This article seeks to identify what impact the works of Michel Foucault have had on special-education research in Norway. We also discuss what his writings may contribute to future research. Foucault’s perspectives are far from dominant in special-education research today. We present research within the relevant social sciences which has been influenced by Foucault and which has had impact on special-education research. We aim to demonstrate that Foucault’s genealogy of ethics may bring new insights and a new critical approach to special-education research. The ethics of inclusion are particularly constructive and productive in both pedagogy and special-education research. In the discussion of Foucault’s relevance in special-education research, we focus on his texts on governmentality to conduct and govern a learner and the ethics of inclusion. The mode of subjectivity highlights the productive nature of disciplinary power – how it names and categorizes learners, the conduct of conduct or how learners govern themselves under education.
{"title":"Why Michel Foucault in Norwegian Special-Education Research?","authors":"Hege Knudsmoen, E. Simonsen","doi":"10.15845/NJSR.V7I0.901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15845/NJSR.V7I0.901","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to identify what impact the works of Michel Foucault have had on special-education research in Norway. We also discuss what his writings may contribute to future research. Foucault’s perspectives are far from dominant in special-education research today. We present research within the relevant social sciences which has been influenced by Foucault and which has had impact on special-education research. We aim to demonstrate that Foucault’s genealogy of ethics may bring new insights and a new critical approach to special-education research. The ethics of inclusion are particularly constructive and productive in both pedagogy and special-education research. In the discussion of Foucault’s relevance in special-education research, we focus on his texts on governmentality to conduct and govern a learner and the ethics of inclusion. The mode of subjectivity highlights the productive nature of disciplinary power – how it names and categorizes learners, the conduct of conduct or how learners govern themselves under education.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"62 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125848778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article focuses on a discussion of diagnosing, special education, and ‘learnification’ in a Danish school context in which the increasing use of diagnosis is analysed as resulting from the ideas of normality that are associated with the construction of the pupil as a learner. I argue that diagnosis in schools can be seen as the shadow side of the articulation and management of learning through schools’ requirements for pupils. This article is based on my analysis of files produced by educational psychologists. Learning and diagnosis, I argue, constitute two different, but parallel, ways of looking at being a pupil in school, each of which represents conceptions of deviance and normality. The article’s methodological point of departure draws on a Foucauldian-influenced analysis of diagnosing and learning in education.
{"title":"Diagnosing, special education, and ‘learnification’ in Danish schools","authors":"Bjørn Hamre","doi":"10.7577/NJSR.2096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/NJSR.2096","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on a discussion of diagnosing, special education, and ‘learnification’ in a Danish school context in which the increasing use of diagnosis is analysed as resulting from the ideas of normality that are associated with the construction of the pupil as a learner. I argue that diagnosis in schools can be seen as the shadow side of the articulation and management of learning through schools’ requirements for pupils. This article is based on my analysis of files produced by educational psychologists. Learning and diagnosis, I argue, constitute two different, but parallel, ways of looking at being a pupil in school, each of which represents conceptions of deviance and normality. The article’s methodological point of departure draws on a Foucauldian-influenced analysis of diagnosing and learning in education.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124353334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The influence of Michel Foucault’s thinking in critical disability studies, and to social studies of deafness, can hardly be doubted. Foucault has offered valuable tools for the critical rethinking of deaf education and pedagogy with respect to normalization and disciplinary power , which are integrally related to the historical construction of deafness as deficiency and pathology by modern, medical, and psychological knowledge. This article explores the applicability and critical potential of the Foucauldian concepts of disciplinary power, surveillance, and normalization within the specific context of the history of deaf education in Finland. The article focuses on the modernization of the education of deaf children that began during the latter half of the nineteenth century in Finland, with the influence of oralism – a pedagogical discourse and deaf-education methods of German origin. Deafness was characterized as a pathology or abnormality of the most severe kind. When taken at the general level, Foucault’s well-known concepts are easily applicable to the analysis of deaf education, also in the Finnish context. However, it is argued that things become much more complex if we first examine more closely the roles played by the eye and the ear, by optic and aural experience, in these Foucauldian notions, and if we then relate this enquiry to our analysis of oralist pedagogy and deaf education.
{"title":"Foucault and deaf education in Finland","authors":"Lauri Siisiäinen","doi":"10.15845/NJSR.V7I0.902","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15845/NJSR.V7I0.902","url":null,"abstract":"The influence of Michel Foucault’s thinking in critical disability studies, and to social studies of deafness, can hardly be doubted. Foucault has offered valuable tools for the critical rethinking of deaf education and pedagogy with respect to normalization and disciplinary power , which are integrally related to the historical construction of deafness as deficiency and pathology by modern, medical, and psychological knowledge. This article explores the applicability and critical potential of the Foucauldian concepts of disciplinary power, surveillance, and normalization within the specific context of the history of deaf education in Finland. The article focuses on the modernization of the education of deaf children that began during the latter half of the nineteenth century in Finland, with the influence of oralism – a pedagogical discourse and deaf-education methods of German origin. Deafness was characterized as a pathology or abnormality of the most severe kind. When taken at the general level, Foucault’s well-known concepts are easily applicable to the analysis of deaf education, also in the Finnish context. However, it is argued that things become much more complex if we first examine more closely the roles played by the eye and the ear, by optic and aural experience, in these Foucauldian notions, and if we then relate this enquiry to our analysis of oralist pedagogy and deaf education.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127291201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the constructions of the deviant subject in Danish Foucauldian educational research. Following the work of Foucault, we argue that the deviant subject, on the one hand, could be considered as a subject of exemption. In this case, exemption is deduced from Foucault’s understanding of the relation between normality and deviancy. On the other hand, an examination of Danish Foucauldian disability research shows that this conception of ‘the deviant subject’ has changed over time. Hence, the present expectations of ‘the disabled’ are – more or less – influenced by contemporary discourses of general education. Thus, this article argues that Foucauldian disability studies could benefit from taking into account Foucauldian research in the field of general education. Until recently, the two research fields have been mutually isolated.
{"title":"Guest editorial: special education and the deviant child in the Nordic countries – the impact of Foucault","authors":"J. Allan, Bjørn Hamre","doi":"10.15845/NJSR.V7I0.898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15845/NJSR.V7I0.898","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the constructions of the deviant subject in Danish Foucauldian educational research. Following the work of Foucault, we argue that the deviant subject, on the one hand, could be considered as a subject of exemption. In this case, exemption is deduced from Foucault’s understanding of the relation between normality and deviancy. On the other hand, an examination of Danish Foucauldian disability research shows that this conception of ‘the deviant subject’ has changed over time. Hence, the present expectations of ‘the disabled’ are – more or less – influenced by contemporary discourses of general education. Thus, this article argues that Foucauldian disability studies could benefit from taking into account Foucauldian research in the field of general education. Until recently, the two research fields have been mutually isolated.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114513579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Line Hille Højfeldt, P. Pedersen, K. Petersen, L. Andersen
The large number of people on sickness and disability benefits due to mental disorders in Denmark has increased the need for improved rehabilitative services to facilitate their return to work. The aim of the present study was to explore the use of psychoeducation in relation to the standard services of a Danish job centre for individuals on sick leave with regard to relevance, elements contributing to recovery, and improvements of psychoeducation as an intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 individuals on sick leave who were at risk of having a mental disorder. The interviews were analysed using systematic text condensation inspired by Giorgi’s phenomenological analysis. The resulting core themes describing psychoeducation with respect to the standard services of the job centre included access and relevance of psychoeducation in relation to the job centre’s standard services, social support, self-care, and psychoeducation intervention. This study concludes that the informants consider psychoeducation a relevant offer to individuals on sick leave who are at risk of having a mental disorder. The relevance of the standard services of the job-centre services was considered to be low. Furthermore, psychoeducation reinforces peer support and inclusion of relatives as elements to aid recovery to a much larger extent than do the standard services of the job centre. In general, the results support the use of psychoeducation in a municipal job-centre setting as a targeted and beneficial offer to individuals on sick leave who are at risk of having a mental disorder.
{"title":"Psychoeducation: perspectives from individuals on sick leave who are at risk of having a mental disorder","authors":"Line Hille Højfeldt, P. Pedersen, K. Petersen, L. Andersen","doi":"10.7577/NJSR.2089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/NJSR.2089","url":null,"abstract":"The large number of people on sickness and disability benefits due to mental disorders in Denmark has increased the need for improved rehabilitative services to facilitate their return to work. The aim of the present study was to explore the use of psychoeducation in relation to the standard services of a Danish job centre for individuals on sick leave with regard to relevance, elements contributing to recovery, and improvements of psychoeducation as an intervention. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 individuals on sick leave who were at risk of having a mental disorder. The interviews were analysed using systematic text condensation inspired by Giorgi’s phenomenological analysis. The resulting core themes describing psychoeducation with respect to the standard services of the job centre included access and relevance of psychoeducation in relation to the job centre’s standard services, social support, self-care, and psychoeducation intervention. This study concludes that the informants consider psychoeducation a relevant offer to individuals on sick leave who are at risk of having a mental disorder. The relevance of the standard services of the job-centre services was considered to be low. Furthermore, psychoeducation reinforces peer support and inclusion of relatives as elements to aid recovery to a much larger extent than do the standard services of the job centre. In general, the results support the use of psychoeducation in a municipal job-centre setting as a targeted and beneficial offer to individuals on sick leave who are at risk of having a mental disorder.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123558951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Introduction : Persons with concurrent substance-abuse and mental-health problems often lack permanent housing, and have a poorer quality of life and lower levels of functioning than persons who primarily have mental-health problems. A Housing First project (HF) began during the autumn of 2013 in a Norwegian city. The target group was persons who were struggling with substance-abuse and mental-health problems and who lacked housing. The HF model has a holistic health and social approach to help this group to establish themselves and to be able to remain in their own homes. Aim : Little is known about how the HF model works in Norway. The aim of this study was to explore, describe, and interpret clients’ experiences of partaking in this HF project. Method : The qualitative research interview was used as the method for the generation of data. Twelve participants were interviewed, and a phenomenological hermeneutic method was used to analyse the data. Results : The structured analysis revealed two themes, and the comprehensive understanding centred around these two interwoven themes: having an available professional companion and taking the lead in your own life . Discussion : This study shows that people with a dual diagnosis can begin to recover and obtain a better quality of life if they receive appropriate housing, support, and services of their choice on their own terms. The study confirms the importance of the participants’ active participation, control, and choice in planning and formulating specific services. The results show that if a person wishes and dares to change his or her life, then decisive conditions are having one’s own home, meeting professionals who inspire trust, and having one’s personal preferences and needs recognized.
{"title":"From struggling to survive to a life based on values and choices: first-person experiences of participating in a Norwegian Housing First project","authors":"Ellen Andvig, J. K. Hummelvoll","doi":"10.7577/NJSR.2088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/NJSR.2088","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction : Persons with concurrent substance-abuse and mental-health problems often lack permanent housing, and have a poorer quality of life and lower levels of functioning than persons who primarily have mental-health problems. A Housing First project (HF) began during the autumn of 2013 in a Norwegian city. The target group was persons who were struggling with substance-abuse and mental-health problems and who lacked housing. The HF model has a holistic health and social approach to help this group to establish themselves and to be able to remain in their own homes. Aim : Little is known about how the HF model works in Norway. The aim of this study was to explore, describe, and interpret clients’ experiences of partaking in this HF project. Method : The qualitative research interview was used as the method for the generation of data. Twelve participants were interviewed, and a phenomenological hermeneutic method was used to analyse the data. Results : The structured analysis revealed two themes, and the comprehensive understanding centred around these two interwoven themes: having an available professional companion and taking the lead in your own life . Discussion : This study shows that people with a dual diagnosis can begin to recover and obtain a better quality of life if they receive appropriate housing, support, and services of their choice on their own terms. The study confirms the importance of the participants’ active participation, control, and choice in planning and formulating specific services. The results show that if a person wishes and dares to change his or her life, then decisive conditions are having one’s own home, meeting professionals who inspire trust, and having one’s personal preferences and needs recognized.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131445170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studies from several countries have revealed significant effects of exposure to smoking in films on smoking behaviour and attitudes among adolescents. This study presents the first findings from the Scandinavian cultural region on this topic. With the objective to test for significant adjusted relationships between exposure to smoking in films and established smoking among 15- to 20-year-old respondents, and susceptibility to smoking among non-smokers in the same age group, a cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2008. 807 Norwegian adolescents and young adults answered a web-based questionnaire. Exposure to smoking in films is estimated by asking the respondents if they had seen films from a list of 56 popular film titles of both local and foreign origin from 2007 and 2008. Associations of exposure and smoking behaviour are tested in two logistic regression models. Respondents with the highest exposure to film smoking are more likely to be established smokers than those with no exposure (adjusted odds ratios=2.22, confidence interval=1.04-4.77). Among non-smokers, those with highest exposure to smoking in films are more likely to be susceptible to smoking than those with no exposure (adjusted odds rations=1.55, confidence interval=0.93-2.56). Film smoking is significantly associated with smoking susceptibility and established smoking among Norwegian adolescents and young adults.
{"title":"Exposure to smoking in films and smoking behaviour among Norwegian 15- to 20-year-olds: a cross-sectional study","authors":"Gunnar Sæbø, Ingeborg Lund","doi":"10.7577/NJSR.2087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/NJSR.2087","url":null,"abstract":"Studies from several countries have revealed significant effects of exposure to smoking in films on smoking behaviour and attitudes among adolescents. This study presents the first findings from the Scandinavian cultural region on this topic. With the objective to test for significant adjusted relationships between exposure to smoking in films and established smoking among 15- to 20-year-old respondents, and susceptibility to smoking among non-smokers in the same age group, a cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2008. 807 Norwegian adolescents and young adults answered a web-based questionnaire. Exposure to smoking in films is estimated by asking the respondents if they had seen films from a list of 56 popular film titles of both local and foreign origin from 2007 and 2008. Associations of exposure and smoking behaviour are tested in two logistic regression models. Respondents with the highest exposure to film smoking are more likely to be established smokers than those with no exposure (adjusted odds ratios=2.22, confidence interval=1.04-4.77). Among non-smokers, those with highest exposure to smoking in films are more likely to be susceptible to smoking than those with no exposure (adjusted odds rations=1.55, confidence interval=0.93-2.56). Film smoking is significantly associated with smoking susceptibility and established smoking among Norwegian adolescents and young adults.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129385678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For many years the education and training of people with addictions and mental-health problems have been a key strategy to assist people to find ordinary jobs. This strategy is largely concerned with adapting people to the requirements of the workplace. An alternative strategy can also be envisaged, where the workplace adapts to the possibilities and resources of the people (Hansen, 2009). In this article, we raise the following question: how is it possible to adapt workplaces for people with addiction and mental-health problems? Here we highlight the experiences of a workplace that focuses on adapting to employees’ capabilities and resources. The data collection consists both of 12 interviews with managers and workers and of participant observation of the workplace. Our answer to our question is that this is possible because the workplace is flexible in the way that they adapt their demands to the workers’ resources.
{"title":"What works? Flexibility as a Work-Participation Strategy for People with Addiction and Mental-Health Problems","authors":"G. Hansen, Ragnhild Fugletveit, Petter Arvesen","doi":"10.7577/NJSR.2086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/NJSR.2086","url":null,"abstract":"For many years the education and training of people with addictions and mental-health problems have been a key strategy to assist people to find ordinary jobs. This strategy is largely concerned with adapting people to the requirements of the workplace. An alternative strategy can also be envisaged, where the workplace adapts to the possibilities and resources of the people (Hansen, 2009). In this article, we raise the following question: how is it possible to adapt workplaces for people with addiction and mental-health problems? Here we highlight the experiences of a workplace that focuses on adapting to employees’ capabilities and resources. The data collection consists both of 12 interviews with managers and workers and of participant observation of the workplace. Our answer to our question is that this is possible because the workplace is flexible in the way that they adapt their demands to the workers’ resources.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127886525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Since the 1990s, the pressures on the unemployed have intensified in Sweden owing to increasing demands on individuals to be employable. This article centres on unemployed youths’ experiences of their visits to the public employment services in four Swedish municipalities and how these experiences can be understood against the background of the intersection of social class and gender. A total of 18 unemployed youths were interviewed and their reasoning was compared with their respective employment-agency officers. The analysis shows that the employment agency gives priority to young working-class men over young working-class women and to middle-class youths over working-class youths, respectively. Young working-class women’s wish to combine employment with caregiving is seen as an encumbrance by the employment agency and these women expressed the harshest criticism against the employment agency. When the advisors meet youths who do not correspond with the current expectations and ideals of the labour market, they risk taking part in an institutional process of exclusion of these youngsters.
{"title":"Inequality confirmed: institutional exclusion in the interaction between job-centre advisors and unemployed young people","authors":"Ulla Rantakeisu, Kirsti Kuusela, L. Karlsson","doi":"10.7577/NJSR.2085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7577/NJSR.2085","url":null,"abstract":"Since the 1990s, the pressures on the unemployed have intensified in Sweden owing to increasing demands on individuals to be employable. This article centres on unemployed youths’ experiences of their visits to the public employment services in four Swedish municipalities and how these experiences can be understood against the background of the intersection of social class and gender. A total of 18 unemployed youths were interviewed and their reasoning was compared with their respective employment-agency officers. The analysis shows that the employment agency gives priority to young working-class men over young working-class women and to middle-class youths over working-class youths, respectively. Young working-class women’s wish to combine employment with caregiving is seen as an encumbrance by the employment agency and these women expressed the harshest criticism against the employment agency. When the advisors meet youths who do not correspond with the current expectations and ideals of the labour market, they risk taking part in an institutional process of exclusion of these youngsters.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"122 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122131794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Background: The reduction of the number of people that drop out of the labour force and temporarily receive public benefits has increasingly been a political priority in Norway since the early 1990s. In particular, there has been a focus on reducing sick leave. However, none of the efforts in this direction has had the desired effects. To succeed, more knowledge is needed regarding the factors that create the illnesses influencing the length of the sickness leave. Aim: The purpose of this article is to study how relational social capital, both at work and home, has an impact on the experience of being on long-term sick leave and the process of returning to work. Methods: Individual in-depth interviews have been performed with 20 women between 25 and 60 years old. They were all sick-listed for more than 30 days during 2013 with mental illness or musculoskeletal diagnoses. Results: The study illustrates how long-term sickness absence can threaten the identity and self-confidence of the sick-listed persons. The effects of relational social capital are expressed through personal relationships with their family members, friends, colleagues, and managers at their workplace. Individuals with high social capital in both the workplace and the domestic sphere have the best prospects for recovering and returning to work. High workplace capital may, to a certain degree, compensate for low domestic social capital. Single mothers with low social capital both in their domestic life and in their workplace are the most vulnerable. Conclusion: Relational social capital influences both the experience of being on sick leave and the process of returning to work. The efforts to reduce sickness leave should therefore focus on not only the sick-listed person, but also their relationships with their family and in their workplace, as well as the interplay between these.
{"title":"Relational social capital: Norwegian women's experiences of the process of being on sick leave and the path back to work","authors":"Liv Johanne Solheim","doi":"10.15845/NJSR.V6I0.527","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15845/NJSR.V6I0.527","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The reduction of the number of people that drop out of the labour force and temporarily receive public benefits has increasingly been a political priority in Norway since the early 1990s. In particular, there has been a focus on reducing sick leave. However, none of the efforts in this direction has had the desired effects. To succeed, more knowledge is needed regarding the factors that create the illnesses influencing the length of the sickness leave. Aim: The purpose of this article is to study how relational social capital, both at work and home, has an impact on the experience of being on long-term sick leave and the process of returning to work. Methods: Individual in-depth interviews have been performed with 20 women between 25 and 60 years old. They were all sick-listed for more than 30 days during 2013 with mental illness or musculoskeletal diagnoses. Results: The study illustrates how long-term sickness absence can threaten the identity and self-confidence of the sick-listed persons. The effects of relational social capital are expressed through personal relationships with their family members, friends, colleagues, and managers at their workplace. Individuals with high social capital in both the workplace and the domestic sphere have the best prospects for recovering and returning to work. High workplace capital may, to a certain degree, compensate for low domestic social capital. Single mothers with low social capital both in their domestic life and in their workplace are the most vulnerable. Conclusion: Relational social capital influences both the experience of being on sick leave and the process of returning to work. The efforts to reduce sickness leave should therefore focus on not only the sick-listed person, but also their relationships with their family and in their workplace, as well as the interplay between these.","PeriodicalId":207067,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Social Research","volume":"44 7","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114021123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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