evening papers during the summer of that year. This article undertakes an investigation of the campaign literature and the media debate. The interpretation of the debate highlights different opinions about the meaning of normal mental health. Four different views of normality and mental health which demonstrate the complexity of the issue are presented. Mental health could mean adjustment and harmony, it could be a medical weapon to suppress the working class, it could even mean a neutral state of absence of mental problems, or lastly it could be a claim for the right to live a normal life.

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Why do we need alternatives to psychiatry? The question is presented on the very first page of the book and after reading the contributions from 61 authors, the answer comes without hesitation. We certainly need alternatives based on experience-based knowledge, ...

Projektet Case management–för personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning/funktionshinder och komplexa vårdbehov finansieras med medel från regeringens satsning på” psykiatri och socialt stöd och omsorg för personer med psykisk sjukdom och/eller ...

Den mentalhygieniska rörelsen under 1900-talet har kallats för den nya psykiatrins korståg i västvärlden. Det nya var ambitionen att utvidga den psykiatriska vetenskapen till att omfatta definitioner av psykisk hälsa och inte enbart definitioner av sjukdomstillstånd. Den ...

Den här rapporten handlar om SAM-teamet, ett samarbete mellan beroendevården, öppenvårdspsykiatrin och två kommuner, Järfälla och Upplands-Bro. Det har varit ett långsiktigt och tålamodskrävande arbete, som gett resultat. Det täta samarbetet, inom ...

Avsikten med den här artikeln är att samla tankarna och fördjupa diskussionen kring de Foucault-inspirerade perspektiv och metodologiska ansatser som jag tidigare använt i avhandlingen Normalitetens gränser: En studie om 1900-talets mentalhygieniska ...

Vården av barn och unga är ett viktigt uppdrag för socialtjänsten och alltför sällan görs undersökningar av hur vården utfaller för dem som erhåller samhällets vård. Uppsala kommun har därvidlag påbörjat ett förändringsarbete genom att bidra till utvecklandet av ...

Well-functioning collaboration between professionals in the welfare sector has a strong influence on the contacts with parents of children and adolescents suffering from mental illness, and it is a precondition for the availability of support for these parents. This paper describes how such parents perceive collaboration between professionals in mental health care, social services, and schools. This was a small-scale qualitative study. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with seven parents of children and adolescents diagnosed with anxiety and depression. The families were selected from the Child and Adolescent Mental Health patient records kept by the Stockholm County Council (Sweden), and they all lived in a catchment area for Child and Adolescent Mental Health outpatient services in Stockholm. Our results suggest that when the encounter between parents and professionals is characterised by structure and trust, it is supportive and serves as a holding environment. Parents t...

The comprehensive aim of the dissertation is to examine how ideas about mental hygiene have been elaborated and debated within the context of Swedish welfare. The dissertation is a compilation of four articles where issues of mental hygiene are examined in detail through an analysis of texts. In addition, a theoretical and methodological framework and a discussion of the concepts of mental health and normality are included. The subjects of research are (1) the launching of the movement in the USA in the early twentieth century, and the autobiographical narrative A Mind That Found Itself (Beers 1908), (2) the introduction and the development of the movement in Sweden, (3) the psychosocial training within the education of social workers between the years 1939-1989, and (4) the debate about the Mental Health Campaign in 1969. The issues of mental hygiene and mental health discussed in the articles are elaborated in relation to the academic disciplines of Sociology of Health and Illness and the History of Public Health. The theoretical approach of these disciplines proceeds from a post-structural and social constructivist perspective of knowledge and language, a perspective also used in the interpretation of the textual materials. The section where the research methods are presented, consists of a description of how the textual materials have been selected and treated in relation to the theoretical and methodological standpoints. The outcome of the investigation of the autobiographical book A Mind That Found Itself (Beers 1908) in relation to the launching of the movement in the USA, is that the monomyth-character of the story supported an image of victory and hope, important for the movement's aims to improve the reputation of psychiatry. Concerning the launching of the mental hygiene movement in Sweden two important conditions stand out as the cause behind the rather hesitant start: the dominant position of custodial care and the antagonistic attitude towards psychoanalytical theories. The study of the psychosocial training of social workers showed how the skills of the clinical gaze were taught to the students by the technique of case-writing. The study of the Mental Health campaign in 1969 showed important divergences concerning the opinions of normality. Since the individual autonomy in the welfare system in Sweden is organised through the individuals position within the labour market, the issues of mental health and allied opinions of normality also contained the risks of exclusion. In conclusion, a comprehensive reflection concerning the results of the studies, is that the concept of mental hygiene, due to the mix of psychiatric and social knowledge, mediated shifting ideas about normality

Why do we need alternatives to psychiatry? The question is presented on the very first page of the book and after reading the contributions from 61 authors, the answer comes without hesitation. We certainly need alternatives based on experience-based knowledge, creativity and renewal. We also need a wide spectrum of humane and user friendly treatments. The book offers a straightforward and an unsentimental description from a survivor/user perspective of psychiatric care. The contributions from people with own experiences of psychiatric care are accompanied by researchers, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers and counsellors. Some of the most renown professional names are Marius Romme & Sandra Escher from the Netherlands, Jaakko Seikkula and Birgitta Alakare from Finland and Philip Thomas and Pat Bracken from the UK.

The comprehensive aim of the dissertation is to examine how ideas about mental hygiene have been elaborated and debated within the context of Swedish welfare. The dissertation is a compilation of four articles where issues of mental hygiene are examined in detail through an analysis of texts. In addition, a theoretical and methodological framework and a discussion of the concepts of mental health and normality are included. The subjects of research are (1) the launching of the movement in the USA in the early twentieth century, and the autobiographical narrative A Mind That Found Itself (Beers 1908), (2) the introduction and the development of the movement in Sweden, (3) the psychosocial training within the education of social workers between the years 1939-1989, and (4) the debate about the Mental Health Campaign in 1969. The issues of mental hygiene and mental health discussed in the articles are elaborated in relation to the academic disciplines of Sociology of Health and Illness and the History of Public Health. The theoretical approach of these disciplines proceeds from a post-structural and social constructivist perspective of knowledge and language, a perspective also used in the interpretation of the textual materials. The section where the research methods are presented, consists of a description of how the textual materials have been selected and treated in relation to the theoretical and methodological standpoints. The outcome of the investigation of the autobiographical book A Mind That Found Itself (Beers 1908) in relation to the launching of the movement in the USA, is that the monomyth-character of the story supported an image of victory and hope, important for the movement's aims to improve the reputation of psychiatry. Concerning the launching of the mental hygiene movement in Sweden two important conditions stand out as the cause behind the rather hesitant start: the dominant position of custodial care and the antagonistic attitude towards psychoanalytical theories. The study of the psychosocial training of social workers showed how the skills of the clinical gaze were taught to the students by the technique of case-writing. The study of the Mental Health campaign in 1969 showed important divergences concerning the opinions of normality. Since the individual autonomy in the welfare system in Sweden is organised through the individuals position within the labour market, the issues of mental health and allied opinions of normality also contained the risks of exclusion. In conclusion, a comprehensive reflection concerning the results of the studies, is that the concept of mental hygiene, due to the mix of psychiatric and social knowledge, mediated shifting ideas about normality

Persons with mental health problems and substance abuse often have complex needs requiring many kinds of help concurrently. In Sweden, an attempt has been made to counterbalance the effects of fragmentation by means of legislation on collaboration, requiring on the individual level the use of Coordinated Individual Plans (Sw. Samordnad Individuell Plan, SIP). The aim of the study is to explore collaboration as it is indicated in SIP and other case documentation with focus on how SIP is motivated, and what kind and degree of collaboration is indicated by the documentation. 12 individual case files have been studied in six local authorities and the results have been analyzed in relation to a regional collaboration agreement and local collaboration agreements. The results show unclear motivation for SIP and that SIP is primarily used for documentation of short-term planning. Use of SIP and participation in SIP appears also to be uneven. The authors characterize SIP as an unsystematic form of interagency meeting, with documentation indicating a relatively low to moderate level of collaboration. The authors question whether SIP is an optimal form for collaboration and suggest that more distinct models such as case management or multidisciplinary teams could be more effective.

This study explores experiences of mothers in Sweden who care for their adult children suffering from severe mental illness. Using 15 interviews with mothers from 40 to 80 years old, the article examines how predominant professional knowledge and sanism constructs the mothers and their children as deviant and what counterstrategies the mothers develop as a response to these experiences of discrimination. The findings show that the mothers’ experiences are characterized by endless confrontations with negative attitudes and comments that have forced them to go through painful and prolonged processes of self-accusations for not having given enough love, care, support and help in different stages of their children's life. But the mothers’ experiences also reveal important aspects of changes over the life span. As the mothers are ageing, the relationship between them and their children becomes more reciprocal and the ill child may even take the role as family carer.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse discourses of parenting training in official inquires in Sweden that explicitly deal with the bringing up of children and parental education and how the representations of the problems and their solutions affect parental subject positions in the early welfare state and at the onset of the 21st century. Method: We carried out a discourse analysis of two public inquiries of 1947 and 2008, drawing on theories about governmentality and power regimes. Tools from political discourse analysis were used to investigate the objectives of political discourse practices. Results: Both inquiries referred to a context of change and new life demands as a problem. Concerning suggestions for solutions, there were discrepancies in parents’ estimated need of expert knowledge and in descriptions of parental capacity. In a discourse of trust and doubt, the parents in 1947 were positioned as trusted welfare partners and secure raisers of future generations, and in...

Projektet Dataverkstad Väntorp i Solna Stad är ett utvecklingsprojekt inom social ekonomi och miljö som pågått från och med december 2005 till och med juni 2007. Verksamheten är deltagarstyrd i form av ett socialt arbetskooperativ för personer med psykiska och sociala ...