Democracy in Talk: Dominance in “User-Centred” Team Meetings

Kristina Karlsson,Lars-Christer Hydén

doi:10.1080/15017410701264418

Kristina Karlsson, Lars-Christer Hydén

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/15017410701264418

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Abstract

The aim is to examine the discursive organization of “user-centred” team meetings in the Swedish rehabilitation sector. The “users” are aged between 4 and 30 and have been ascribed different kinds of impairments. The teams consist of one user and/or her/his relatives and different professionals. The analysis is primarily based on transcriptions of 18 audiotaped team meetings held by 10 different teams and focuses on two dimensions of dominance in interaction: the amount of talk and topic control. The findings point to professional dominance, but parents also have a great influence on the topic control. The degree of participation and the control of topics of the users who participate in the meetings vary, but most of the users become involved primarily by responding to the questions and suggestions of professionals and parents. In order to increase the users’ control of the interactions the participants need to continuously discuss the organization of the conversations. The findings are related to complicating aspects of the conversations, including institutionalization, representation difficulties, varying communicative abilities, and expectations of expertise and adult liabilities.

Highlights

Influenced by the disability movement’s strivings for citizenship and empowerment (e.g. Crewe & Zola 1983, Oliver 1990, Barton 1993) and in line with many disability policies in the Western countries (Drake 1999), many professional social services claim to adopt principles of client empowerment by offering support that is termed ‘‘family-centred’’ or ‘‘person-centred’’ (e.g. Kim & Turnbull 2004)
The services are regulated by the Health and Medical Services Act (SFS 1982:763) and to a certain extent by the Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (SFS 1993:387)
We present an overview of the distribution of the discourse space that is based on general calculations of the three categories of participants in 10 meetings held by each of the 10 teams participating in the study

Summary

Introduction

Influenced by the disability movement’s strivings for citizenship and empowerment (e.g. Crewe & Zola 1983, Oliver 1990, Barton 1993) and in line with many disability policies in the Western countries (Drake 1999), many professional social services claim to adopt principles of client empowerment by offering support that is termed ‘‘family-centred’’ or ‘‘person-centred’’ (e.g. Kim & Turnbull 2004). We will report results from a study of one such recently founded practice in the Swedish rehabilitation sector This practice has emerged in the context of ‘‘habilitation centres’’, which are in most cases part of the regional health care system, i.e. a responsibility of each county. At these centres, the overall task of professionals in medical, social, psychological, and educational fields is defined as providing support and help to people who have been ascribed physical and/or cognitive limitations. The services are regulated by the Health and Medical Services Act (SFS 1982:763) and to a certain extent by the Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (SFS 1993:387) Both laws emphasize the individual’s right to self-determination, which is one of the

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