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Offering supports for young adults with mental health problems in their educational and vocational pursuits promotes well-being, social inclusion, and self-sufficiency. It is therefore important that welfare actors offer services to this group. However, in Sweden, with a tradition of local self-governance and municipal autonomy, decisions regarding which services to offer may depend on perceptions of responsibility by managers. The aim of this study was to explore top-tier management’s perspectives on responsibility for young adults with mental health problems when offering vocational and educational support through municipal welfare services. The seven top-tier managers interviewed articulated the importance of offering this support, but at the same time expressed ambiguity regarding which welfare system organization should be responsible. The results suggest that these managers demonstrated key aspects of professionalism in prioritizing the needs of their clients over perceived organizational responsibility, thereby providing these young adults with opportunities that may not be available in other municipalities.

Women with disabilities are at increased risk of intimate partner violence (IPV), yet their experiences of using IPV services are rarely studied. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 11 women with disabilities. Three themes were identified: "violence and disability—the continuums of stigma" describing the forms of stigma that women experienced that impacted the use of IPV services; "the dual nature of social relationships" summarizing aspects of interpersonal relations that influenced the use of services; and "to fall between the cracks" detailing institutional gaps that led to hesitation in using IPV services. These findings point at a need for increased effort to reduce stigma, capacity strengthening on disability-related issues and targeted resources to improve access to IPV services among women with disabilities.

Intimate partner violence is a pervasive injustice that affects one in three women globally. Women experiencing intimate partner violence require immediate, compassionate and nonjudgemental support, not only to prevent negative outcomes and aid in recovery but also to encourage functionality and resilience. However, maintaining equitable relationships during the support-seeking process poses challenges. Formal support can either validate or contribute to re-victimisation, thereby influencing the rectification or reinforcement of injustices. This article explores the experiences of women with disabilities seeking formal support relating to intimate partner violence, utilising an epistemic injustice lens. The focus is on formal support in Sweden, delivered by professionals in healthcare, social services, the police, women's shelters, and the Centre against Violence (centrum mot v & aring;ld). Employing reflexive thematic analysis guided by epistemic injustice as a theoretical framework, the results reveal instances of epistemic injustice. Participants expressed feelings of marginalisation, unheard voices, mistrust and misunderstanding within a formal support system they described as unintelligible and fragmented. Continuous scrutiny of the support-seeking process, coupled with improvements in the capacity of support providers and a re-evaluation of guidelines and procedures, becomes essential to promote inclusivity for women with disabilities, thereby contributing to the achieving of epistemic justice.

This study explored the experiences and perceptions of professional service providers offering services to women with disabilities exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV). Eighteen in-depth interviews were conducted with service providers working in health care, social work, the police, women’s shelters, and the Centre for Violence Against Women. Our findings suggest that providing adequate IPV services to women with disabilities requires coordination and collaboration. IPV services were organized around five overarching themes: finding services; assessing the risk; identification; protection and care; and becoming independent. This approach was helpful for women who faced disability-related challenges in accessing IPV services.

Mental health problems among young adults often lead to obstacles to completing higher education and becoming established in the labour market. It is important to offer support that can help these individuals realize educational and vocational goals in order to become self-sufficient and achieve social inclusion. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Supported Education (SEd) are two methods developed for supporting people with mental health problems in attaining competitive employment and reaching educational goals. These methods have not been widely implemented in Sweden, therefore making it interesting to study management perspectives in organizations offering IPS/SEd. The study aimed to explore the reasoning and strategies managers described in offering vocational and educational support to young adults with mental health problems. This study is based on 12 qualitative interviews with managers from six units in Sweden offering support through IPS/SEd. Results show a variety in interpretation of legislation and responsibility for young adults with mental health problems. The managers were positioned between policy and practice, having to navigate between the organizational restraints and their professional assessment in offering this support and pushing traditional boundaries in prioritizing long-term individual goals over short-term economic and political considerations. These managers demonstrate the possibilities for how IPS/SEd can be implemented and made to fit different organizational contexts, even within a highly sectorized welfare system as in Sweden. However, the methods might need to be adapted and adjusted to not only fit local organizational restraints, but also to fit into the Swedish welfare system.

Psykisk ohälsa är ett växande problem bland unga vuxna och att kunna studera trots denna utmaning är avgörande för framtida möjligheter och självständighet. Den här boken presenterar metoden Supported Education (SEd) som syftar till att ge individanpassat stöd för att unga vuxna med psykisk ohälsa ska kunna ta klivet in i studier och vidare i livet.

Objective: Supported education (SEd) provides individualized support to people with mental health problems to achieve their educational goals. Individual placement and support (IPS) has emerged as a model through which SEd may be efficiently delivered. However, the components and characteristics of educational support for these employment-focused services have not been fully explored. Building on earlier studies, we constructed a preliminary model of SEd components that integrated with the IPS model. The SEd model included the eight original principles of IPS, developed to reflect the SEd component, and two new principles were suggested. The aim of the study is to investigate these adapted principles by exploring the feasibility of applying them within established IPS programs providing both employment and educational services.

Methods: An organizational learning approach was taken, involving five IPS programs providing both employment and educational services to young adults with mental health problems. Data were collected through focus groups, interviews, and workshops with 19 IPS specialists.

Results: The results suggest that while the IPS principles provide a feasible and relevant structure for the development and provision of integrated services, adaptations that reflect the educational context were considered valuable when supporting young adults in pursuing their career-related goals. Conclusions and

Implications for Practice: The respondents confirmed that the SEd principles and the focus on support in educational contexts helped them to further develop their knowledge and strategies. While challenging, integrating SEd in IPS models shows good potential for supporting young adults as they struggle to reach longer term career-oriented goals. 

Mental health problems often appear at a young age. As the labour market places higher demands for education and competence, mental health services are focusing on young adults’ support needs for school and career opportunities. This study is a single case of an integrated supported education and employment unit in Sweden over an 18-month period. Multiple data sources illustrate the process of supporting careers and transition to school and work for young service users. This is a promising example of how careers can be supported through a flexible service that provides support for successful individual education and work trajectories among the youth. The service allowed for evolution of an identity process towards recovery through student and work roles.

Background: Current data suggests a high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among women withdisabilities (WWDs), yet there is still scanty research on the experiences of this population regarding access andutilization of IPV services.

Methods: Using qualitative in-depth data obtained from WWDs, our current study sought to identify factors thathinder WWDs from accessing and utilizing IPV services.

Results: This study showed that WWDs exposed to IPV encountered multilevel barriers nested at differentsocietal levels as they attempted to access violence-rated services. At the individual level, the identity category ofdisability, not knowing about certain forms of violence, and being better off silent were the main explanations fornot using IPV services. The role of personal connections was the main factor that influenced the utilization ofIPV services, at the interpersonal level while at the organizational level, a lack of effective communication, powerimbalances, inadequate resources, and failures to follow response standards were identified as the major barriers tousing IPV services. Societal incompetence, as exemplified by treating violence as a taboo and the lack ofregulations criminalizing psychological violence, was the main barrier at the societal level.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that regarding WWDs, improving their access and utilization of IPV servicesrequires interventions that address barriers at societal multiple levels including the individual, interpersonal,organizational, and societal levels. This should include early interventions and programs that not only targetWWDs but also include other key players such as service providers on violence recognition and improve thequality of services. There is a need to also review laws and regulations regarding psychological violence and thenature of interventions in place for this type of violence. 

Summary: An interview study was conducted with persons receiving home care services and personal assistance in Sweden (13 individuals, 25 interviews) with the aim to analyze their experiences of managing personal and intimate care. The analytical approach was guided by phenomenologically informed research and Erving Goffman's theoretical work on self-presentation and social life as it differs in frontstage and backstage settings.

Findings: A reflected approach to the complex challenges associated with becoming and being a person in need of personal and intimate care was revealed. This involved continuous adaptations and attuning to organizational and relational conditions of formal home care. Being a recipient of personal and intimate care does not mean being passive. It entails relating to and sustaining the care relation, where even choosing to accept suboptimal conditions is an act of agency. The recipients’ private homes were hybridized, transformed both into a waiting room, with the recipient on standby and into a workplace. The homes thus partly lost their character as a backstage realm where one could avoid the gaze of others. This also led to a hybridization of the personal sphere, in the form of marginal scope for true privacy, necessitating strategies for protecting one's own space.

Applications: It is important both to acknowledge the intrusive nature of personal and intimate care, which results in extensive hybridization of the home and personal sphere and to recognize care recipients’ agency in the relationship that care establishes.