Expectations and demands on coproduction in research have increased. Therefore, there is a need for knowledge on how these coproducing processes where researchers and practitioners work side by side during the research process can be carried out. In this article, methodological questions related to coproduction and collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the field ofsocial work are raised and discussed. The article draws on an on going research project where participatory action research (PAR) is the leading guideline. PAR in a contemporary context is understood as a democratization process, where values such as participation, mutual learning, empowerment, improvement and development of practice are given as much attention as the actual research findings. The research project discussed takes its starting point in Swedish eldercare, investigating situations of moral stress and moral agency. The project is carried out in close cooperation with three municipalities and institutions where future staff for eldercare are trained (social workers and auxiliary nurses). In the article the relations between researchers and practitioners are discussed. Strategies on how to establish cooperation applying a synergistic approach are highlighted. Furthermore, strategies for dissemination or research results are discussed. The article suggests PAR as a specific social work signature methodology, as PAR acknowledges the need for relational work as well as an action-oriented research agenda, well in line with the core values and understanding of social work as a professional practice and academic discipline. In the article, applying PAR in a contemporary context, is understood as a key component when striving for socially robust knowledge; that is, knowledge that is considered relevant and reliable in the eyes of all actors involved, in this case staff in municipal eldercare, as well as in academia.

The aim of this article is to explore the opportunities of using theoretical concepts as way of gaining a shared language for people participating in an active labour market program (ALMP). The investigated programme offered vocational education preparing for work in eldercare to unemployed individuals. Data was collected through interviews with ten participants and two teachers, and through observations. All participants had experienced social problems such as homelessness, indebtedness, criminality. Half of the group had Swedish as their first language. In the other half of the group, several languages were spoken. Some spoke Swedish without difficulties, whereas others had big difficulties speaking, reading, and understanding Swedish. The programme included an introduction to Aaron Antonovsky's theory Sense of Coherence (SOC). This article reports from, and reflects on, the acquisition of a theoretical vocabulary serving as a pedagogical short-cut for the participants. By filling the concept of SOC with meaning, participants got access to a new language, a language that was surely not 'plain Swedish', but rather a language of abstract theory. The pedagogical work created literacy - and a shared platform for increased understanding of one's own life story and current situation. Using the empirical case of an ALMP serves as an attempt to cross-fertilize the theory of SOC and educational ideas in a way that is not conventional in social work research. We suggest that introducing a theoretical language relevant for one's own personal story might enhance well-being and thus prime learning in social work interventions.

Background

Participatory research has been described to improve the relevance of research findings for the society in terms of quality of healthcare services and other public benefits. Nevertheless, there is limited guidance on how to conduct participatory research, and especially in relation to persons living in residential care facilities. To make the voices of this group heard, we therefore take a stance in the democratic approach to participatory research, and we have applied the theoretical framework Model of Human Occupation (MoHO) on participation to evaluate photo-elicitation interviews as a participatory research method with this group.

Methods

A total of 13 persons living in two residential care facilities were involved in the study and asked to take photographs of their everyday life over one week. They were then invited to an individual interview to narrate the meaning of the photographs and to describe how they experienced the photo-elicitation method. The interviews were analysed in the six steps of theoretically driven reflexive thematic analysis.

Results

The findings are described in the theme ‘Uncovering hidden abilities for participation in research’ that describes how photo elicitation interviews facilitated the older persons’ participation in research. This is illustrated by four sub-themes: ‘Bridging the ageing body’, ‘Altering habituation to everyday life’, ‘Empowering storytelling’, and ‘Negotiating the institutional culture’.

Conclusions

Our study findings support further application and evaluation of photo-elicitation interviews as a method for participatory research in residential care facilities. The major finding is how photo-elicitation interviews were used to reduce the impact of the institutional culture on the older persons’ participation in research. The method is, however, not without limitations and we encourage researchers to study the dynamic relationship between physical, social, and cultural aspects of residential care facilities in relation to the use of photo-elicitation interviews with the persons living there.

Den allt snabbare digitaliseringen, inbäddad i centrala samhällsfunktioner, gör det svårt för många att vara delaktiga i samhället. Vi kan kalla problemet ”ofrivilligt digitalt utanförskap”.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe the initial phase of a long-term collaboration initiative between a municipality and the Faculty of Medicine at a university in Sweden. The overall ambition of the collaboration is to strengthen the quality of care for older people. The concrete goal is to equip academically trained registered health care professionals (HCP) with tools for transferring evidence-based knowledge into practice. As municipal healthcare for older people is mainly carried out by staff lacking academic education, reg. HCP are key actors to bring in and consolidate an evidence-based approach in this setting. Developmental evaluation (DE) has been used to evaluate four separate activities in the initial phase. The activities where sequenced in a cumulative design to provide knowledge for further development of adequate tools.

Results: The cumulative design originally planned did not fit the internal logic of the municipality. Therefore, workflow and pace adjustments were made to proceed towards the joint ambition; the creation of fruitful conditions for the uptake of evidence-based knowledge. Long-term collaboration between academia and organizations outside academia demands a sensitive and flexible research approach, recognizing that collaboration implies mutuality and restricts the sovereignty of academia in designing research.

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of social protection systems, including income security, when health problems arise. The aims of this study are to compare the follow-up regimes for sick-listed employees across nine European countries, and to conduct a qualitative assessment of the differences with respect to burden and responsibility sharing between the social protection system, employers and employees. The tendency highlighted is that countries with shorter employer periods of sick-pay typically have stricter follow-up responsibility for employers because, in practice, they become gatekeepers of the public sickness benefit scheme. In Germany and the UK, employers have few requirements for follow-up compared with the Nordic countries because they bear most of the costs of sickness absence themselves. The same applies in Iceland, where employers carry most of the costs and have no obligation to follow up sick-listed employees. The situation in the Netherlands is paradoxical: employers have strict obligations in the follow-up regime even though they cover all the costs of the sick-leave themselves. During the pandemic, the majority of countries have adjusted their sick-pay system and increased coverage to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19 because employees are going to work sick or when they should self-quarantine, except for the Netherlands and Belgium, which considered that the current schemes were already sufficient to reduce that risk.

In this chapter, we discuss dilemmas related to research in the field of labour market policies, with special focus on young people’s perspectives and experiences. In short, we argue for the urgency to hear the voices of the young in research and knowledge production. To be able to increase the quality of the services offered young unemployed and to be able to develop practice to meet the needs of those who are concerned, we need to take their experiences into account. However, institutional and organisational structures constitute barriers for including young unemployed in the research process. These barriers, aspects of time and money, are highlighted and discussed in this chapter.

Låga löner, osäkra anställningar och otillräcklig utbildning är regel snarare än undantag i äldreomsorgen. Det konstaterade Coronakommissionen i sitt delbetänkande i slutet av 2020. Internationella organisationer som WHO och OECD, liksom många internationella forskare, noterade att pandemin synliggjort resursmässiga och organisatoriska brister i äldreomsorgen. Brister som påtalats under många år, men som nu kommit i öppen dager och blivit kända också för allmänheten. Den skisserade mörka bilden till trots uttrycktes i betänkandet en trösterik önskan: ”Förhoppningsvis leder erfarenheterna från pandemin till att äldreomsorgen får bättre villkor ur alla dessa aspekter.” (s. 84).