Kristina Andersson

Family burden, participation in care and mental health--an 11-year comparison of the situation of relatives to compulsorily and voluntarily admitted patients.

The changes in fiamily burden and participation in care of relatives to both voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients were investigated as part of a longitudinal study of the quality of the mental health services in a Swedish county perfiorrned between 1986 and 1997. The relationship between the relatives mental health and family burden, participation in care and need of own support was also investigated. The results showed similar and high levels of burden and a non-sufficient participation in care in both periods investigated despite the ongoing changes in the delivery of psychiatric services and a change in the compulsory legislation in Sweden during the period. More relatives experienced an own need of care and support from the psychiatric services in the 1997 investigation. Relatives who experienced mental health problems of their own more often experienced other forms of burden, experienced less participation in the patients treatment and also more often had own needs of care and support. It is concluded that interventions in families where relatives experience mental health problems will be useful, since a well-functioning network around the mentally ill person has shown to reduce relapse.

Coercion in psychiatric care – patients’ and relatives’ experiences from four swedish psychiatric services

The aim of this study was to explore possible regional differences in the use of coercion in psychiatric care as experienced by patients and relatives. At four psychiatric care settings in different parts of Sweden, 138 committed and 144 voluntarily admitted patients were interviewed at admission using the Nordic Admission Interview. At discharge or, if the care episode was still ongoing, after 3 weeks of care, a follow-up patient interview and an interview with 162 relatives of these patients took place. In one of the centers, where involuntarily admitted patients were treated without locking the doors of the wards, the patients reported less coercion at admission than in the other three centers. Regarding the patients’ reports of the use of coercive measures, personal treatment and outcome of care, and concerning the relatives’ experiences, few differences were found between centers among committed and voluntarily admitted patients, respectively. Coercion in psychiatric care, as reported by patients and relatives, was not always legally based, and many of the patients reported they felt violated during the admission process. Only a minority of patients and relatives reported participation in treatment and care planning, as regulated by law. Still, a majority of both committed and voluntarily admitted patients reported they had been well treated by the personnel at admission as well as during the stay at the ward, and that they had been improved in their mental health after the psychiatric care episode.

Ignoring Half the Sky: A Feminist Critique of Science Education’s Knowledge Society

A Chinese proverb observes that women ‘hold up half the sky’, yet often in science education we have ignored the knowledge generated by feminist researchers about how females engage and participate in science. Further, science education has often failed to consider the implications from feminist critiques of science on science education. This chapter will provide a feminist perspective on who generates knowledge in science education and what knowledge is acceptable as ‘scientific’ by the field. Second, we will discuss the culture of science education and discuss whether science educators value the knowledge produced by gender and feminist researchers. In particular, we will examine the integration (or lack thereof) of gender issues into the dominant areas in science education research, such as teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, the development of students’ science knowledge through inquiry, the role of conceptual change, and teachers’ preparation and professional development programmes. Third, we will provide examples of how gender theory and feminist perspectives in science education could generate new knowledge about gender and science education.

Interstitial Spaces: A Model for Transgressive Processes

The chapter introduces the concepts of interstitial spaces and transgressive identities to examine the boundaries of gender and feminist studies, science, and education and discuss our research practices and positions. We use a metalogue as the vehicle for analyzing our autobiographies to provide examples when we have operated in interstitial spaces and engaged transgressive identities. Interstitial spaces exist between and within boundaries. These spaces are possible sites within a defined context (a discipline, a practice, a culture) that may be occupied by an actor/agent working as a “carrier” of different cultural practices, knowledge, and theories. A “carrier” can use the interstitial space to influence and challenge a “new” context and thus loosen up boundaries but can also by experiencing new cultures and developing new knowledge return to the “old” culture to integrate these new practices. Thus, interstitial spaces establish a context for transgressive identities to emerge so one can act in ways to transform and change the cultures of disciplines. We use transgressive identities as a theoretical description and understanding of our research practices and positions.