Victims, perpetrators, scapegoats and Russian dolls: Narrating violence within secure units for adolescents from a staff perspective

Peter Andersson

doi:10.1177/14733250211050675

Abstract

A rise of violent incidents at secure units for adolescents has been reported by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. Meanwhile, research aiming to understand how staff manage violence seems to be lacking. By examining an in-depth narrative by one staff member, “Meral”, this study aims to understand, on the one hand, how staff describe the violence they encounter in light of the context and situation, and on the other, how they describe their handling of violence from outside the immediate environment. Drawing on Georgakopoulou and Bamberg, identities are understood to be produced and performed within personal narratives from different positions in relation to one’s surroundings. The study shows how Meral’s professional identity is shaped and affected by violence. Of essential importance is the way Meral presents herself to herself: as “not afraid.” A narrative interpretation is that fear does not fit within the framework of the professional identity for staff. A key element of placing essential responsibility on staff to manage violence is keeping lines of communication open, which could be made clearer in policy documents, training and supervision. Therefore, studies like this one could result in the development of communication strategies for staff. This is important because emotional rules can generate emotional cultures that in the long run can be destructive for both staff and young people. Only when the emotional rules are identified can staff develop strategies for dealing with the violent incidents that are part of their professional life in a qualified way.

Highlights

When a person is subjected to violence, various definition processes are put into action regarding self-perception, perception of the perpetrator, and perception of the context in which the violence takes place
The following excerpt is from the beginning of the interview, where, working on Bamberg’s (2006) first analytical level, I stress a story about violence, I do not know how the story will develop: P: If we think about your role [as treatment staff] at the ward, what kind of violence do you see? M: It is both verbal and physical
Using Georgakopoulous’s (2006 b) notion of “narratives-in-interaction,” we can identify five aspects of Meral’s negotiation process: (1) it is difficult to talk about violence in the current context, (2) violence occurs in the kind of institutions she works in, (3) staff use violence, but do not see their actions as violence, (4) staff are exposed to violence, and (5) staff find it difficult to describe how they are emotionally affected by violence, especially in terms of fear

Summary

Introduction

When a person is subjected to violence, various definition processes are put into action regarding self-perception, perception of the perpetrator, and perception of the context in which the violence takes place. Staff perspectives on violence in social work, and in secure units, have been little studied Alink et al, 2014; Andersson, 2020a, 2020b; Pelto-Piri et al, 2017; W€asterfors, 2019). In particular, are lacking (cf Andersson and O€ verlien, 2018). Working at secure units means working with young people, and in this case at the intersection of care and coercion—a balancing act between protection and participation (Hicks and Stein, 2015). It seems likely that working with youth leads to other ways of acting, compared to working with adults. Nor does secure unit work provide a professional identity in the same way as health care work or prison care. It is urgent to “work together,” which means having respect for different roles, good communication, joint training and clear guidelines (Hicks and Stein, 2010)

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Conclusion