Högskolan i Skövde

BACKGROUND: In 2020 the Swedish Government started a gradual raising of the retirement age, but employers have been silent on the issue. Little is known about whether and how they reflect on what it will mean for their organization, or whether they already have, or are going to, make arrangements in order to facilitate and motivate older workers to stay longer.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore and describe managers' experiences of older workers and age management in connection with the increase of the retirement age in Sweden.

METHODS: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with fourteen managers from a broad set of organizations in the public and private sectors, and from the Middle and East of Sweden. The transcribed material was analysed in line with qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS: The analysis ended up in seven main categories with associated sub-categories: Older Workers, Retirement Ages, Transition Initiatives, Competence Transfer, Competence Development, Increased Retirement Ages, Knowledge Gaps.

CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal that there is an ambivalence in addressing the issue of age among the interviewed managers, what we have interpreted and labelled as "silent age discrimination", and it was shown that they do not have elaborated strategies for age management.

Sättet som vi använder fotografier på har utvecklats genom åren och sedan de första fotografierna uppstod har det hänt mycket. Det har inte bara blivit mycket lättare att kopiera och massproducera motiv utan också billigare. Detta har medfört att privatpersoner kan fotografera och kopiera sina bilder enklare och med mindre begränsningar.

Även möjligheten att publicera bilder har förändrats. Privata fotografier gick inte att sprida på samma sätt som det går idag, utan går nu att hitta utan någon som helst ansträngning på nätet. Bloggar och bilddagböcker har skapats där man lägger ut sina bilder utan att kanske tänka på att hela världen faktiskt kan se och ta del av dem. Det är viktigt att användare av internet är medvetna om hur de personliga bilderna sprids och arkiveras i de digitala bilddatabaserna.

Jag kommer i denna uppsats att diskutera digitala fotoalbum med utgångspunkt från Bilddagboken.se. Detta är dock det enda digitala fotoalbum som jag kommer att diskutera i min uppsats, men jag är medveten om att det finns andra typer av digitala fotoalbum som skiljer sig en hel del från Bilddagboken.se. Anledningen till att jag valde just denna sajt som utgångspunk är för att den i första hand är baserad på fotografier och bilder. Bilddagboken.se är också en av de största i Sverige just nu.

Bilddagboken.se går att använda på olika sätt beroende på medlemmens syfte och mål med publiceringen. Åldern på hemsidans besökare varierar, men uppskattningsvis ligger medelåldern på 14- 20 år. Det är en låg ålder och det är tydligt att ungdomarna inte är medvetna om riskerna de tar då de lägger ut sina bilder. Det är inte ovanligt att de visar upp sig både halvnakna och alkoholpåverkade, och de lägger inte bara ut bilder på sig själva utan också på sina vänner och bekanta.

Jag har valt att göra min uppsats hypermedial eftersom jag anser att det blir mer spännande att läsa en uppsats på detta vis. Mitt mål var att forma den som en traditionell uppsats, till skillnad från att länkar och rubriker är klickbara. På så vis kan man välja vilka delar och i vilken ordning man vill läsa uppsatsen.

Uppsatsen finns även som hypermedial version.

The aim of this study is to understand how healthy, older adults in Sweden perceive their life situation after retirement. The study is based on a lifeworld approach, and a phenomenographic method was used. Eighteen participants were interviewed, and data were analysed according to the phenomenographic principle of qualitatively different categories. Two categories were developed. The first category, “perceptions that draw attention inward, towards one’s self”, was further described in three subcategories: Sense of decreased status in society, the desire to keep aging at a distance, and contemplation of one’s own existence. The second category, “perceptions that draw attention outward, away from one’s self” was further described in the following four subcategories: caretaking of family members, involvement in social relationships, finding of deep meaning in animals and nature and engagement with society. In the discussion, the findings are further illuminated through comparisons with concepts such as maturity, wisdom and gerotranscendence, and reflections on the findings ‘relevance to a caring context follow. The conclusion suggests this study can provide knowledge that will allow healthcare providers to bridge the gap between generations in order to provide high-quality care. However, for a more profound caring dialogue, for example, about the end of life, a deeper analysis is required.

This study, using a hermeneutic approach, is based on data from four focus group interviews with 25 Swedish teenagers participating, ranging from 18-19 years of age. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of teenagers' values and attitudes towards sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and sexual risk-taking. The teenagers seem to seek an excuse to fend off responsibility and deny their sexual risk-taking, an excuse provided by drunkenness. Under the influence of alcohol, teenagers are not too shy to have sex but remain embarrassed to talk about condom use. It seems as though the dialogue feels more intimate than the intercourse when it comes to protecting ones sexual health. To be able to act out in this sexual risk-taking the teenager often views the partner in a one-night-stand as an object, as opposed to a love relationship where they view their partner as subject, a person they care for. Engaging in sexual risk-taking often starts at a club where the teenagers go out to socialize and drink alcohol. They then play a game and a part of the game is to pretend that they do not play a game. In this game, certain rules are to be followed and the rules are set up by the girl, mainly to protect the romantic image of being carefully selected and thereby protected from being stigmatized as “sluts” or “whores”.

Introduction: The elderly population is increasing and many feel lonely and isolated. It is a public health challenge to find solutions to this problem as involuntary loneliness can lead to mental illness. One of the global goals is to fight inequality in health, so by society working with preventive measures in the group of older people, it can contribute to increased equality in society. Aim: To describe the social efforts that can be made to counteract involuntary loneliness in the elderly. Method: A literature study based on 20 original scientific articles obtained from the databases PubMed, Medline Ebsco and CINAHL. The articles were analyzed with a thematic analysis. The most used keywords were elderly people, loneliness, prevention, intervention and effective. Results: Eight themes of counteracting involuntary loneliness were found and grouped into three categories, all themes were social support, digital technology, contact-creating societies, physical activity, primary care, social interactions, mental well-being and digital social interventions. Conclusion: The results of the study show that society's efforts contribute to reducing involuntary loneliness and isolation among the elderly. Society also needs to develop its work and be more responsive to the wishes of the elderly. More studies are needed, especially how digitization can be developed and used to the benefit of the elderly.

Purpose – Care process quality (i.e., how care is enacted by a care worker toward a client at the interpersonal level) is a strong predictor of satisfaction in a wide range of health care services. The present research aims at describing the basic elements of care process quality as user-oriented care. Specifically, the questions of how and why quality in user-oriented care varies were investigated in the context of elderly care.

Design – Two municipalities were selected for in-depth field studies. First, in each municipality, we interviewed and observed care workers’ interactions with the older persons in both home care and nursing homes during two weeks (Study 1). Second, in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of why process quality in terms of user-oriented care varies, we conducted interviews with care workers and care unit managers (Study 2).

Findings – A new taxonomy for categorising process quality variation, the Big Five of user-oriented care (Task-focus, Person-focus, Affect, Cooperation, and Time-use), is proposed. In addition, the perceived reasons for process quality variation are reported in our own developed Quality Agents Model, suggesting that variations in care process evaluations may be explained from different perspectives at multiple levels (i.e., older person, care worker-, unit-, department-, and municipality-level).

Value – The proposed taxonomy and model are useful for describing user-oriented care quality and the reasons for its variations. These findings are of relevance for future quality developments of elderly care services, but also may be adapted to applications in any other enterprise employing a user-oriented approach.

Keywords elderly care, quality, satisfaction, person-centered care, individualised care, user-oriented care

Introduktion: Våld i nära relation är ett folkhälsoproblem då ungefär var tredje kvinna som lever eller har levt i en parrelation utsatts för olika former av våld i nära relation. Våld mot kvinnor i nära relation riskerar att öka under rådande Covid-19-pandemi. Åtgärder för att minska smittspridningen av viruset som lock down och social distansering sätter redan utsatta kvinnor i en än mer utsatt situation som i sin tur kan bidra till att kvinnans redan utsatta situation kan förvärras ännu mer. Syfte: Att undersöka vilken påverkan Covid-19-pandemin har på våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer. Metod: En strukturerad litteraturstudie baserad på 10 originalartiklar. En tematisk analys användes. Resultat: Fyra teman och fem underteman rörande Covid-19-pandemins påverkan på våld mot kvinnor i nära relation framkom ur analysen. De teman som framkom var våld i nära relation ökar under Covid-19-pandemin, olika typer av våld i nära relation under Covid-19-pandemin, psykisk ohälsa som en konsekvens av våld i nära relation under Covid-19-pandemin, svårare att söka hjälp under Covid-19-pandemin. Slutsats: Våld i nära relation ökar under Covid-19-pandemin och samhällets åtgärder för att minska smittspridningen av viruset via lock down och social distansering är de främsta orsakerna till att våldet ökar. Redan utsatta kvinnor befaras därmed att drabbas ännu mer genom pandemins negativa konsekvenser som således gör det mycket angeläget att framhäva sambandet mellan våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer och Covid-19-pandemin i framtidas forskning.

This dissertation aims at contributing to social scientific knowledge about prevailing prioritizations in eldercarepractice by looking at an economic and a caring logic, and how these logics are overlapping, contradictory or comein conflict with each other. A more concrete aim is to understand how the personnel describe their work with orfor balance between the logics and their justifications prioritizations made in the care of older persons. The researchquestion is: How do personnel and care unit manager at a public nursing home understand and handle the twologics that govern care work for facilitating wellbeing of the residents. The aim and research question led to threesub-aims: 1) to analyze the personnel’s experiences of and meaning making about the care work they carry out, 2)to illuminate and problematize the two logics above, and 3)to analyze how the personnel justify their prioritizationsin prevailing context, and how their accountability have an effect on their professional identities.Empirical material was gathered through 13 individual interviews with care personnel and their care unitmanager at a public nursing home in Sweden. These interviews were complemented by a group interview. Thematerial was analyzed by the use of three methods: phenomenology (Paper I and II), reflexive analysis (Paper III),and a positioning analysis (Paper IV). Paper I found that the personnel understands the residents’ well-being asbeing characterized by feeling of being existentially touched. This essence is constituted by feeling freedom ofchoice, pleasure, and closeness to someone or something. In Paper II, the work for facilitating this kind of wellbeingwas characterized by three ambiguities: (i) freedom of choice for the older persons vs. institutionalconstraints, (ii) the residents' need for activation vs. wanting not to be activated, and (iii) the residents' need forroutine vs. the eldercarers' not being able to know what the residents need. Paper III showed that the care unitmanager created a hybrid of the two logics (economy is care and vice versa) and that the personnel oppose thishybrid. The opposition is shaped as the personnel divides their work in care and “those other things”. Thesefindings showed how interaction between the logics expresses itself in practice and that it is the personnel who hasto handle contradictions between the logics in their everyday care work. The positioning analysis in Paper IV hadthree levels. The first level showed how the carers align with their peers and that they find the organizationalframe, within which they have agency, changed due to increased workload. This change led to an order of priorities.The second level showed that the carers relate to three aspects when making accounts: the care itself, the olderpersons, and the media. The third level showed that the carers share a view of administration, cleaning, servingmeals, and filling up supplies, as not being parts of caring.The dissertation’s theoretical framework focused on theories on logics, accountability, and professionalidentity. The conclusion is that both logics are needed in order to facilitate the well-being of the older persons. Therelationships between the two logics are not always clear and if their contradictions are not illuminated, there is arisk for a care practice that does not facilitate the well-being of their residents. An important theoreticalcontribution is that logics of activities should be understood vertically (form political, through management, anddown to the level of practice) instead of horizontally. The practical implications emphasize the importance ofsupporting the personnel’s professional identity on the one hand, and discussing the logics on the other. Byunderstanding differences between definitions on management-level and practice level, a homogeneity can bereached.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the phenomenon of supportive care for older persons' well-being. The phenomenon is seen from the eldercarers' meaning-making through their lifeworld perspective at a residential care home. Based on primary empirical interview material with twelve professionals in the context of Swedish eldercare, a phenomenological analysis was undertaken. The result shows that the phenomenon of supportive care for older persons' well-being creates certain ambiguities in the professionals' meaning-making. In practice, it balances between the older persons' (from hereon called residents) needs and the conditions of the eldercare organization. The ambiguities (the what) is made up by three constituents: (i) freedom of choice for the older persons vs. institutional constraints, (ii) the residents' need for activation vs. wanting not to be activated, and (iii) the residents' need for routine vs. the eldercarers' not being able to know what the residents need. The conclusions drawn are that this ambiguity has consequences for the eldercarers' choice of handling supportive care for older persons' well-being (the how). They have to navigate between the support for authenticity, dwelling and mobility, and their own presence and time. In performing supportive care for older persons' well-being, the eldercarers have to consider aspects concerning the resident's lifeworld, the social setting of the eldercare ward, and the institutional demands of the organization. The practical implications for supporting well-being in the care of older residents are manifested in the importance of 'the little things', and the eldercarer's ability to give receptive attention, which requires presence.

Although structural violence is known to interact with and reinforce direct violence in the form of interpersonal violence (e.g., intimate partner violence), little debate takes place in public health on how it can lead to revictimization, leading to even poorer health outcomes (including psychological ill health). This viewpoint aims to discuss this issue using examples from empirical studies to elucidate how structural violence (perpetrated through institutions) contributes to revictimization among people who are already suffering direct violence. Public health professionals (and researchers) need to make efforts to theorize and measure structural violence to aid efforts toward the study of how it intersects with interpersonal violence to influence health outcomes. This will ultimately contribute to better prevention and intervention efforts to curb interpersonal violence and improve population health and well-being. In addition, there is a need to include structural violence in the academic curriculum when training future generations of public health professionals. Increased education on structural violence will bring about an awareness of the grave consequences of the potential additional harm that institutions could inflict on the lives of people they should be protecting or care for. 

This dissertation aims at analyzing mindfulness as a concept and a multidimensional phenomenon in its historic and primordial but also contemporary contexts. In the course of examining this more general question, this dissertation targets four specific objectives: 1) classifying existing definitions of mindfulness, 2) critically analyzing and interpreting the Buddhist and Western interpretations and practices of mindfulness, 3) elaborating on the social and existential dimensions of mindfulness, and 4) applying these dimensions in advancing the notion of mindful sustainable aging in the context of successful aging. Paper I examines and assesses the numerous definitions of mindfulness that have been presented over the years by a wide range of scholars from a variety of disciplines. Paper II traces the roots of modern mindfulness in Buddhism. It continues by exploring the utility and practices of mindfulness in the context of social work. The definitions provided in Paper I and the Buddhist underpinnings discussed in Paper II call attention to the fact that in addition to the more commonly considered physical and mental dimensions, mindfulness contains a social and an existential dimension as well – dimensions that remain under-researched and not well understood. To redress this imbalance, Paper III elaborates on these two latter dimensions, emphasizing their potential to enhance health, wellbeing and meaning in life. Paper III further argues that a more nuanced understanding of physical, mental, social and existential mindfulness can be obtained by examining the interconnectedness of all four fields. Paper IV continues the discussion of the social and the existential dimensions of mindfulness with specific emphasis on their utility for successful aging, and advances the notion of mindful sustainable aging. Paper IV highlights the potential of mindfulness for living a meaningful life and boosting the elderly’s capacity to find deeper meaning in their final stage of life.

Over the last three decades the practice of mindfulness has grown to become one of the most widespread health promoting applications in the West—so much that terms like yoga and meditation have now become standard household words. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the meaning of mindfulness within both its Buddhist and its Western context. In the former case, the aim will be to shed light on mindfulness as a concept and practice that is rooted in Buddhist understandings (i.e., the Buddhist perspective); and in the latter case, the meaning of mindfulness will be more broadly explored in terms of its relevance to society, social work and everyday life (i.e., the social (work) perspective).

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this paper was to discuss differences between having a child perspective and taking the child's perspective based on the problem being investigated.

METHODS:

Conceptual paper based on narrative review.

RESULTS:

The child's perspective in research concerning children that need additional support are important. The difference between having a child perspective and taking the child's perspective in conjunction with the need to know children's opinions has been discussed in the literature. From an ideological perspective the difference between the two perspectives seems self-evident, but the perspectives might be better seen as different ends on a continuum solely from an adult's view of children to solely the perspective of children themselves. Depending on the research question, the design of the study may benefit from taking either perspective. In this article, we discuss the difference between the perspectives based on the problem being investigated, children's capacity to express opinions, environmental adaptations and the degree of interpretation needed to understand children's opinions.

CONCLUSION:

The examples provided indicate that children's opinions can be regarded in most research, although to different degrees.

Syftet med studien är att skapa en ökad förståelse inom berörda yrkes- och studentgrupper för hur individer, som blivit rullstolsburna senare i livet, upplever sin identitet och eventuella identitetsförändringar. Resultatet tolkades utifrån Anthony Giddens teorier om senmodernitet och identitet samt Peter L. Berger och Thomas Luckmanns kunskapssociologiska perspektiv. Den tidigare forskningen har berört funktionshinder och identitet utifrån olika aspekter, dock har inte syftet för denna studie behandlats i sin helhet i andra studier. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sex stycken respondenter för att nå deras upplevelser. Utifrån det material som inkommit genom intervjuerna har åtta stycken kategorier framträtt: självbild, yttre attribut, vanor och rutiner, arbete och fritid, relationer, bemötande från andra, drömmar och planer samt handikappanpassning. I studien framkommer att respondenterna använder framträdande och uppträdande för att påverka den spegling de får av omgivningen. Studien visar även att det har skett en förändring av respondenternas regimer och rutiner. En identitetsförändring har därmed skett hos respondenterna. I studien diskuteras även det faktum att respondenterna själva inte framhåller den identitetsförändring som påvisas i studien. Detta tyder på att respondenterna inte själva tänker på förändringen i sig, de tänker mer indirekt på förändringen genom att denna påverkat dem i olika situationer. I studien framkommer även vikten av det omgivande samhällets attityd gentemot den funktionshindrade när det gäller speglingen av individen. Detta är av relevans för de instanser i samhället som arbetar med frågor rörande funktionshinder.

Knowledge of factors contributing to cybercrime threats is needed to plan effective prevention strategies to combat the increasingly common occurrence of cybercrime. This scoping review summarizes current status of the literature published on the demographic, socioeconomic, and technological determinants of cybercrime offenders and victims in Nordic countries. The review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, leading to the selection of 16 articles published between 2013 and 2022 for critical appraisal and data extraction. Only two studies focused on cybercrime offenders. The majority of studies (n = 10) were conducted in Finland and the dominant types of crime were harassment and online hate. Age, gender, living alone, immigration background, income, and education played different roles in determining victimization for different types of cybercrime. Associations between victimization and technological factors such as computer skills, protective measures, and specific platforms have also been identified. This review contributes to the emerging research area of cybercrime in Nordic countries by mapping the context of cybercrime and highlighting areas where further research is needed to ensure the protection of individuals in an increasingly digitalized world.

The overall aim of this thesis was to explore, describe and understand experiences of twinship as told in the life stories of older twins. The 35 older twins who participated in this thesis were part of two longitudinal studies of older twins, SATSA (the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging) and the Gender study. The study design is qualitative and the 35 interviews were collected using a narrative method. The life stories were analysed with narrative analysis (studies I and II) and qualitative, latent content analysis (studies III and IV).

According to the twins in this thesis, twinship, was described from the relationship with the co-twin(I, III, IV) and from an identity perspective (II). Twin relationships are unique and different in their own way. Three relationship patterns were identified and labelled as: nurturing, draining or superficial based on qualitative aspects (I). The differences in the three relationship patterns became even more evident during critical stages in life, for example, when getting married (III) or losing the co-twin through death (IV). These events became turning points which meant that the twins needed to adjust to a more individualized life. Twins in nurturing or superficial relationship patterns did not experience these transitions as particularly dramatic, while for twins in draining relationships these life transitions were more dramatic. From an attachment theory point of view, the older twins remained attachment figures with an unaltered attachment pattern throughout life(I). Bound together with the close twin relationship is how twins define themselves, since the twinship means handling both your individual identity and the twin identity. The self-descriptions, with emphasis on differences, are viewed against the background of how the twins experienced the environment perceiving them as a social unity and were interpreted as a desire to emphasize ones individuality as related to the twin partner and as a message to the environment of desiring to be viewed as a unique individual (II).

In summary twinship was described by most as a close, enriching relationship throughout life and for some, less enriching depending on what kind of relationship they had with their twin partner. An identity work was at the same time taking place, trying to establish a position as an individual in the twin relationship and to assert ones individuality to the rest of the environment in the message:“We are not as alike as you think!”

Background: About fifty percent of Swedish Non-Lutheran Clergy leave the vocation before retirement resulting in huge personal, financial, psychological, emotional, spiritual and social costs. The factors behind this substantial flood out has scarcely been researched. From the multifaceted problematic aspects of pastoral work, the aim of this study was to explore the clergy’s experiences of work stressors with the focus on Role-stress. Method: A qualitative approach with 19 open ended interviews was used and the interview material underwent qualitative content analysis. Results: Multiple external role-senders together with the individual pastor’s experienced, internal expectations and demands, generated different types of Clergy role-categories that surfaced during the analysis. These roles were accompanied by several role-stressors as apparent with the roles Servants of men and Servants of God and the presence of Vision Conflict. Further the pastor as the Church’s ultimately responsible person is plagued by Role-ambiguity and Role-confusion, and as the Proven trustworthy administrator struggling with Role-conflict. Family-work and Work-family conflicts, especially for female pastors, contributed to Work overload, this consequence also effecting the male colleagues during the generic attempts to meet as many of the Church members’ expectations as possible. The accumulated Work overload, together with a lowered level of Work Satisfaction, boosted the Turnover intentions. Conclusions: Mutual succinct information between employer and employee, active continuous communication and refined and updated organizational structure need to be coordinated in order to lower the level of experienced role stress and thus reduce the present substantial number of Clergy leaving the vocation prematurely.

Background: Clear and effective communication is a prerequisite to provide help and support in healthcare situations, especially in health, and social care services for persons with intellectual disabilities, as these clients commonly experience communication difficulties. Knowledge about how to communicate effectively is integral to ensuring the quality of care. Currently, however, there is a lack of such knowledge among staff working in the disabilities sector, which is exacerbated by challenges in the competence provision in municipal health and social care services. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore staffs' experience of web-based training in relation to their professional caring for persons with intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior. The intention is to move toward well-evaluated and proven web-based training in order to contribute to competence provision in this specific context.

Methods: Fourteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with individual staff members to gather data regarding their experiences with web-based training in relation to their profession. The collected data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with a focus on both manifest and latent content.

Results: The staff's experiences with the web-based training program were presented as a single main theme: “Web-based training for staff initiates a workplace learning process by promoting reflections on and awareness of how to better care for persons with intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior.” This theme contained three categories which are based on eight sub-categories.

Conclusion and clinical implications: The benefits of web-based training for workplace learning could clearly be observed in the strengthening of professional care for persons with intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior. Staff members claimed to have gained novel insights about how to better care for clients as well as about the importance of interactions in their encounters with clients. Professional teamwork is crucial to providing effective care for persons with intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior. Hence, future research aimed at investigating the views of other healthcare professionals, such as registered nurses, is recommended to improve the competence provision within municipal health and social care services and thereby enhance the quality of care.

Providing care and support to persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) requires in-depth knowledge about ID and challenging behaviour (CB) as well as communication and interaction. Knowledge deficiencies in these areas may prevent staff from understanding their clients and their behaviours, particularly those behaviours considered to be challenging. The aim of this study was to explore staff’s perceptions about CB among clients with ID in residential settings before and after a web-based training programme using the survey instrument ‘Checklist of Challenging Behaviour’ (CCB). The CRe-DEPTH guideline has served as a guide in this study. Upon completion of the training, staff perceived a reduced frequency of CB as well as reduced management difficulty of CB among clients. As such, training should routinely be offered to all staff in residential settings, but also healthcare professionals in general responsible for caring for clients exhibiting CB to ensure, improve and reinforce the quality of care and support provided to them. 

Vi har valt att genomföra denna studie då vi anser att det är ett ämne som är relevant då det inte finns så mycket tidigare forskning om sambandet mellan identitet, relationer och det postmoderna samhället. Problemformulering i denna studie är: Hur upplever 19–20-åriga ungdomar, av båda könen, identitetsskapande och relationer i det postmoderna samhället? Studien genomfördes i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer och på så sätt försökte vi förstå hur ungdomarna hanterar den komplexitet som ligger bakom de postmoderna identite-terna och deras skapelseprocess. Intervjuerna sattes i förhållande till teorier av exempelvis Mead (1977), Bauman (2002, 2003) och Giddens (1997). Tidigare forskning visar att postmodernitetens identitet är ett uppmärksammat ämne ex-empelvis genom Hjalmarson Vertovecs (2009) studie kring just postmodernitetens identitet. Dock läggs fokus, i denna studie, på relationernas betydelse för identitetsskapande i det post-moderna samhället. På så sätt kompletteras bilden av postmoderna identiteter. Målgruppen i denna studie är varierad, uppsatsen kan läsas av socialpsykologer då den är skriven ur ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv. Men den kan också läsas av någon som är in-tresserad av något av våra huvudbegrepp; identitet, postmodernitet och relationer. I och med vald metod, semistrukturerade intervjuer, är det lämpligt att ett bekvämlig-hetsurval används. Respondentantalet var 6 stycken. De innehållsrika intervjuerna bidrog till att en grundlig analys kunde genomföras och därmed fann vi reliabla förklaringar till studiens frågeställningar. De resultat vi funnit visar att identitet, relationer och samhälle är tre ämnen som är mer sammanknutna än vi först trodde från början. Respondenterna hade ibland svårt att skilja de olika teman vi valt åt, då de är så ihopkopplade i dagens samhälle. Resultaten visar att identi-teten idag sammankopplas väldigt lätt med roller och att relationer är en stor påverkansfaktor i identitetsskapandet. Slutsatser vi dragit utifrån denna studie är bland annat att detta ämne är relevant och att det behövs göras fortsatta, djupare studier inom det.

Fokuset i denna uppsats ligger på att undersöka hur vilken roll Catch Up spelar för de unga vuxnas återintegrering i samhället via studier och arbete. Studien vill vidare undersöka om större förmåga att integrera sig i samhället stärker deltagarens egen roll i samhället, ändrar dennes attityder mot sig själv och andra samt ökar kommunikationsförmågan. Genom denna studie hoppas vi kunna bidra till en ökad förståelse av de socialpsykologiska problem som de unga vuxna deltagarna i Catch Up upplever samt kunna förklara de problem mekanismer som försvårar unga vuxnas integrering i samhället. Verksamheten Catch Up ligger i Skövde kommun och är en del av socialtjänsten. Verksamhetens mål är myndighetssamverkan kring unga vuxna i åldrarna 18-29. För att delta i verksamheten ska individen vara beroende av försörjningsstöd samt ha ett hinder av någon form, t ex. psykisk ohälsa. Uppsatsen utgår från den symbolisk interaktionistiska traditionen med inslag av teorin om symboliskt kapital. Tillvägagångssättet har en kvalitativ grund med semistrukturerad intervju, där åtta deltagare på Catch Up intervjuades. Resultatet visade att uppmärksamheten individerna får från Catch Ups personal gör att de kan ändra sin attityd gentemot sig själv och samhället till mer positivt. Dessutom ökar och effektivera de sin kommunikationsförmåga samt skapar en större tillit till sin sociala kontext.