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This study explores patterns of collaboration between Swedish professionals involved in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children. A qualitative case study methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 20 statutory social workers, social workers at care homes, police officers, Swedish Migration Board officers, and legal guardians. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. The results showed low levels of collaboration among the professionals and the use of different strategies by the professionals to manage their work tasks. Patterns were found among the professionals: some tended to isolate themselves from interaction and acted on the basis of personal preference, and others tended to behave sensitively, withdraw, and become passive observers rather than active partners in the repatriation process. These behaviours made it difficult for the relevant professionals to employ dignity and efficiency in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children.

Denna studie undersöker svenska aktörers samverkansmönster i arbetet med ensamkommande asylsökande flyktingbarn som ska återvända. Kvalitativ metod har använts. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med totalt tjugo socialsekreterare som arbetar med ensamkommande flyktingbarn, personal vid hem för vård och boende, poliser, handläggare på Migrationsverket och gode män. En tematisk analysmetod har använts. Resultatet visade låg nivå av samverkan mellan aktörerna och att de använde sig av olika strategier för att hantera sina arbetsuppgifter. Varierande samverkansmönster kunde ses: vissa tenderade att isolera sig från att interagera med andra aktörer och agerade utifrån personliga preferenser, andra tenderade att bete sig känslomässigt, dra sig undan och bli passiva observatörer snarare än aktiva deltagare i återvändandeprocessen. Dessa beteenden gjorde det svårt för aktörerna att både praktisera ett värdigt och effektivt arbete gällande de ensamkommande asylsökande flyktingbarnen som skulle återvända.

During the past ten years the number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children has dramatically increased in Sweden. Some of them are permitted to stay in the receiving country, but some are forced back to their country of origin. Social workers and police officers are involved in these forced repatriations, and such complex situations may cause stressful working conditions. This study aimed to bridge the gap in knowledge of the relationship between general mental health and working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children who are due for forced repatriation. In addition, the role of psychosocial job characteristics in such relationships was investigated. A questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire, and the 12-item General Mental Health Questionnaire were distributed nationally. Univariate and multivariable regression models were used. Poorer mental health was associated with working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children among social workers but not among police officers. Psychological job demand was a significant predictor for general mental health among social workers, while psychological job demand, decision latitude, and marital status were predictors among police officers. Findings are discussed with special regard to the context of social work and police professions in Sweden.

Denna rapport tar sin utgångspunkt i den svenska regeringens ställningstagande att barn som inte anses ha skyddsbehov eller andra skäl att stanna i Sverige ska kunna återvända hem på värdiga sätt. Samma regering har dock också tydligt uttalat att antalet av- och utvisningar väsentligen ska öka i förhållande till tidigare år. Det är den potentiella spänningen mellan skarpa krav på effektivitet i av- och utvisningsärenden å ena sidan och kraven på värdighet, respekt för mänskliga rättigheter och barnets bästa å den andra, som undersöks i den här rapporten. Fokus ligger på hur centrala aktörer förhåller sig till och tolkar dessa krav och på vad deras respektive förhållningssätt och tolkningar betyder för samverkan dem emellan.

Tre fallstudier i kommuner av varierande storlek belägna i de geografiskt åtskilda länen Västerbotten, Skåne och Värmland har genomförts. Fallstudierna bygger på totalt 49 intervjuer med handläggare på Migrationsverket, socialsekreterare, gode män, HVBpersonal och poliser – alla verksamma som centrala aktörer vid av- och utvisningar. I analysen av det insamlade materialet betraktas de professionella aktörerna (de gode männen undantagna) som gräsrotsbyråkrater med vida handlingsutrymmen. Det som undersöks är i vilken utsträckning de anser sig kunna omsätta de politiska målsättningarna om ökad effektivitet och bibehållen värdighet i praktiken. För att kunna analysera vad det är som utmärker samarbete och samverkan mellan aktörerna används teorier om interorganisatorisk samverkan.

De huvudsakliga slutsatser som framkommit i rapporten är att uppfattningar om och förhållningssätt till det effektiva och värdiga återvändandet skiljer sig åt bland de olika aktörerna i Västerbotten, Skåne och Värmland. Aktörerna gör egna tolkningar av begreppen effektivitet och värdighet, i vilka mening skapas utifrån professionella erfarenheter, roller och uppdrag. De största skillnaderna i uppfattning och tolkning har återfunnits mellan aktörskategorierna, inte mellan de tre fallstudierna. Polis och Migrationsverk anser generellt att effektivitet och värdighet går att förena. Poliserna och tjänstemännen på Migrationsverket har jämfört med de andra aktörerna oftare ett uttalat legalt perspektiv och ser både värdighet och respekt för barnens mänskliga rättigheter som inbäddade i det juridiska ramverket. Socialsekreterare, HVB-personal och gode män anser däremot generellt att ett återvändande mot ett barns vilja inte någonsin kan bli värdigt. De är också mer benägna att se det som att Barnkonventionen i relation till utlänningslagen hamnar i underordnad ställning. Vissa likheter mellan aktörerna har också kunnat identifieras. Samtliga betonar gott bemötande, god kommunikation och tydlig information i relation till de barn som fått av- eller utvisningsbeslut.

Aktörernas olika förhållningssätt får konsekvenser för deras samverkan. Överlag kan samverkan i samtliga undersökta kommuner beskrivas som begränsad, oklar, personberoende och utan gemensamma mål. Aktörerna uttrycker brist på tillit och många upplever en känsla av ensamhet i sina roller. Goda erfarenheter av samverkan finns visserligen men det är tydligt att skilda professionella normer, organisationskulturer, erfarenheter och perspektiv försvårar samverkan.

Psychosurgery has a long history dating back to the 1880s when Gottlieb Burckhardt performed focal cerebral cortical excisions on the brains of six patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. His operations were vividly contested by the medical community of the time. In 1936, when Walter J. Freeman and James W. Watts performed their initial prefrontal lobotomies in the United States, they were met with some professional opposition from superintendents, who would not provide them with patients for the operation. However, Freeman and Watts managed to cope well with the opponents. In newspapers and magazines, the curiosity for lobotomy was obvious. Freeman was instrumental in the way he promoted lobotomy, and he evoked the interest of the press and the journalists for this new surgical treatment on mental illness, something that he regarded as a medico-historical breakthrough. In this chapter, the portrayal of lobotomy in American and Swedish newspapers and magazines is explored and analyzed. How did journalists write about lobotomy for the public in the years spanning 1936 to 1959, a period in which the American and Swedish presses appeared inclined to describe the positive effects of lobotomy, while neglecting the negative and fatal consequences of the operation. There are not only similarities but also interesting differences between the Swedish and the American articles depicting lobotomy. The media can be a powerful factor in the construction of “facts,” which can significantly affect decisions made by people about their health issues. 

How are chemicals framed in the press in Sweden and in Poland? We have conducted interviews with journalists representing local press, tabloids and national newspapers in order to grasp the professionals’ own narratives about chemicals and also the range of diversity within journalism. What at first can appear as a marginalized topic, chemicals, partly because it is not an established journalistic genre, has turned out to have many faces. All news treating additives in food production and every report relating to medicines, such as the growing resistance towards antibiotics among the population, is part of the discourse, not to mention accidental releases of hazardous substances, etc. Secondly, it is a central part of the study to understand how these dominant themes are textually constructed in the press coverage. The news and media debate about chemicals are not only a central information source for the majority of citizens; the mass media also influence stakeholders, opinion-leaders and decision-makers in society. By and large the results indicate that the types of frames that are used by journalists in these two countries have a lot in common, even if the content of the media texts and the specific national contexts differ substantially between Sweden and Poland.

This retrospective survey aims at describing patients subjected to prefrontal lobotomies and the general treatment conditions at Umedalen State Mental Hospital during the period 1947–1958. Data collected from psychiatric and surgical medical records was analysed using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. A total of 771 patients subjected to lobotomy during the years 1947–1958 were identified. From these, a sample of 105 patients was selected for the purpose of obtaining detailed data on socio-economic status, diagnosis, symptomatology, other psychiatric treatments applied before the pre-frontal lobotomy operation, time spent in hospital before operation, praxis of consent and mortality. The diagnosis of schizophrenia was found in 84% of the 771 lobotomized patients. The post-operative mortality was 7.4% (57 deaths), with the highest rate in 1949 (17%). The mean age of the patient at the time of operation was 44.8 years for females and 39.5 years for male patients. The average length of pre-operative time in hospital for females was 10.7 years and for males 3.5 years. It remains unclear why this mental hospital conducted the lobotomy operation to such a comparatively great extent. Factors such as overcrowding of wards and its status as a modern mental hospital may have contributed.