Research In Sweden Research Articles

Scandinavia and the 1968 International Year for Human Rights

ABSTRACT The article explores the Scandinavian countries’ contributions to the United Nations’ 1968 International Year for Human Rights (IYHR) based on archival research in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. It traces how the three countries launched national campaigns to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and participated in the International Human Rights Conference in Tehran. This engagement with the IYHR occurred at a time when the Scandinavian countries were elevating human rights concerns in their diplomacy as part of a new foreign policy activism. The article demonstrates that the commemoration campaigns spawned numerous activities to raise awareness of human rights issues and spurred reflection on the state of human rights at home and abroad. At the Tehran conference, the Scandinavian countries failed to strengthen international protection of human rights as the concerns of Global South countries dominated the agenda. The analysis confirms two general aspects of the Scandinavian approach to human rights: their emphasis on mutual coordination and their preference for robust civil society involvement. The article concludes that the comprehensive national commemoration campaigns facilitated broad civil society engagement with human rights, but that the IYHR did not transform Scandinavian human rights policies.

Self-generated asylum evidence: Scripting, staging and desperation in the assessment process

Abstract The demonstrable rise in self-generated asylum evidence—most typically via social media—is in need of explication. Drawing on cases from ethnographic research in Sweden this article sets out to understand why asylum seekers turn to extreme forms of activity such as filming themselves burning the Quran. It appears that such ‘staged’ evidence is most often born out of a sense of emotional desperation in the face of a stone-wall assessment system which leans heavily towards rejection. To reach this conclusion, however, the article first engages with more traditional asylum ‘scripts’ and roadmaps endorsed and shaped by NGO’s and legal practitioners. The 2015 Migration Crisis in Europe has fundamentally altered the assessment process, not only in its ‘bar-raising’ aspects for positive decisions, but also by reconfiguring the very form and structure of evidence presented.

Healthcare and social care professionals’ experiences of respite care: a critical incident study

ABSTRACT Introduction Aging in place is favoured among older persons and supported by research in Sweden, although it poses challenges for overburdened informal caregivers. While respite care can offer support, its accessibility is hindered by organizational challenges and informal caregivers’ delays in using it. The experiences of informal caregivers are well-studied, but the professionals’ experiences of respite care quality and critical incident management are underexplored. Aim To explore professionals’ experiences of critical incidents in respite care, consequences for the persons being cared for, and strategies to manage critical incidents. Materials and methods A qualitative, critical incident technique was used, and three group interviews with a total of 16 professionals were conducted. Results Barriers to quality respite care included communication gaps during care transitions, environmental shortcomings in respite care facilities, lack of support for informal caregivers, and inadequacies in respite care decisions. Strategies to manage critical incidents included individualized care, continuity and communication in care transitions, a conducive environment, support for informal caregivers, and care professionals’ positive approach. Conclusions The study emphasizes the need for focused efforts on communication, continuity, and a supportive environment. Addressing identified challenges and applying suggested strategies will be key to maximizing the potential of respite care as a vital support for care recipients and their informal caregivers.

Curriculum Making Across Sites of Activity in Upper Secondary School Vocational Education and Training: A Review of the Research in Sweden

Purpose: This paper presents a qualitative systematic review of Swedish research on vocational education and training (VET) at the upper secondary school level over the past 20 years. The review is based on a theoretical model on curriculum making as social practice that may serve as model for comparative studies between countries. By introducing the model, the ambition is to open for new perspectives on VET curriculum in policy and practice. Questions regarding key themes and the interplay of discourses and processes across multiple sites in the education system have not been addressed in previous systematic reviews of Swedish VET research. Methods: The methodological approach in the present paper is a qualitative systematic research review with an integrative and interpretative purpose and research design. The qualitative review is based on the conceptual model of curriculum making as social practice, seeking to capture the inherent complexity and porous boundaries of education systems and movements of ideas, discourses and actors between sites of activity. The model is used for mapping the research, and a content analysis for identifying main themes and emphases and exploring and discussing the potential gaps that may inform future international research studies. Findings: The results show that the research is focused on the micro and nano sites of curriculum making, with connections to macro site activities of national curriculum policy enactment. Research focusing on the macro site of activity has an emphasis on national policy and policymaking regarding the relationship between academic and vocational knowledge/programmes and apprenticeship and employability. In the micro and nano sites of activity – which comprise the majority of the research – the main themes are vocational knowing and identity, teaching, learning and assessment practices and work-based learning. Conclusion: An observation is the absence of principals and middle leaders as actors and informants in the studies. There is little evidence of actors moving between sites of activity and the meso site of activity only comprise a very small part of the research. In this respect, there is a potential gap to be explored, not least regarding how local curricula and syllabi are made and shaped in terms of the influence of representatives from local authorities, companies, trade unions, employer associations, universities and regional agencies. Curriculum making as social practice has the potential to be used for comparative international studies and as a framework that takes national differences in VET education systems into account.

Exploring reflexive methodology as a pluralist approach to enhance mixed methods research on coping and livability among LGBTQ people in Sweden

ABSTRACT The article explores the use of reflexive methodology to enhance mixed methods queer psychological research in Sweden, by analysing data from a qualitative research project on how LGBTQ people cope with minority stress from four epistemological perspectives. A descriptive, hermeneutically and phenomenologically inspired analysis showed that coping should be understood from temporal perspective, where ‘microcoping’ covers strategies used in specific here and now-situations, and ‘macrocoping’ addresses general strategies used over time. We suggest that this differentiation is explored in further research. The analysis then included a theoretically driven perspective using feminist theories and discursive perspectives. Three themes resulted describing different types of constant ongoing work, ‘existential’, ‘relational’ and ‘reflexive’, that participants utilized to carve out a livable existence in the world. We suggest that reflexive methodology can help produce results that can be useful in a local as well as an international context and in relation to different audiences.

Comparing psychopathological symptoms, life satisfaction, and personality traits between the WHO and APA frameworks of gaming disorder symptoms: A psychometric investigation.

The inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in the fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association and Gaming Disorder in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) by the World Health Organization requires consistent psychological measures for reliable estimates. The current study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT), the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10), and the Five-Item Gaming Disorder Test (GDT-5) and to compare the WHO and the APA frameworks of gaming disorder symptoms in terms of psychopathological symptoms, life satisfaction, and personality traits. A sample of 723 Swedish gamers was recruited (29.8% women, 68.3% men, 1.9% other, Mage = 29.50 years, SD = 8.91). The results indicated notable differences regarding the estimated possible risk groups between the two frameworks. However, the association between gaming disorder symptoms and personality traits, life satisfaction, and psychopathological symptoms appeared consistent across the two frameworks. The results showed excellent psychometric properties in support of the one-factor model of the GDT, IGDT-10, and GDT-5, including good reliability estimates (McDonald's omega) and evidence of construct validity. Additionally, the results demonstrated full gender and age measurement invariance of the GDT, IGDT-10, and GDT-5, indicating that gaming disorder symptoms are measured equally across the subgroups. These findings demonstrate that the IGDT-10, GDT-5, and GDT are appropriate measures for assessing gaming disorder symptoms and facilitating future research in Sweden.

Moral awareness and different orders of relevance in participatory research with older people and professionals (online first)

Limitations are described in the literature in relation to the actual involvement of older people in action research activities. Empirical social research involving any form of data collection has an impact on the people and the setting studied. Researchers should strive to be morally aware of such an impact. The article describes case studies of participatory research in Sweden, Italy and Portugal. It highlights moral issues confronted by researchers. Moreover actual examples of different order of priorities among researchers and participants are provided. The study shows possible spaces for collaboration, while recognizing the difference of interests and priorities among researchers and participants.

Moral awareness and different orders of relevance in participatory research with older people and professionals

Limitations are described in the literature in relation to the actual involvement of older people in action research activities. Empirical social research involving any form of data collection has an impact on the people and the setting studied. Researchers should strive to be morally aware of such an impact. The article describes case studies of participatory research in Sweden, Italy and Portugal. It highlights moral issues confronted by researchers. Moreover actual examples of different order of priorities among researchers and participants are provided. The study shows possible spaces for collaboration, while recognizing the difference of interests and priorities among researchers and participants.

Bounded research ethicality: researchers rate themselves and their field as better than others at following good research practice

Bounded ethicality refers to people’s limited capacity to consistently behave in line with their ethical standards. Here, we present results from a pre-registered, large-scale (N = 11,050) survey of researchers in Sweden, suggesting that researchers too are boundedly ethical. Specifically, researchers on average rated themselves as better than other researchers in their field at following good research practice, and rated researchers in their own field as better than researchers in other fields at following good research practice. These effects were stable across all academic fields, but strongest among researchers in the medical sciences. Taken together, our findings illustrate inflated self-righteous beliefs among researchers and research disciplines when it comes to research ethics, which may contribute to academic polarization and moral blindspots regarding one’s own and one’s colleagues’ use of questionable research practices.

Engineering comments in doctoral student appointments: biased fabrications and revolving door governance practices in STEM subjects seen from gender equity and academic justice perspectives

ABSTRACT This article derives from ongoing higher education governance research in Sweden using a mix of ethnographic methodologies and data to explore and analyse patterns of gender and class inequality and injustice. The article has very specific data comprising two STEM doctoral appointment procedures together and uses a particular methodology called Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA). It raises questions relating to potential discrimination and injustice in the appointment procedure, including pure fabrication related to applicants’ competences and symbolic violence. Such violations are not uncommon in STEM, particularly toward women according to previous research, both within the ongoing project and by other researchers. Internal governance structures and procedures should anticipate and combat these tendencies. The article indicates that this did not happen in relation to the investigated appointment processes.

Giftedness and Swedish Exceptionalism? Gifted Pupils in Primary and Compulsory School, 1842–2022

Giftedness in school has in the twenty-first century grown as a field of research in Sweden. Some claim that giftedness and gifted children’s needs were long ignored by the education system for historical and cultural reasons, and it is only in the past two decades that a slight change in view has occurred so talented pupils’ learning has been highlighted. In this article, this often-reproduced image is questioned. Instead, taking a longer educational, historical perspective, is it argued that as early as the nineteenth century the authorities took some account of differences in talent; that giftedness received a great deal of attention from the state after the First World War; that the need to adapt education organizationally or pedagogically to pupils’ different giftedness was extensively covered in the first two curricula of the new compulsory school system in the 1960s; that the authorities required schools to adapt their learning activities to the needs of gifted pupils; that these views and demands rested on contemporary research and school commissions; that the Swedish school system’s growing segregation and decentralization since 1990 has meant that the curricula thereafter are now significantly vaguer than the earlier ones regarding giftedness; and finally, that there today is a significantly greater risk than in the 1960s–1980s that the needs of gifted pupils are forgotten.

Anticipations of practice-near school research in Sweden

ABSTRACT Practice-near research has been on the agenda in education policy during the last few years in Sweden. The research is supposed to make the academy and school collaborate and the expectations are high. This article aims to give an account of different kinds of expectations of practice-near research, and the underlying perceived problems it is supposed to solve, in the Swedish educational context. Drawing from theories from the research field sociology of expectations and Carol Bacchi’s discourse analytic WPR approach (What’s the problem represented to be?), different kinds of documents on practice-near research were analysed. Five anticipatory narratives about practice-near research were identified: practice-near research for ensuring a school based on ‘scientific knowledge and proven experience’, as a cure of educational research of little relevance, for increasing teaching efficiency, for making teacher education research-based, and for increasing attractiveness of the teaching profession. The article concludes with a discussion of the anticipatory narratives related to discourses of change and education crisis.

Open science in Sámi research: Researchers' dilemmas.

This article discusses the challenges of Indigenous research in relation to open science, more particularly in relation to Sámi research in Sweden. Based on interviews with active scholars in the multidisciplinary field of Sámi studies, and on policy documents by Sámi organizations, this article points at the challenges that can be identified, and the practices and strategies adopted or suggested by researchers. Topics addressed include ownership, control, sensitivity and accessibility of data, the consequences of experienced limitations, the role of the historical context, and community-groundedness. This article has the ambition to contribute with a discussion about the tensions between standards of data management/open science and data sovereignty in Indigenous contexts. This is done by bringing in perspectives from Indigenous methodologies (the 4 R) and by contextualizing research practices and forms of data colonialism in relation to our contemporary context of surveillance culture. Research-in relation to ethics and social sustainability-is an arena where tensions between various agendas becomes obvious. This is illustrated in this article by researchers' dilemmas when working with open science and the advancement of Indigenous research. Efforts toward ethically valid and cultural-sensitive modes of data use are taking shape in Indigenous research, calling for an increased awareness about the topic. In the context of Sámi research, the role of academia in such a transformation is also essential.

The Demographic Database — History of Technical and Methodological Achievements

The Demographic Data Base (DDB) at the Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research (CEDAR) at Umeå University has since the 1970s been building longitudinal population databases and disseminating data for research. The databases were built to serve as national research infrastructures, useful for addressing an indefinite number of research questions within a broad range of scientific fields, and open to all academic researchers who wanted to use the data. A countless number of customized datasets have been prepared and distributed to researchers in Sweden and abroad and to date, the research has resulted in more than a thousand published scientific reports, books, and articles within a broad range of academic fields. This article will focus on the development of techniques and methods used to store and structure the data at DDB from the beginning in 1973 until today. This includes digitization methods, database design and methods for linkage. The different systems developed for implementing these methods are also described and to some extent, the hardware used.

Preparative collaboration for missing persons with dementia in Sweden: a pilot study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to give an account for preparative collaboration between the police and municipal eldercare in Sweden concerning missing persons with dementia.Design/methodology/approachDesign/methodology/approach used was a qualitative case study design, consisting of one focus group with representatives for the participating organisations, followed by directed content analysis.FindingsThe findings showed a lack of current collaboration and reluctance to new collaborative initiatives. However, when focussing on preparative collaboration of coordinated responses to missing incidents, possibilities for improvement could be identified. The improvements concerned updated personnel response checklists, along with suggestions for an elaborate life story document in eldercare, with police access. Finally, better coordination of the return of the found person and a follow up were proposed.Research limitations/implicationsIt is suggested that collaboration must be given different meanings and use different approaches adapted to the different phases in a rescue operation. In the preparation and the response phase, the focus should be on coordination of the resources available. In the pre-planning and prevention phases, as well as in evaluation and learning, horizontal collaboration is more suitable. The amount of data in this study is a research limitation which calls for further research.Practical implicationsIt is suggested that collaboration must be given different meanings and use different approaches adapted to the different phases in a rescue operation. In the preparation and the response phase, the focus should be on coordination of the resources available. In the pre-planning and prevention phases, as well as in evaluation and learning, horizontal co-operation is more suitable.Originality/valueThe originality/value of this paper can be found in the novelty of missing person research in Sweden, and in practical suggestions for preparative collaboration concerning persons with dementia who go missing. Finally, it can be found in the suggested need for a more dynamic and process-sensitive view of collaboration in SAR or rescue operations.

In Memoriam Gösta Walin 1938–2022

Gösta Walin passed away in September 2022 at an age of 84. He was a highly original thinker, who has been influential on oceanographic research in Sweden and abroad. The present article delineates Gösta Walin’s scientific contributions and career.

Creation, management and devaluation – examining the workings of the seventeenth-century meadow economy in southern Sweden

ABSTRACT Meadow land use has been the object of very limited historical research in Sweden, as most studies have focused on ecological or functional aspects. Research on the economy of meadows is rare. This paper addresses this issue by studying the investment in, and management of, meadows in seventeenth-century Sweden considering landesque capital, a concept referring to long-term investments in land through labour. We also examine the local economic institutions developed to handle this type of capital. By analysing seventeenth-century century court records from the districts of Östra, Redväg and Kind, a more complete picture emerges of the processes and contexts in which meadows were created, managed and devalued / revalued over time. Meadow capital was constantly under threat of degeneration due to biophysical processes, and this paper explores the different strategies used to handle this problem. Outlying meadows were often more flexible in terms of ownership and were often used by others when abandoned, either by agreement or surreptitiously, which frequently led to future ownership conflicts. The comparatively limited number of cases relating to meadows nonetheless emphasises the fairly low transaction costs incurred by institutions related to meadow land use at this time. It was often the outlying meadows that appeared in court proceedings, most likely related to these meadows not being contiguous to the rest of the land of the person using them as well as these meadows having a more dynamic owner/usership history compared to infield meadows.

Phytoremediation development in Sweden

The contaminated air, water and soil have been major environmental issues during the last decades in Sweden. The phytoremediation technologies with ecological and economic benefits may help to alleviate those problems, especially related to heavy metal and organic pollutants. There is paucity of literatures on comprehensive understanding of phytoremediation technology development in Sweden. The Environmental Science and Engineering Group (ESEG) at Linnaeus University has been working on the relevant topics for decades and achieved some important findings. This study aimed at providing a systematic insight on the phytoremediation development in Sweden through literature reviews as well as summarizing the doctoral theses presented by ESEG. Herein suggestions and recommendations for phytoremediation development are given, especially those projects and research in Sweden and other countries with similar climate situation, which can benefit the works for site managers and engineers as well as ecologists and biochemists.The study presents useful findings: 1) The majority of phytoremediation research in Sweden is focused on wetlands. Some are working on soil remediation, and very few on air purification. Submerged plant species in wetlands have been shown to be more effective at removing heavy metals than free-floating and terrestrial plants. Willow is the most popular species used in soil remediation, and there are many different clones. There are some other potential plants for phytoremediation, including Poplar, Silver Birch, Alfalfa, Spinach, Fireweed, Reed Canary grass, Scots pine, Rapeseed, etc. 2) Composting, bacteria, and iodides are examples of additions that can help improve phytoremediation efficiency. 3) Both biomass yields and contaminants accumulation concentration in plant must be considered when evaluating phytoremediation efficiency. 4) The efficacy of the phytoremediation function will be influenced by factors such as plant selection, climate situation, additions of substrate, soil properties, etc. Furthermore, the concentration of contaminants varies between plants as well as between different parts of the plant. 5) Management and maintenance are essential for a successful phytoremediation operation. It is critical to protect plants against disease, fungi, insects, pests and so on.

Measuring Parent Rated Interest and Deprivation Type Curiosity in Swedish Young Children - Are they Meaningfully Distinct?

BackgroundProxy ratings of young children’s curiosity has the potential to be useful for research in Sweden. One such proxy rating is the parent-rating Interest/Deprivation Young Children scale. This scale has previously only been validated in Dutch samples, where it differentiated curiosity dimensions of interest (joyful exploration) and deprivation (reduction of aversive feelings of not knowing).ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate internal and construct validity of the Swedish version of the Interest/Deprivation Young Children scale.MethodA translation of the Interest/Deprivation Young Children scale was conducted and then administered to 266 parents in Sweden, who rated their children (4-6-years old) on 10 items, with 5 items each for subscales of interest and deprivation dimensions of epistemic curiosity. Responses were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsResults indicate acceptable internal reliability for deprivation-curiosity items (α = 0.78) and for interest-curiosity items (α = 0.79). For the combined scale score alpha was found good (α = 0.84). However, confirmatory factor analysis failed to differentiate interest and deprivation dimensions of curiosity.ConclusionsItem revisions are suggested which could be implemented for further investigations. Also, the possibility of using the I/D-YC total score as a more general measure of child curiosity is argued for. An open question is how other dimensions of curiosity might be more viable for proxy ratings of child curiosity.

Perceptions of family planning among some Somali men living in Sweden: A phenomenographic study

ObjectiveA growing body of research in Sweden has focused on migration and reproductive health, particularly on women’s perspectives, including family planning and contraception. However, knowledge is limited on how immigrant men perceive family planning. The topic is important because women’s use of family planning has been shown to be influenced by their partners and community. Therefore, this study aims to explore perceptions of family planning among Somali men living in Sweden. MethodsA qualitative phenomenographic approach was used. Four focus group discussions were conducted with 41 men aged 28–59 years. Data were analysed using phenomenographic analysis.Findings.The following four categories were identified in the analysis: 1) a happier and more sustainable family; 2) ideal family size versus cultural commitment; 3) fears of using modern family planning methods; and 4) a need to be included in family planning. The findings illuminated the complexities of perceptions of family planning. Although Somali men understood the benefits of family planning, they seemed to prefer a large family. However, due to their new social context in Sweden, they had also changed their views on having as large a family as in their home country. ConclusionOur findings suggest that Somali men living in Sweden want to be involved in family planning counselling, which may increase women’s use of contraception. However, healthcare providers must ensure that the woman desires her partner’s involvement and be culturally sensitive about couples’ needs.