Moving citizens: citizenship practices among Polish migrants in Norway and the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Following post-EU-accession migration, Poles currently form the largest group of foreign nationals in Norway and the second largest group of foreign born residents in the United Kingdom. Given the considerable volume of new arrivals, there is a growing literature on Polish migration to both countries; however, there is little comparative research on Polish migration across different European settings. By exploring how Polish migrants reflect on the possibilities of settlement or return, this paper comparatively examines the effects that permanent and ‘normalised’ mobility has on Polish migrants’ self-perception as citizens in four different cities. In addition to classic citizenship studies, which highlight the influence of a nation-state based institutionalised citizenship regime, we find that transnational exchanges, local provisions and inter-personal relationships shape Polish migrants’ practices of citizenship. The resulting understanding of integration is processual and sees integration as constituted by negotiated transnational balancing acts that respond to (and sometimes contradict) cultural, economic and political demands and commitments. The research is based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a total of 80 respondents, conducted in two British and two Norwegian cities that experienced significant Polish immigration, Oslo, Bergen, Bristol and Sheffield.     

Interventions in child welfare: A Swedish inventory

In Swedish child welfare, there are no mandatory guidelines on what interventions to use. Local authorities are able to set their own criteria for implementing or designing interventions. We carried out a survey to identify interventions in use in Children's Social Services and Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Care in Sweden. A total of 102 interventions were stated to have been in use, with between 31 and 45 different interventions for each of the four different child welfare populations. Of the 102 interventions, 56 were designed outside Sweden and later imported. Only 27 interventions were supported with some kind of research evidence. About half of the interventions targeted the child. Possible implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Disorganized attachment,mentalization and dissociation in context of childhood trauma: Implications for depressive symptoms

Extensive evidence indicates that adults with experience of childhood trauma and disorganised attachment are at a higher risk of suffering from depressive symptoms, while at the same time dissociation and mentalisation are very important risk and protective factors in this relation. Although mentalisation and dissociation are mentioned as potential mediators of this relationship, very few studies have analysed the mutual relations between these variables. Bearing in mind the importance of creating more specific and effective ways for dealing with depression, especially within vulnerable groups such as the traumatised, the aim of this research is to examine a serial mediation model in which disorganisation is modelled as effecting a decrease in mentalisation, in turn lead to dissociation, thereby resulting in depressive symptoms. Adult respondents (N = 153) with a history of interpersonal childhood trauma were selected from a larger geographical cluster sample from the general population of Serbia. The respondents filled in a battery of instruments, including The Childhood Traumatic Events Scale, Relationship Questionnaire – CV, Patient Health Questionnaire, Short Scale for the Assessment of Stress-Related Dissociation Symptomatology and the Mentalisation Scale. Our findings suggest that disorganisation has an effect on depression by leading to a decrease in the ability to mentalise, which further triggers dissociation, resulting in depressive symptoms as a final consequence (estimated indirect effect = 0.014, 95 percent CI = 0.005 to 0.026). Additionally, the specific indirect effect involving dissociation as the sole mediator was also significant (estimated indirect effect = 0.058, 95 percent CI = 0.030 to 0.091). Targeting dissociative symptoms in the treatment in patients struggling with depression aftermath of traumatic experience could gain a great benefit for recognition and selection of more adequate treatment strategies.