Adult–Adolescent Interaction and Adolescents' Brain Development: Integrating Pragmatism/Interactionism and Neuroscience to Develop a Platform for Research on Adolescents' Life Regulation

The aim of this paper is to outline a platform for research on adolescents' life regulation. Adolescents' brain development is described with the help of neuroscience and integrated with pragmatist and symbolic interactionist insights about how adolescents can learn to control their impulses and act thoughtfully. The foundation for the analysis is found in American pragmatism, where a biopsychosocial perspective is built on the understanding that the developed human brain is the essential precondition of a complex and civilized society. Today's interactionists, and in general, the majority of sociologists, show little interest in brain development and function. However, there is an opportunity for sociologists and neuroscientists to collaborate in order to better understand how the brain develops in relation to biological development and social experience.     

Exploration of the life histories and future of war-wounded Salvadoran and Iranian Kurd quota refugees in Sweden: a qualitative approach

This study explores the life histories of ten Salvadoran and twelve Iranian Kurd refugees. Both groups came to Sweden as war-wounded quota refugees and their migration was forced. They had spent many years in guerilla movements and were experienced soldiers despite their youth. They were interviewed during hospitalisation shortly after arrival in Sweden, and followed-up after two years. The findings suggest that repatriation is a recurrent theme in the future plans of these refugees. The reconstruction of identity may take many forms due to a background as youth soldiers as well as their different experiences of the culture in the host country. Longitudinal studies of how refugees rebuild their lives are needed, and comprehensive analysis from different theoretical perspectives is a necessary complement to general adaptation models.     

War-wounded refugees: labor market integration after two years in Sweden

This study investigated labor market integration in a group of war-wounded refugees after two years in Sweden. The study group consisted of 54 war-wounded asylum applicants ( n =25) and quota refugees ( n =29) who arrived in Sweden in the late 1980s. They were consecutively investigated during hospitalization, shortly after arrival, and followed up two years later. After two years, 24% were at work or were occupied in vocational training courses. The degree of disability was not related to labor market integration. Length of time spent in the municipality was directly associated with labor market integration. Present well-being, Swedish language skill and education were factors related to integration. However, these factors differed in their relation to labor market integration when the length of time spent in the municipality was considered. With respect to the first two years in Sweden, the war-wounded group seemed to follow well an ideal labor market integration process for refugees. A short wait for a municipality to reside in and a careful introduction into the municipality might have been available for this group more than for other refugees.     

Dilemmas in the daily work of social insurance officers

Social insurance officers, through their work with rehabilitation, have become an important part of the welfare state. The aim of this study was to explore the nature of the dilemmas they experience in their daily work using the critical incident technique. Dilemmas reported concerned 1) cooperation with other agents in the rehabilitation process, 2) internal social insurance routines and 3) direct client management. Consequences of dilemmas were delayed handling, extra work, emotional strain and ethical conflicts. The dilemmas were handled through continued rehabilitation, coordination measures and decision-making. The findings showed the division of medical investigation and benefit decision in two authorities, the lack of education in behavioral sciences among the officers and divergent goals in different authorities. Further studies are needed on the rehabilitation process as well as the daily practice of social insurance officers.     

Evaluation of an inter-organizational program for prevention of work-related injuries in a WHO Safe Community

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a community-based injury prevention program on work-related injuries. STUDY DESIGN: A population-based quasi-experimental design was used with pre- and post-implementation measurements in an intervention and a control area. The program was based on cross-sectoral participation in detecting and taking action against work-related injuries. Change in the relative risk of injury was estimated by the odds ratio. RESULTS: The relative risk of work-related injury decreased following program exposure, whereas a tendence toward increase was observed in the control area. Middle-aged men accounted for the largest decrease in injury risk. Among the women, a decrease was observed only in the upper middle-aged group. No female-dominated occupational area showed a decrease in injury risk following exposure to the program. CONCLUSION: The study showed that the community-based approach had a general effect on the incidence of work-related injuries.     

From Official Supervision to Self‐monitoring: Privatizing Supervision of Private Social Care Services in Finland

In October 2011, a new Act on Private Social Care Services came into force in Finland. The Act included a provision on a ‘self‐monitoring plan’. According to the provision, providers of private social care services are required to draw up a self‐monitoring plan and to follow its realization. The plan must be kept publicly on view so that clients and their relatives can also keep an eye on the realization of self‐monitoring. In this article, self‐monitoring is first explained and then briefly analyzed against the background of a wider theoretical discussion on accountability. It is argued that the introduction of client involvement in the supervision of private social care services represents a new mechanism of accountability that is typical of the Post‐Keynesian welfare state. Because public authorities are no longer able to supervise the growing number of private social care service providers, the responsibility has been partly shifted to service providers themselves as well as to clients. However, it is argued that the idea of self‐monitoring lends itself poorly to ‘delegated’ private social care services, i.e. to services that are outsourced to private service suppliers. Supervision of private social care service providers should not be too eagerly delegated to service providers themselves, or to clients, because we are here dealing with the constitutional right to adequate social care services. Client involvement also involves numerous practical problems, as shown at the end of the article.     

A female lay perspective on the establishment of long-term sickness absence

In Sweden women account for about 60% of the long-term cases of sickness absence. The aim of this study was to describe women's explanations as to how long-term sickness absence arises and becomes permanent, with reference to their personal experience. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 82 middle-aged women who have personal experience of long-term sickness absence. Long-term sickness absence can be said to arise in three distinguishable "spaces": the work space, the medico-legal space and the mental space. In the beginning, the women were positive about sick-leave as such, which they saw as an opportunity for physical rest. But as time went on, they came to regard sick-leave as creating a vicious circle of new problems related to inactivity and isolation. Apart from this vicious circle and chronic physical impairments, certain conditions at the workplace, at the hospital and the social insurance office transformed seemingly trivial sick-leaves into long-term and irreversible sickness absences     

Quality function deployment for developing a customized social medical service

This article describes the use of quality function deployment in orienting clinical social medicine to a quasi-market situation. The study shows that different customers had different requirements. For example, the social welfare office asked for close investigation followed by treatment in which time was not a critical factor, whereas the social insurance office asked for rapid and superficial investigations of a client's ability to work. General needs for improving the provision of information were identified, both for clients and the type of services that could be provided. The conclusion is that quality function deployment can be used as a method of defining and developing social services. However, a strict accommodation of the demands from the quasi-market would lead to contradictions with the theories used today as the basis for sociomedical services.