Att integrera i det svenska samhället : En undersökning om kvinnor med invandrarbakgrund och deras syn på introduktion och andra faktorer som påverkar inträdet i det svenska arbetslivet och samhället

The integration policy in Sweden shall encourage individuals to support themselves and take part in society. It shall alsocontribute to equal rights and opportunities for women as well as for men. In Borlänge this has resulted in a program ofintroduction for new arrivals from other countries. However, at the unit responsible for economic support, they havediscovered that women with immigrant background more often than men seem to have trouble starting or became to anending of the program, which then especially leads women to a long-term dependence for economic support. The purpose of this study has therefore been to investigate what factors affect immigrant women’s participation in theintroduction, and what significance this participation has for their possibilities to become economically self-supporting,and integrated into Swedish society. Previous research shows that some of the obstacles for the integration of immigrant women can be that they give birthto many children, are unskilled or have a low degree of education and that they tend to be living under patriarchalgender patterns. Another problem seem to be that some women are not even known as members of the municipalities.All of these problems are as well what was shown in my own study. I have used theoretical perspectives from Bourdieu, Elias & Scotson, Giddens, Roman and al-Baldawi in my analysis.Bourdieu have interesting thoughts about capital, habitus and field, which can help us to understand how individuals arebeing shaped and are given different opportunities to act in a special way or direction. Elias & Scotson describesthrough their study around established and outsiders how the process of integration can take place and what effects thatcan be shown for the opportunities to succeed in that part. Giddens, Roman and al-Baldawi then give us different waysto look at the patriarchy and family structures around the world. The result of this study shows that the willingness to integrate and be able to take care of your own support for living isan important part for the women for succeeding. For the other women, that don’t succeed, it turns out to be just like theprevious research has been shown. Gender patterns, many children and a low or no education skill all seems to be partof the issue. It is also suggested that the generosity of the Swedish welfare system might hinder rather than help someimmigrant women to become integrated into Swedish society.

A comparative study of immigrants’ political participation in Sweden and the Netherlands

This study deals with immigrants’ political participation in Sweden and the Netherlands. Scholars have recognized low level of political participation of immigrants in Sweden compared to the Netherlands. The main goal of this study is to analyze the institutional influence, mainly from political parties over immigrants’ motivation for active electoral participation. The modified actor-context model uses here as the main theoretical framework. In addition, social capital theory employs to analyze immigrants’ voluntary organizational membership. This study confirms that, Swedish immigrants have the lower participation rate in the political sphere, at lest to a certain extent, than its counterparts the Dutch immigrants. This study also confirms the argument that contextual factors can influence actor’s motivations in integration-oriented action, and similarly it validates the necessity of enlargement of the actor-context model.

Kvinnors upplevelse av planerad hemförlossning i Skandinavien : Women´s experience of planned home birth in the Scandinavian countries

Background: In Sweden and Norway planned home birth is not included in the health care system. In Denmark women with expected low risk birth have the right to choose home birth. Registrations of home births in the Nordic countries are not completed and women’s experiences of planned home birth in Scandinavian context are not earlier described.Objective: The aim of this study was to describe women’s experiences of planned home birth in the Scandinavian countries.Design: Inductive content analysis. Fifty-three Scandinavian women who have experienced planned home birth have replied an open question in a questionnaire. Findings: In the analysis five categories and twelve subcategories emerged. The categories were, to feel secure, experiences of support, being in control, harmony and insecurity. The women felt secure and calm in their own homes. They felt being in control, secure, support and trust in the midwife, relatives and the own body. What worried the women most in presence of the delivery was that the midwife should not be present. Keywords: Home birth, experiences, women.

Muslims' participation in Ethiopian Civil Society: findings from field research in Addis Ababa

This thesis is an investigation into the Ethiopian Civil Society, with a focus on Muslims’participation and activities. This research is the result of a series of interviews carried on in AddisAbaba during my staying there thank to a scholarship from Pavia University.Chapter One is a general introduction of the study, presenting the object, the methodology anduse of sources as well as the state of the current research of the topics covered by this research.Chapter Two is a framework chapter about Islām in Ethiopia offering an historical perspective aswell as focusing on its characteristics and current developments. Chapter Three deals withEthiopian Civil Society characteristics and with its legal framework. Chapter Four constitutes thecore of this research: in it, I collected the findings of my research describing the presence ofMuslims into Ethiopian Civil Society. I analyzed the activities and characteristics of the differentorganizations and associations that I met in Addis Ababa, their self-representation concerningtheir being related with Islām and their opinions on Muslims’ marginalization and lack of nonpoliticizationin Ethiopia. A set of conclusions constitutes the last section of the thesis.

Patient participation : what it is and what it is not

In general, patient participation is regarded as being informed and partaking in decision making regarding one’s care and treatment. This interpretation is common in legislation throughout the Western world and corresponding documents guiding health care professionals, as well as in scientific studies. Even though this understanding of the word participation can be traced to a growing emphasis on individuals’ autonomy in society and to certain dictionary defi nitions, there are other ways of understanding participation from a semantic point of view, and no trace of patients’ descriptions of what it is to participate can be found in these definitions. Hence, the aim of this dissertation was to understand patients’ experience of the phenomenon of patient participation. An additional aim was to understand patients’ experience of non-participation and to describe the conditions for patient participation and non-participation, in order to understand the prerequisites for patient participation. The dissertation comprises four papers. The philosophical ideas of Ricoeur provided a basis for the studies: how communication can present ways to understand and explain experiences of phenomena through phenomenological hermeneutics. The first and second studies involved a group of patients living with chronic heart failure. For the fi rst study, 10 patients were interviewed, with a narrative approach, about their experience of participation and non-participation, as defi ned by the participants. For the second study, 11 visits by three patients at a nurse-led outpatient clinic were observed, and consecutive interviews were performed with the patients and the nurses, investigating what they experience as patient participation and non-participation. A triangulation of data was performed to analyse the occurrence of the phenomena in the observed visits. For paper 3 and 4, a questionnaire was developed and distributed among a diverse group of people who had recent experience of being patients. The questionnaire comprised respondent’s description of what patient participation is, using items based on findings in Study 1, along with open-ended questions for additional aspects and general issues regarding situations in which the respondent had experienced patient participation and/or non-participation. The findings show additional aspects to patient participation: patient participation is being provided with information and knowledge in order for one to comprehend one’s body, disease, and treatment and to be able to take self-care actions based on the context and one’s values. Participation was also found to include providing the information and knowledge one has about the experience of illness and symptoms and of one’s situation. Participation occurs when being listened to and being recognised as an individual and a partner in the health care team. Non-participation, on the other hand, occurs when one is regarded as a symptom, a problem to be solved. To avoid non-participation, the information provided needs to be based on the individual’s need and with recognition of the patient’s knowledge and context. In conclusion, patient participation needs to be reconsidered in health care regulations and in clinical settings: patients’ defi nitions of participation, found to be close to the dictionaries’ description of sharing, should be recognised and opportunities provided for sharing knowledge and experience in two-way-communication.

Sports and mediatization : a case of women´s ski-jumping

Ski jumping was the only sport included in the Winter Olympics, where women were not allowed to take part until the first week of April 2011, when IOC decided to let them in to the Olympic family, a major victory for women´s ski-jumping. Since 2004 the Norwegian media had women ski jumping as one important topic in their media coverage. The third of March 2010 the new Holmenkollen ski-jumping hill was inaugurated. It had been rebuilt for the World Championships 2011. The first jump on the hill was surrounded by an intense debate. Annette Sagen was decided to be the first jumper on the hill after a poll on the social media channel Facebook that gave Annette Sagen over 40 000 votes.  However Tuesday the second of March Björn Einar Romören, a world cup jumper, did the first jump during a training session. This act started a significant chain of events. The biggest Norwegian web – magazines Verldens Gang and Aftenposten made this the head story and they invited the readers to interaction. Within 24 hours 11 000 comments were written, most of them in favor of Sagen and against Romören´s behavior. The Norwegian Ski Association excluded Romören from two World Cup competitions. What did happen during these days in the media?  I want to present the activities, which went on in two web-magazines, and analyze the articles written on the topic. Main issues are to show what an impact a social media network had on the sport in this specific case and how different actors appeared in the media and discuss if Romörens exclusion was a result of the mediatization.