Veiled midwifery in the baby factory — A grounded theory study

Background

Midwives’ professional role has been changing drastically over time, from handling births in home settings to being part of a team in labour wards in hospitals. This demands a greater effort of interprofessional collaboration in childbirth care.

Performing gendered distinctions: young women painting illicit street art and graffiti in Helsinki

This article studies illicit street art and graffiti subculture among women in Helsinki, taking feminist subcultural theory into account. In previous studies of illicit street art and graffiti, women’s participation has been overlooked partly due to lack of data and through the tendency of seeing them as one unified marginalised group. Through ethnographic fieldwork, using edgework as the methodological approach, and interviews with eight women painting street art and graffiti in Helsinki, this article presents a critical perspective on how these women negotiate their positions in the subcultures from different positions. Particularly, it examines the performed gendered distinctions between street art and graffiti, and the negotiations of subcultural subjectivity.     

Like Oil and Water in the American West: Water Market Access amid Unconventional Oil Production in Colorado

Characterized as a “wicked” problem, water shortage in the American West will soon become a reality—due to increasing population, climate change, and decreased flows. Concurrently, water‐centered technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling have facilitated the rapid and widespread growth of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production in the United States. Water markets are increasingly touted as the best, most efficient, and fairest mechanisms for allocating vital and scarce resources. Yet this contention is largely unexplored at the food‐energy‐water nexus, particularly from an environmental justice perspective—where equitable water access for all users is a central concern. We utilize a case study in Colorado's South Platte basin based on 41 in‐depth interviews to show: (1) distortions created in regional water markets as wealthy UOG operators participate in them and (2) ways in which access to water markets becomes blocked for smaller, newer, or water‐poor water users. We also highlight how UOG producers’ presence may inhibit the formation of alternative systems for water exchange. Thus, the participation of UOG operators in Colorado's water markets appears to drive environmental injustice and increased inequity at the food‐energy‐water nexus, rather than facilitating fair or efficient access to water for all users.     

Occupational roles and life satisfaction in psychiatric outpatients with vocational disabilities

OBJECTIVES: To investigate: 1) internalization of occupational roles and 2) levels of satisfaction in psychiatric outpatients with vocational disability. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty subjects, 8 men and 12 women, aged 20-55, participated in the study. The past, present and expected values of 10 occupational roles were identified. Levels of satisfaction with life as whole and on eight different domains were reported on a six-step scale ranging from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. RESULTS: The student and worker roles were not part of current life, in contrast to the past (5 years ago) and the expected future. The roles of family member and home maintainer were the most appreciated both in the past and at present. All of the participants expected to add both number and level of role involvement in the future. No-one were satisfied with life as whole. All but one were dissatisfied with their vocational and financial situations. Most were also dissatisfied with their leisure situation, family life, partnership relations, sexual life, and contacts with friends. CONCLUSIONS: The low levels of satisfaction with life as whole and the different domains reflect the disadvantageous situation of the participants in the study. The low number of occupational roles and the low level of meaningful role involvement support the associations between occupational roles and life satisfaction. It is suggested that occupational role assessment would be an important focus in occupational therapy to help people to more adaptive daily routines and to improve their quality of life.     

The significance of feminist infrastructure: #MeToo in the construction industry and the green industry in Sweden

To better understand the interplay between digital activism and feminist infrastructure, this study investigates #MeToo activism in the Swedish construction industry and green industry. Both are industries in transition characterized by a dissonance between formal incentives, that encourage women and others to work in environments previously dominated by white men, and the informal power structures hosting a toxic masculinity. Based on media texts and interviews with key persons from the industries, the article situates #MeToo in a local context and shows how it was embedded in a supportive social, cultural, and technical infrastructure. In both industries, at the time of #MeToo this feminist infrastructure was already in place consisting of: an awareness of the problem of sexual harassment and abuse, knowledge of feminist explanatory models, established feminist online networks, and a supportive feminist culture, which together with widespread digital and feminist literacy became instrumental in the organization of the movement. Social media connected activists and created a critical mass by supporting the uniting of conflicting identity positions around shared differences. The established feminist infrastructure meant that the #MeToo activism, by articulating a widespread affective dissonance, pushed open doors that were already half open and forced them wide. This can explain some of the movement's success in Sweden.     

Grundrechtsschutz durch Verfahrensgestaltung: Verfassungs- und völkerrechtliche Vorgaben für die Durchführung kindschaftsrechtlicher Verfahren

Articles 6 II 2 and 2 I of the German Constitution require the Federal Republic of Germany to create procedural rules guaranteeing the fundamental rights of children. The same message may also be derived not only from Art. 6 I, but also from Art. 8 I of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is exemplified by judgements dealing with duration of proceedings, fair trial and execution of orders made by the Court.     

Being Under Pressure to Sext: Adolescents' Experiences,Reactions, and Counter-Strategies

This study explored adolescents' experiences of being under pressure to sext (sending nude images), offering insights into what situations adolescents view as pressuring, how adolescents react to the pressure, and what counter-strategies they use. Written statements from 225 adolescents (age 13–16 years, M = 14.4 years, SD = 0.93) were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results indicated a range of situations including both explicit and implicit pressure. The pressure elicited different emotional responses, including severe physical and psychological reactions, becoming distressed, and being seemingly unconcerned. A majority of the adolescents reported successful strategies on how to ward off the unwanted sexual requests. This study provides insight into how young people cope with potentially harmful situations online.     

The Merry-Go-Round of Meetings: Embracing Meetings in a Swedish Youth Care Project

Modern society has been called “a society of organizations,” and meetings are considered indispensable. However, a recurring cultural theme in contemporary working life is complaints about excessive and time-consuming meetings. The present article analyzes a contrasting case concerning a Swedish youth care project that employed a set of “coordinators” to maintain close contact with young people and their parents. Over time, these coordinators adopted an exceedingly administrative approach in which meetings with other professionals became more and more central. This article explores how an expanding meeting culture with strong social commitments can be generated from within interorganizational contexts, such as “projects,” and successfully competes with other concerns. Thus, the administrative orientation represents an example of the type of social interaction process that Simmel discerned as Eigendynamik or autonomous processes of social interaction.     

What Can We Say Regarding Shared Parenting Arrangements for Swedish Children?

ABSTRACT

Joint physical custody (JPC) refers to children living alternatively and about equally with both parents after a parental separation or divorce. The practice has been debated in relation to child well-being because of the frequent moves imposed on children and the potential stress from living in 2 homes. This study describes the background to the high frequency of Swedish children in JPC and the results from research on Swedish children’s well-being in this living arrangement. Children in JPC report better well-being and mental health than children who live mostly or only with 1 parent. No Swedish studies have found children’s health to be worse in JPC than in sole parental care from child age of 3 years and beyond. The existing literature cannot, however, inform us about the mechanisms behind the findings. The risks of selection effects into living arrangements are plausible. For this purpose, longitudinal studies are warranted.