Editorial

Abstract

This issue of Nordic Psychology has a number of really interesting articles to be read during the wonderful Nordic summer. The articles cover important and interesting themes like acquired brain injury, care and family life, seeking psychological help, collaborative practices and the relationship between mindfulness and PTSD symptoms. In the first article of this issue, “Psychosocial sequelae after acquired brain injury: a 5-year follow-up study” Chalotte Glintborg and Tia Hansen study the biopsychosocial challenges in a long-term perspective and investigate which challenges remain after five years. Adults with moderate or severe acquired brain injury were evaluated at three time points: at discharge from hospitalization, 1-year post-injury, and 5-year follow-up. Data were derived from self-reported questionnaires. The results show that the physical quality of life and aspects of autonomy increased over time whereas social quality of life decreased. Family roles were challenged at discharge and remained so at 1-year and 5-year follow-up, and the frequency of being married or in a relationship dropped. Level of depression did not change significantly over time, and one in four were still above clinical cut-off at the 5-year follow-up. Employment increased over time but remained less than half of the pre-injury level. In the second article of this issue” Collaborative instrumentalization of family life: How new learning agendas disrupt care chains in the Danish welfare state” Allan Westerling and Pernille Juhl argue that the latest Danish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Act has direct implications for the ways in which parents and professionals collaborate about children. The article analyzes how the new conditions for collaboration between parents and professionals, stipulated in the recent ECEC Act, are translated and transformed into local polices and everyday practices. Furthermore, the article shows how the learning agenda marginalizes parents’ perspectives in the collaboration between families and Early Childhood Education and Care centers. In third article of this issue” How Social Networks influence Young Men to Seek Psychological Help” Bo Helsing, Carl Philip Hwang and Ann Fris en study young men’s reluctance to seek psychological help. Using thematic analysis, the study investigated 30 young men’s description of how members from three categories of their social networks (partner, family and friends) have influenced them to seek psychological help and how they have experienced this influence. The results show that certain themes recur between various members of men’s social networks while others were unique to roles in the social network. In the fourth article of this issue “From caregiver to risk managers? Professionals assessing parents in Danish childcare institutions” Anja Marschall and Crisstina Munck explore assessments and collaborative practices between Danish parents and professionals when young children enter nursery care. The article describes how parents’ acts of care can sometimes be interpreted by professionals as an unwillingness to collaborate, thus transforming evaluation of children’s adjustment to the day-care setting into assessments of parents’ skills. This objectification of the parents, risks disrupting collaboration and the child’s chain of care. In the fifth and final article of this journal issue “Experiential Avoidance Mediates the relations between Mindfulness and PTSD Symptoms Severity in Terrorist Attack Survivors” Chinenye Aliche, Chuka Ifeagwazi, Philip Mefoh, John