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This study explores policy makers’, health-care professionals’ and senior volunteers’ perceptions of senior volunteers. Two Norwegian government white papers regarding older adult care and welfare services, which were published over a period of 19 years, were selected for close examination. Furthermore, focus group interviews with a purposeful sample of five senior volunteers and 15 health-care professionals were conducted. The study explores the discursive formations of senior volunteers in the government white papers and how they are negotiated in the senior volunteers’ and the health-care professionals’ narratives. Two dominant discourses were presented in the white papers: a prevention discourse (in which volunteering was presented primarily as a means to prevent volunteers’ loneliness and need for care services) and a sustainability discourse (in which the volunteers were presented as instrumental in future sustainable care services). Both discourses echo a common overarching discourse about a capacity crisis due to the ageing population. The senior volunteers were positioned as partners and active agents in both their own narratives and the health-care professionals’ narratives. Their position as independent and as spokespersons for the less empowered were evident only in the senior volunteers’ own narratives. Only the health-care professionals referenced the prevention discourse and capacity issues. The senior volunteers presented themselves as competent, efficient political actors, and they resisted both the prevention and sustainability discourses. In the senior volunteers’ narratives, social and political participation were interrelated. The study demonstrates that new discursive landscapes must be created to capture the diversity among senior volunteers and their efforts. While senior volunteers must be meaningfully involved in decision making, planning and design, their positions as independent and active agents must also be ensured. Authentic partnerships between senior volunteers and public care services involve a balance between involvement and independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible Summary: What is known on the subject: Most health professionals working in psychiatric care will experience adverse events (AE) such as service user suicide or violence, during their careerNorway lacks measures to capture potential iatrogenic injuries, such as risk assessment measures, to evaluate patient records for AEs in both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric clinics in hospitals What the paper adds to existing knowledge: We have described an approach to the validation of a research tool between different national contexts; a process that went beyond language translationWe have incorporated the understanding of health professionals and service users; to bring together the lifeworld of the patient with the professional definition of AEs, triggers and risk areas of AEs in a psychiatric context. The service users' experiences resulted in modifications to the tool. What are the implications for nurses: Applying the 'Global Trigger Tool—Psychiatry' in Norway and Sweden can help mental health nurses to prevent iatrogenic harm and reduce the occurrence of AEs through the identification of potential triggers.Implementing 'Global Trigger Tool—Psychiatry' might help mental health nurses to improve patient safety in Norway and Sweden. Introduction: There is little consensus on cross‐cultural and cross‐national adaptation of research instruments. Aim/Question: To translate and validate a Swedish research tool (GTT‐P) to detect iatrogenic adverse events in psychiatric health care by involving service users and health professionals in the process. Method: The GTT‐P, designed to identify events in patient records that were triggers for adverse events, was translated to Norwegian using a cross‐cultural adaptation approach. This involved two focus groups with clinical staff, one of which involved service users, and a joint discussion at a Dialogue Conference to generate consensus on the definition of the triggers of potential adverse events identifiable in patient records. Results: We highlight both the differences and commonalities in defining the nature of risks, the adverse events and the triggers of such events. The Dialogue Conference resulted in three modifications of the tool, based on service users' experiences. Service user involvement and co‐production was essential for both the translation and adaptation of the research instrument. Discussion: We have described an approach to the validation of a research tool between different national contexts; a process that went beyond language translation. This approach enables a more nuanced understanding of potential risks within a psychiatric context as it engages differences in the care delivery. Applying the GTT‐P in hospital‐based psychiatric care might help to identify processes that need to be changed in order to promote patient safety and a safer work environment for mental health nurses. Implications for practice: When translating and validating the GTT‐P from Swedish to Norwegian, we have considered the knowledge and experiences of both service users and health professionals. The application of the GTT‐P can promote greater patient safety in hospital settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers are increasingly interested in why people want to participate in qualitative interview studies, particularly what they hope to gain from participating. The present paper contributes to this research agenda by analysing the motivations of victims of interpersonal violence: a group that is considered ethically challenging to involve in research, given their history of being intruded upon. The analysis is based on 174 qualitative interviews from three separate studies: two on intimate partner violence and one on sexual assault. A key finding is that many victims welcome the opportunity to participate and often use the interviews for their own purposes. We identified three different 'participant orientations', or ways victims relate to the interview and the research, including 'telling for oneself', 'telling for others' and 'telling for the researcher'. We discuss how these orientations imply different ethical contracts between the participant and researcher and their links to recruitment methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The implementation and evaluation of patient participation to obtain high‐quality transitional care for older people is an international priority. Intermediate care (IC) services are regarded as an important part of the patient's pathway from the specialist to the primary care levels, bridging the gap between the hospital and the home. Patients may experience varying capacities and conditions for patient participation. Yet, few tools for evaluating patients' preferences for patient participation within IC services are at hand. Accordingly, further knowledge is needed to understand and scaffold processes for patient participation in IC. Therefore, the aim of this project was to translate, validate and pilot test the Patient Preferences for Patient Participation (the 4Ps) with patients in IC services in Norway. Methods: This project comprised two phases: (1) a careful translation and cultural adaptation process, followed by a content validity trial among 15 patients and staff in Norwegian IC and (2) a cross‐sectional survey of the instrument with 60 patients admitted to IC. Results: The translation between Swedish and Norwegian required no conceptual or contextual adaptations. The subsequent cross‐sectional study, designed as a dialogue between the patients and staff, revealed that only 50% of the participants received a sufficient level of patient participation based on their preferences, mostly indicating that patients were receiving less‐than‐preferred conditions for engaging in their health and healthcare issues. Conclusion: The 4Ps instrument was deemed suitable for measuring patient participation based on patient preferences in the IC context and was feasible for both healthcare professionals and patients to complete in an interview when arriving at and leaving services. This may support person‐centred communication and collaboration, calling for further research on what facilitates patient participation and the implementation of person‐centred services for patients in IC. Patient or Public Contribution: First, the current paper is part of the IPIC study (i.e., the implementation of patient participation in IC). Influenced by a James Lind Alliance process, the study addresses research uncertainties identified by patients, next of kin, staff and researchers in the cocreation process. Second, cognitive interviewing was conducted with 15 representatives of the target population: seven patients receiving IC services, one home‐dwelling previous IC patient (altogether four women and four men, most of them 80 years or older) and seven healthcare staff working in IC services. The interviews determined the relevance, comprehensiveness and clarity of the 4Ps. Finally, 60 patients admitted to IC took part in the cross‐sectional study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been little research on the experiences of individuals in the early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) when they participate in intensive interdisciplinary rehabilitation programs emphasising self-management. In addition, little is known about such individuals' transition back to everyday life following rehabilitation. This paper seeks to provide insights into such experiences. A qualitative approach was utilised in the study on which this paper is based. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven individuals approximately three months after they had completed a 3-week interdisciplinary rehabilitation program. Following transcription, the interviews were analysed on the basis of Brown & Clarke's six stage framework for thematic analysis. Analysis of the data yielded three core themes: being oneself during rehabilitation; believing in oneself again; and managing one's everyday life following rehabilitation. Our results demonstrate how an intensive interdisciplinary rehabilitation program can contribute to improved physical function and self-esteem for individuals in an early phase of PD. The results also reveal ambivalence regarding relational aspects of the rehabilitation program and point to the need for more emphasis on including emotional, mental and family aspects into the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This paper focuses on how social inequality is associated with overweight and obesity in children. There is a lack of research with a focus on an important distinction in social inequality, namely geography. The aim of this study was to reduce this knowledge gap by looking closely at the links between rurality and overweight. Methods: The findings in this paper are based on in-depth interviews with school nurses and teachers in rural Norway. The focus was on their experiences with and knowledge about overweight and obesity numbers in rural versus urban areas. Results: We used Bourdieu's terminology to address the challenges related to urban–rural differences, and found that cultural factors connected to tradition, identity and courtesy play an important role in the rural overweight and obesity discourse. Conclusions: Actors and 'experts' working with overweight and obesity and national guidelines need to understand rural contexts and customs and address problems of the countryside on rural, not exclusively urban, premises. Different contexts imply different needs when it comes to reducing the inequalities between rural and urban areas regarding overweight and obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on findings from an empirical study based on qualitative interviews with Norwegian parents identified as part of a high-conflict divorce situation and interviews with caseworkers from a child welfare service. The site of study is an institutional circuit of concern, assessment, and referral involving the court, child welfare services, and a public family therapy service. The paper draws on the social ontology and analytic concepts of institutional ethnography and adopts parents' standpoint to explore how their knowledge and experience are shaped through encounters with professionals in the process of being identified and assessed as a high-conflict divorce case. The focus on people's doings and their expert knowledge about their doings sets institutional ethnographic research apart from more conventional forms of qualitative inquiry that focus on informants' inner experience. The paper highlights how a generalized professional discourse seems to permeate the work that parents and caseworkers jointly engage in, sometimes subsuming the knowledge and experience of those involved. When the issues of life as subjectively known and experienced are different from those of the institutional discourse, there is a danger that what is important to those whose lives they concern escapes the dialogue between parents and professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated government initiatives have become a common approach following the institutional fragmentation of New Public Management reforms. Complex societal issues require equally complex solutions, which sectorial units of government cannot attend to alone. However, integrated policy initiatives are prone to a range of obstacles. Using a study of policymaking aimed at homelessness in Norway as a case, this paper discusses how sectorial-shared knowledge creates barriers to a common view of policy problems and solutions. Engaging theories of governmental fragmentation, coordination, discourse, and epistemic cultures enable an exploration of how the involved policy sectors understand and address homelessness. The findings indicate that all policy sectors seem to recognise their responsibility within a social welfare frame, but despite having cooperated for several years, embeddedness in sectorial discourse and epistemic culture causes differing problem definitions. Established terms and categories within homelessness policies are filled with content according to epistemic embeddedness, thereby contributing to obscure the differences, rather than integrate the policy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Employer engagement is increasingly emphasised in the context of efforts to bring more disadvantaged people into work. A new approach in the Norwegian Employment and Welfare Service (NAV) combines demand-side and supply-side measures in a 'combined workplace-oriented approach'. Through qualitative interviews with frontline staff – including job coaches following the Supported Employment (SE) method – the paper examines the intermediary role of the street-level organisation (SLO) through the targeted use of SE methods directed at young users and employers. The findings suggest that young users are 'creamed by motivation' into the SE programme, which can be explained by the importance the SLO places: on maintaining inter-organisational relationships with employers, on job coaches' performance goals and the need to uphold an organisational structure in the SLO that seemingly works efficient to shift caseloads of young unemployed into work. Hence, creaming is not specific to outsourcing but can also occur when insourcing employer engagement services into a public SLO. Although relational work directed at both employers and young clients is seen as the benefit of a combined workplace-oriented approach, it appears a rather flimsy foundation for successful ALMPs unless supported by more structural demand-side measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on how immigrant women experience and negotiate their everyday life with children prior to and after leaving a violent partner. Twenty‐three women staying at domestic violence and abuse shelters with their children were interviewed about their experiences with assistance services and their everyday life with their children. At the time of the interviews, most of the women were legally separated or divorced and were either living in or in touch daily with shelters. In this paper, we look at some of the challenges that women face when exposed to violence in a relationship that involves children. Being exposed to violence from a partner raises a number of economic, practical, and emotional concerns, both prior to and after leaving. For the mothers in our study, maintaining a regular routine is key to making the children feel safe in an unpredictable setting. For many, economic dependence on the partner is replaced with economic dependence on assistance services after leaving the partner. Services must recognize that providing help to mothers who have left a violent partner constitutes more than just practical support but is crucial for mothers' ability to re‐establish a predictable everyday life with their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The quality of drug-based treatment may be affected by how drugs are handled. This is why the multidose has been introduced as a replacement for the dosette box. Moreover, this is the background for a pilot project in a number of Norwegian municipalities where multidoses are dispensed via an e-prescription scheme. Objective: The objective of the article is to shed light on experiences gleaned from the pilot project on whether patients receive the correct medication at the correct time. Method: The empirical material consists of interviews with the key actors in the administration of drugs: pharmacies, regular GPs and community nurses. Findings are discussed in light of other research and formal regulations in the field. Results: Pharmacies and doctors have good experiences with the scheme. Community nurses find that there are fewer errors and that e-procedures are faster than paper-based procedures when multidoses need to be altered. The actors describe how sources of error linked to paper-based solutions have disappeared. The fact that all changes in drug prescriptions are checked routinely by the pharmacy represents a further quality assurance. A weakness of the scheme is that community nurses no longer have access to their patients' medication list. Conclusion: Multidoses in e-prescriptions give improvements in quality in the handling of drugs. A number of measures will support the beneficial impacts of the e-multidose: * The distribution of responsibilities among some of the actors must be clarified. * Doctors' EPR systems must be made more transparent and easier to use. * Everyone who handles the e-multidose, including community nurses, must have access to the current medication list (LIB). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with dental phobia or a history of trauma tend to avoid dental services, which may, over time, lead to poor oral health. In Norway, a specific service targets these patients by providing exposure therapy to treat their fear of attendance and subsequently enable oral restoration. Dental practitioners deliver the exposure therapy, which requires a role change that deviates from their traditional practice. This paper explores how – and under what circumstances – dental practitioners manage this new role of alleviating dental anxiety for patients with a history of trauma or dental phobia. Using a realist evaluation approach, this paper develops theory describing which contexts promote mechanisms that allow practitioners to alleviate dental anxiety for patients with trauma or dental phobia. A multi‐method approach, comprising service documents (n = 13) and stakeholder interviews (n = 12), was applied. The data were then analysed through a content analysis and context‐mechanism‐outcome heuristic tool. Our findings reveal that dental practitioners must adopt roles that enable trust, a safe space, and gradual desensitisation of the patient to their fear triggers. Adopting these roles requires time and resources to develop practitioners' skills – enabling them to adopt an appropriate communication style and exposure pace for each patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The surge of online platforms has generated interest in how specialized platforms support formal and informal learning in various disciplinary domains. Knowledge is still limited regarding how undergraduate students navigate and use platforms to learn. Objectives: This study explores computer and software engineering students' learning practices, wherein online platforms are used as resources for both curricular learning activities and students' interest‐driven learning. Methods: The learning practices of 73 students were examined using a mixed‐methods design and a conceptualization of practices accounting for the context and purpose of their enactment. The dataset includes students' self‐reports on domain‐specific learning activities, three‐month‐long web‐browsing history of multiple platforms and stimulated‐recall interviews. The data were analysed through latent class and thematic analyses. Results and Conclusion: Five distinct patterns were found in the use of online platforms. These patterns show that different types of platforms were used purposely and in combination during curricular and interest‐driven activities aimed at learning software development. Moreover, students' purposes were driven by both the need to progress in their learning activities and the development of their interest in software development. The findings highlight the complexity of students' learning with online platforms, which develop quite extensively beyond curricular boundaries. Implications: The findings stress the need to recognize that undergraduate students' learning practices involve multiple online platforms and activities beyond the formal curriculum and that these play a key role in developing students' interests in learning software development. Moreover, our findings indicate the importance of taking into account the way students' learning practices unfold within platforms and how these relate to domain‐specific practices. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic?: Online platforms are mostly used by teaching staff in undergraduate education to support student learning during formal curricular tasks.Research knowledge is limited mostly to specific features of social networking platforms, such as Facebook Groups or instant messaging technologies.Students informally use interest‐driven activities and both social and domain‐specific platforms to support their learning.Research on students' interest in using massive open online courses suggested that students' learning is motivated by academic success, prospective economic opportunities, and personal interests. What this paper adds?: Students combine various types of online platforms purposely (e.g., search engines or Q&A sites), many of which are domain‐specific (e.g., Stack Overflow).Students use online platforms informally during work on curricular tasks to, for example, collaborate, solve problems, and understand concepts or methods.Domain‐specific (e.g., software engineering) platforms are used during other study‐related leisure and entrepreneurial activities.Online platforms play a key role in how students develop their interests in learning. Through them, students connect not only with other students but also with professionals, companies, and information about them. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Curriculum developers and faculty should consider preparing students to use disparate types of online platforms beyond what is included in the curriculum.Curriculum developers should also consider other activities beyond the classroom that are study‐related and meaningful for students and their learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Background: In general, qualitative research design often involves merging together various data collection strategies, and researcher's may need to be prepared to spend longer periods in the field to pursue data collection opportunities that were not foreseen. Furthermore, nurse researchers performing qualitative research among patients and their relatives often experience unforeseen ethical dilemmas. Aim: This paper aimed to explore aspects of ethical dilemmas related to qualitative nursing research among patients and their relatives in the intensive care unit (ICU). Research design: This paper is based on a qualitative researcher's personal experience during a hermeneutic phenomenological study involving close observation and in-depth interviews with 11 intensive care nurses. Data were collected at two ICUs in two Norwegian university hospitals. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD). The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK) granted dispensation to the project regarding health personnels confidentiality of the patients who were present during the observation (2012/622-4). Findings: Close observation with nurses in the ICU requires the researcher to balance being a qualitative researcher, an ICU nurse and a sensitive fellow human being open to the suffering of the other—that is, being embodied, engaged and affected by sensitive situations and simultaneously constantly stepping back and reflecting on the meaning of those situations. Conclusions: The qualitative researcher's ethical awareness also entails knowing and acknowledging his or her own vulnerability, which becomes apparent in the researcher-participant relationship and settings in which being a fellow human always overrules the researcher's role in ethical dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper builds on ethnographic, qualitative research that explores the 'No Kids in the Middle' program for high‐conflict divorce families, as practiced in the Agder region of South Norway. Parent education programs targeting parents in divorce are generally found to be 'effective' in the sense that parents learn about the pitfalls of conflict and become socialised into less negative patterns of co‐parenting. However, a narrow understanding of the potential of such programs as vehicles for the transfer of knowledge fails to attend to the relational sides of both education and therapy, and the existential sides of parenthood. Drawing on Gert Biesta's articulation of education as a process working along three dimensions of purpose, the paper approaches the 'No Kids in the Middle' program as an educational practice. It aims to explore whether the educational ambitions of the 'No Kids in the Middle' program should be understood primarily in the general terms of qualification (i.e., parents acquiring knowledge and skills) and socialisation (i.e., parents gaining a specific orientation toward a set of norms and values), or if there were practices or elements that seemed directed at subjectification or bringing the 'I' of each parent into play. Analysing field notes from participant observation in a 'No Kids in the Middle' multi‐family group and interviews with parents, therapists, judges, and child welfare caseworkers, the paper concludes that programs like 'No Kids in the Middle' provide a broad spectrum of educational opportunities. While some of these might be intended to instruct along pre‐defined normative paths toward understanding and behaviour, such practices can also be seen as addressing parents in a different, more existential, way. In the particular local practice studied, the dimension of subjectification was perhaps most clearly in play in the informal settings surrounding the program itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multimodal data have the potential to explore emerging learning practices that extend human cognitive capacities. A critical issue stretching in many multimodal learning analytics (MLA) systems and studies is the current focus aimed at supporting researchers to model learner behaviours, rather than directly supporting learners. Moreover, many MLA systems are designed and deployed without learners' involvement. We argue that in order to create MLA interfaces that directly support learning, we need to gain an expanded understanding of how multimodal data can support learners' authentic needs. We present a qualitative study in which 40 computer science students were tracked in an authentic learning activity using wearable and static sensors. Our findings outline learners' curated representations about multimodal data and the non‐technical challenges in using these data in their learning practice. The paper discusses 10 dimensions that can serve as guidelines for researchers and designers to create effective and ethically aware student‐facing MLA innovations. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Many MLA systems are designed without learners' involvement.Understanding of how multimodal data can support learners' authentic needs is needed.MLA have the potential to enable the automated generation of models to provide real‐time feedback. What this paper adds: Understanding how learners perceive multimodal data and the learning context.The findings outline the soft challenges in using multimodal data in the learning practice.Ten dimensions were identified to serve as guidelines for researchers and designers.The paper reports learners' perspectives describing new, intriguing, and under‐developed ideas about potential uses of multimodal data in educational context.The discussion on the need for human‐centred design approaches for educational technologies has been presented. Implications for practice and/or policy: Relevant pointers for what is appropriate and ethically necessary when designing learning technologies.Change in perspective among educators, on how they address progress and engagement in learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Drawing on interviews with parents and coordinators, this paper explores the system for providing public service coordinators to parents with disabled children in Norway and how parents and coordinators understand and negotiate their roles in administering public services. Coordinators are service providers employed by municipalities to help families in need of long-lasting and comprehensive services. The findings reveal that parents carry an administrative burden, which involves learning about services, complying with rules and regulations, and managing psychological stress related to encounters with professionals. Coordinators vary in their interpretation of whether their role should go beyond providing information regarding services. Parents try to negotiate a higher degree of involvement from their coordinators, but coordinators often lack the necessary time and resources. The current state of the coordinator role may lead to inequalities and arbitrariness in the way families are supported while navigating welfare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores parents' perspectives on their involvement in their children's transitions to adult life and services in the context of young adults with disabilities in Norway. Based on semi-structured interviews, the accounts of seven parents were analyzed by applying a sociocultural framework. Informed by reflexive thematic analysis and considering personal, interpersonal, and cultural-institutional aspects of the parents' accounts, six themes of parental involvement were generated. It was shown how these parents operate within current cultural norms and practices of prolonged, intensive and autonomy-supportive parenting, and how these practices can come into conflict with norms of increased youth independence practiced in demanding institutional transitions. The findings also illustrate how sociocultural practices of stigmatization and marginalization can pose a particular challenge for youth with disabilities and their parents. Finally, we argue that a contextualized conception of parental involvement could widen the space for collaboration between youth with disabilities, parents, and professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development and promotion of educational games are still outpacing knowledge of these games' effects, raising calls for evidence of benefits and challenges. Studies suggest that students and teachers like games, but the payoff of the investment in terms of increased motivation and achievement remains unclear. Objectives: This study investigates the pure effect of a marketing simulation game on motivation, perceived learning and achievement, above and beyond regular student‐active instruction. Methods: We applied a randomized, controlled experiment in a marketing course in upper‐secondary schools (Nclasses = 22; Nstudents = 433) comparing a collaborative–competitive marketing simulation game with regular, case‐based, student‐active instruction on three groups of outcome measures: motivation, perceived ability, and achievement. Additionally, students and teachers provided quantitative and qualitative feedback on game experiences. Results and Conclusions: We showcase the importance of a robust study design with valid compound instruments. Moreover, investigations of the game implementation and experiences reveal insights about intervention timing, differential negative consequences by gender and need for reflection opportunities. We find no clear evidence of positive or negative effects of the game, despite students' and teachers' satisfaction. Implications: Beyond the effect evaluation, we offer recommendations to researchers and developers of educational games about scaffolding, timing and teacher competence building. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Some curricula contains many terms and complex knowledge links.Simulation games are a popular remedy for these challenges.Prior studies have relied on users' satisfaction with the game and unrealistic comparisons. What this paper adds: This experiment compares game usage and regular student‐active instruction.They use various measures of satisfaction, motivation, perceived learning and achievement.The game has no effect on main outcomes. Implications for practice and/or policy: Game implementation requires digitally acquainted and trained teachers.Uncritical game design and use may motivate competitive boys over collaborative girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a study on the ways in which counsellors working at national centres for rare disorders in Norway experience preparing, and being prepared for, a face-to-face patient consultation. The research involved semi-structured interviews with five experienced counsellors from different health professional backgrounds working at two separate centres. These interviews were then analysed with reference to the theoretical insights of phenomenologists. The excerpts chosen for this paper shed particular light on the process of preparing for a face-to-face patient consultation. Our findings underline the significance of preparing and being prepared while also drawing attention to the multifaceted, complex and ambiguous nature of the processes involved. Preparing for face-to-face consultations with patients is revealed to require approaches that are thoughtful, flexible and empathic. To be prepared for something one does not yet know is about being open to the unexpected and the unpredictable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by a triad of motor, cognitive and psychological symptoms, leading to a gradual breakdown of communication skills. Few studies have investigated how people affected by HD and their professional caregivers, for example, medical doctors, physiotherapists and nurses, experience the patients' gradual loss of speech and language. Aims: To examine communication‐related experiences of patients and professional caregivers. Experiences with speech therapy and the use of augmentative and alternative communication aids (AAC) were also investigated. Methods & Procedures: Seven individuals with HD and seven professional caregivers were interviewed individually, using a semi‐structured interview guide. Transcripts were analysed using a conventional content analysis, and the results presented in three main categories. Outcomes & Results: Most individuals with HD were aware of having communication difficulties, struggling with understanding others as well as being understood. This was confirmed by professional caregivers, who also raised ethical issues encountered when patients struggled with communication. Both groups talked about external factors (such as noise or crowded social settings) as disrupting communication, and shared recommendations on how people in general, and speech and language therapists (SLTs) in particular, could optimize communication. Very few patients had received information about communication aids, and none was using AACs. Professional caregivers underlined the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations, including SLTs, in order to optimize care. Conclusions & Implications: Findings shed a light on everyday communication challenges faced by people with HD and their professional caregivers, and the lack of implementation of communication aids in this group. The dramatic impact of HD on patients' communication skills underscores the need to include SLTs in the follow‐up of this patient group, ideally from the early stages of the disease, while the patient is still capable of voicing his/her own wishes and thoughts. Future research that explores how to optimize communication and implement the use of AACs for individuals with HD is needed. What this paper addsWhat is already known on this subjectAlthough the ability to communicate gradually deteriorates in individuals affected by Huntington's disease (HD), there is little knowledge about how affected individuals experience the loss of speech and language skills. Interdisciplinary care is recognised as essential for this patient group. However, professional caregivers' thoughts and experiences of communicating with their patients have not been fully explored. Recent years have seen a rapid growth of available communication supporting technologies that could potentially be helpful for individuals with HD, but limited attention has been given to this subject.What this paper adds to existing knowledgeWhat do we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before the results highlight that patients are aware of problems with speech and language even in early phases of the disease, and include patients' personal outlook on problems with communication. Professional caregivers raised ethical issues encountered when patients struggled with communication. Both groups described specific strategies that could facilitate communication. There was a significant lack of experience and knowledge about augmentative and alternative communication aids (AACs).What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?Clinical implications of this study. The introduction of communication aids in the follow‐up of patients with HD needs to be discussed with the patients in the early phases of the disease, and implemented while the individual still has the capacity to learn and take advantage of alternative communication support. Results underline the importance of including speech and language therapists (SLTs) into multidisciplinary care of patients with HD. SLTs should be available also for professional caregivers who need advice on how to facilitate conversations and social interactions, in order to optimise care of patients with HD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research literature is characterized by a fundamental controversy about what parenting support is and what it aims to be: A health-promotion measure that supports child development or a "totalizing tendency [...] of defining the relation between parents and children in technical terms" (Smeyers, 2010). This paper presents a study from Norway, where parenting support is offered as a "universal", publicly funded service. It presents and discusses findings based on in-depth interviews with 45 parents from different social (educational, economic) and cultural (migration) backgrounds, focusing on how they perceived the purpose and outcomes of parenting support programs in which they participated. A key finding is that parents with majority backgrounds are less enamoured with the quality and usefulness of provision, and tend instead towards other sources for advice on parenting (primarily their social and familial networks). Many also express scepticism of broad approaches to parenting support provision. In contrast, minority parents lacking "Norwegian" social and familial networks genuinely find the courses valuable, both for their own integration and self-confidence and also the development of their children. The findings help address the need for further research into the effectiveness of parenting support and its potential role in reducing social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how standardized tools, in this case, a standardized parenting programme and a standardized Norwegian assessment tool, influence professional roles as experienced by child welfare workers (CWS professionals) in Norway. Semistructured individual and group interviews were conducted with 31 frontline workers in two CWS agencies. Our findings suggest that standardized tools increase the social workers experienced professional competence but challenge their professional knowledge base, reflective practice, and professional accountability. Professional and practical implications for CWS work are discussed in the light of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore, describe and interpret two research questions: How do persons with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems, living in supportive housing, experience belonging? How do residential support staff experience promoting a sense of belonging for persons with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems, living in a supportive housing? Design/methodology/approach: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with five persons with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems living in supportive housing in a Norwegian district. In addition, one semi-structured focus group was conducted with nine residential support staff. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings: Analysis resulted in three main themes: "I do not go to sleep in my pajamas", "Do I have a choice?" and "Be kind to each other". Research limitations/implications: More research on how inclusive practices that are commonly described in guidelines actually affect the experience of residents and residential support staff is needed. Practical implications: Practices that incorporate a communal and contextual understanding when assigning supportive housing are warranted. Originality/value: By paying attention to the components of social recovery, this paper provides a nuanced understanding of how persons with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse problems, living in supportive housing, experience belonging. In addition, residential support staffs' experiences with promoting a sense of belonging for this group are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethics and knowledge are seen as being the two core aspects of professional self-understanding. Nonetheless, many researchers in social work argue that the difficulties found in social workers' professional identities may be linked to the conventional Western knowledge paradigm and its focus on the technical–rational application of scientific theory and knowledge in professional practice. This qualitative interview study examines professional self-understanding among eighteen Norwegian social workers employed at the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). The study found an ambivalent self-understanding with regard to ethics and knowledge. Professional ethical problems are kept private, even though the social workers view ethics as being a fundamental aspect of their professional self-understanding. They keep their ethical dilemmas to themselves, and they also keep quiet about work that is successful. This paper suggests that the privatising of professional ethical dilemmas reflects the ambiguous position of ethics in the dominant understanding of knowledge, and the reduction of ethics that underlies this view. The paper also suggests that the ambivalent professional self-understanding among social workers will endure for as long as social work is dominated by the prevailing view on knowledge and professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sibling relationships are potentially central in children's and young people's lives. Research has shown that the quality of sibling relationships changes in a variety of ways when a sibling(s) moves into care. There is limited understanding of the mechanisms that cause these changes. This study addresses this gap by reanalysing a dataset of 25 semistructured interviews with young people (16 to 23 years) drawn from a municipality in Southern Norway. The original study explored the changes in sibling relationships when the young person moved into care. This reanalysis of the data set explores specifically, using a template analysis, the mechanisms that children describe when exploring why these changes occur. Findings show the intricacies of the young person's social identification with the biological and/or foster family and how sharing a common identity may be key to the development of the sibling relationship when the young person(s) is taken into care. Our findings also show how key adults, such as foster parents and social workers, influence the relationship. The paper concludes with recommendations for social workers on how they may strengthen sibling relationships in families where children have been taken into care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) people are becoming foster parents in several western countries. The LGBTQ perspective on the child welfare system has received little attention in practice, research and policy. Despite their increased rights, LGBTQ foster parents continue to face challenges related to fostering. Knowledge is needed on LGBTQ individual perceptions of the process of becoming foster parents, including barriers and facilitating factors. This paper reports on the experiences of 13 gay or lesbian foster parents in Norway. The study shows a lack of knowledge about the possibility of becoming foster parents due to lack of information directed at them as a minority group. Participants felt vulnerable and experienced "minority stress" before encountering the child welfare system, while mainly experienced the encounter with the staff as good and respectful. Although several valued being treated "like everyone else" by the system, others questioned why LGBTQ‐specific parenting issues were not raised and discussed. Apart from lack of information, the process towards foster parenting seemed mostly hampered by participants' own assumptions that sexual identity would be a barrier and to some extent biological parents' refusal. The study suggests that foster care and child welfare services would benefit from information in recruitment of foster parents, aiming at being more inclusive. Furthermore, we address gender and sexuality diversity related to foster care work and highlight the strengths and challenges it may offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is highly prevalent among women and the condition is poorly understood. In addition to multiple symptoms from the pelvis, CPP patients frequently suffer bodily distress like musculoskeletal pain and negative emotional, behavioral, and sexual implications. This paper is based on a qualitative study including semi-structured interviews with eight women with CPP. Our project has been conducted within the framework of phenomenology, particularly shaped by the concept of embodiment. We discuss the link between the lived body and CPP and address the value of making the life experiences of the patient relevant to understand this complex condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Indigenous people of Norway are legally entitled to use their Sámi language in encounters with healthcare services, yet these encounters are generally conducted in Norwegian language. The right to Sámi language and culture in health is particularly relegated when Sámi healthcare personnel is not present. This neglect of Sámi language and culture in the Norwegian healthcare system impacts on the quality of care Sámi patients receive. Aim: This paper describes and interprets healthcare interactions between nurses and Sámi‐speaking patients in Norway. Method: Qualitative semi‐structured focus group interviews were conducted with Sámi (n = 13) and Norwegian nurses (n = 10). Participants were included if they had experience working with Sámi‐speaking patients and two years clinical practice in the Sámi area of northern Norway. Interpretive and descriptive analyses were conducted. Findings: Obtaining only basic patient information and lack of mapping of native language in admission documents or patient notes makes it challenging to recognise Sámi patients. In encounters with Sámi patients, Norwegian nurses must navigate linguistic challenges with an additional layer of interplay between culture and care. Misunderstandings in this area can undermine patient safety and be directly contrary to health legislation and patient rights. As remedy, Sámi nurses often improve the nurse–patient dialogue by translating and explaining cultural nuances, thus improving understanding of healthcare interactions, and bridging the gap to the Norwegian staff. Conclusion: To integrate Sámi language and culture into nursing care new guidelines to implement knowledge of Sámi patients' culture and language rights in healthcare education is needed. In addition, the authorities have to facilitate implementation of laws and regulations, research and guidelines in practical health care. At last, the number of Sámi‐speaking nurses has to increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public policies encourage the service system to work in new ways to promote health and increase social equality. This paper presents four categories that show the character of the low-threshold services in Norwegian family centres from the professionals' and parents' perspectives, focusing on accessibility and participation: easy access, low level of bureaucracy, collaborative competences and inclusive arena. This paper is based on an inductive study in three municipalities that have chosen to establish family centres as interdisciplinary co-located services that aim to offer low-threshold services for children and their families. Data were generated through a fieldwork, and participatory observation and interviews were the main source of data. The methodological framework for the analysis was grounded theory, in which the data generation and analysis interchanged throughout the study, and theoretical sampling set the focus for the fieldwork. Exploring the actor's perspective highlighted both strengths and challenges with the low-threshold services in the family centres. The four elements presented emphasize that the value of these low-threshold services are not found in one single hallmark; rather, the value depends on an interaction between different elements that must be addressed when establishing, evaluating and developing low-threshold services in family centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A residential care is home for children who live there and is simultaneously a workplace for employees aiming to safeguard the needs and development of children. Studies have shown that adolescents' descriptions of life in residential care are connected to feelings of otherness and deviance. The purpose of this study is to explore how adolescents in residential care in Norway relate residential care as a home to their experiences of everyday life in this context and to their relationships with the employees. Design/methodology/approach: This study draws on individual, qualitative interviews with 19 boys and girls (aged 15–18 years) living in residential care homes in Norway. The interviews explored their narratives of everyday life in residential care. The adolescents were encouraged to tell about yesterday and were asked follow-up questions regarding everything that had occurred during encounters with employees. The Norwegian Center for Research Data approved the study. Findings: The analysis shows tensions in the adolescents' accounts between the institution as an abnormal context and their own subject position as normal. By drawing upon the terms "stigma" and "recognition" in the analysis, the study shows how recognising relationships between the youth and staff decreases the potential to experience stigma. Originality/value: This study contributes to existing knowledge on social work in residential care. The paper shows how the institutional framework and employees' practices impact adolescents' self-understanding and their experiences of residential care as a home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of educational institutions in the field of nursing is to educate nurses with the competences to provide high-quality care to their patients, meaning that students need to learn about evidence-based practice and how to translate the knowledge, skills, competency, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours into daily practice. The bachelor thesis is the ultimate test for undergraduate nursing students to present what they have learned. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore undergraduate nursing students' experiences of conducting clinical projects in their bachelor theses. Methods: We used qualitative focus-group interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the students' experiences of conducting clinical projects in their bachelor theses as an approach to learn about evidence-based practice. The analyses focused on meaning according to Brinkmann and Kvale. Results: Eighteen out of 22 eligible students who had chosen to participate in ongoing clinical research projects and write an academic paper as their bachelor thesis were included in this study. The students were all females and divided into three focus groups. The clinical projects were conducted in a public hospital, a private hospital, nursing homes, or within home-care nursing. The analyses showed that conducting clinical projects in the bachelor thesis provided the students with important knowledge for providing evidence-based care and it. motivated them to want to initiate future clinical projects as nurses., They got valuable hands-on experience for how to conduct research, and made the students aware of the importance of keeping themselves updated on the latest knowledge. Conclusion: Conducting clinical research projects on a bachelor level provide undergraduate nursing students with important knowledge of how to provide evidence-based nursing care to their patients. Learning how to conduct clinical research projects is also important for motivating future nurses to initiate research aiming to improve clinical nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite increased focus on parenting support internationally, there is a lack of agreement in what constitutes parenting support. This paper explores the experiences of parenting support activities from the perspective of stakeholders in Norwegian basic schools. Methods: Five focus group interviews were conducted with representatives from the schools' parent work committee, class teachers, health nurses, and social workers from nine schools. The data were interpreted using an inductive thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes emerged from the data: (1) A community for the best of the child, (2) uniting through relations, and (3) sharing knowledge and language. Parenting support was experienced as universal, relational, and multidimensional. It was related to everyday life interactions between the home, school, and the parenting community with the best interest of the child as a goal. Conclusion: To avoid reducing parents to passive recipients of expert advice, parenting support activities should be an integral part of everyday school-home-parenting community collaborations. Abbreviation: EU-The European Union; UN-The Unition Nations; CoE-The Council of Europe; NSD-The Norwegian Centre for Research Data; CTP-Class teachers in primary school; CTJS-Class teachers in junior secondary school; P-Parents; H-Health nurses; SW-Social workers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to address risks young people in the late 20th and 21st century are exposed to with regard to political participation. Based on qualitative data and ordinary language interviews with 27 Norwegian pupils in upper secondary school, we address how the construction of the political space is understood by young people themselves. By analysing how young people define political interest and engagement, the findings indicate that a gap exists in the perception of 'own' and 'institutionalised' political participation. This paper concludes that exploring the understanding of politics among the young may reduce vulnerability of this particular group in their democratic participation as well as facilitate their political empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Managerial quality improvement (QI) in terms of accountability management has become central to healthcare institutions. Yet, managerial QI is largely considered irrelevant by healthcare professionals. In consequence, the implementation of managerial QI implementation is hampered. Knowledge brokering is discussed as a means to foster the implementation of (QI) knowledge in healthcare. Yet, the benefit of knowledge brokering for managerial QI has so far been neglected. Therefore, this research asks how knowledge brokering can support the implementation of managerial QI.Design/methodology/approach This article builds on a single case study approach as a unit of analysis. Qualitative data collection comprises 21 semi-structured interviews at the managerial and clinical levels, 220 h of participant observation and document analysis.Findings This paper identifies three strategies of how brokers implement managerial QI into a hospital by means of knowledge brokering: prioritizing, obscuring and redefining. The strategies help to transform multiple external QI demands into one managerial QI strategy. Yet the strategies also reduce non-managerial perspectives on QI, which generates frustration among healthcare professionals.Practical implications The paper works out the benefits and costs of managerial knowledge brokering. This allows to spell out practical implications for managers, nurses and clinicians who have to deal with managerial QI in healthcare organizations.Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to study managerial knowledge brokering practices as a means to implement managerial QI into healthcare organizations. By doing that, the article adds to the body of research on knowledge translation in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Services providing support for children and families are often described as fragmented and more concerned with the boundaries of their fields of responsibility than collaborating with other sectors. To meet the need for greater collaboration, there is increased impetus for establishing interdisciplinary services, such as family centres. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study based on in‐depth interviews and participant observation in 3 Norwegian family centres. The findings provide insight into central challenges in developing new practices within the field of family support; we discuss how intersectorial collaboration is constructed in relation to the core objectives of the family centre, professional competence, and service stability. This study demonstrates that both managers and professionals struggle with prioritizing intersectorial work, which mainly focuses on prevention and health promotion, over and above their traditional sectoral responsibilities. It also illustrates the necessity of articulating intersectorial collaboration as an explicit aim and exploring its implications and examining how this contributes to family centres building supportive communities. Building integrated services is not the ultimate goal of this particular form of service provision but rather the first step towards building interconnected support systems for all children in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore two research questions: how do people with concurrent substance abuse and mental health disorders (concurrent conditions) experience and describe meaningful activities? And how do meaningful activities influence the recovery process?Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study uses an explorative and interpretive design in a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Transcribed interviews are analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic method for researching lived experience. The study was submitted to the Norwegian Center for Research Data where it was approved (Case No. 54661).Findings Structural analysis resulted in three overarching themes: achieving a positive identity through actions and feeling worthwhile; physically outside but inside the norms of society, and idleness, isolation, and obstacles on the road to recovery. Meaningful activities, considered a cornerstone in the recovery process, vary widely and are primarily described in social contexts, thereby confirming the significance of social aspects of recovery in addition to recovery as an individual journey. The findings also show that experiencing meaningful activities contributes to recovery capital and the development of recovery-promotive identities.Research limitations/implications The study consisted of a small sample size, recruited at one location which served as a primary research limitation.Practical implications This paper provides insights for health care practitioners and health care decision makers regarding the importance of meaningful activities viewed through a recovery perspective.Originality/value Few studies to date have used a comprehensive approach to describe the influence of experiencing meaningful activities on the recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siblings are key actors in the social network of young people in care. This paper explores young people's perceptions of changes in the quality of sibling relationships and the pathways relationships follow during the transition from the biological family into care. A thematic analysis of interviews with young Norwegian people (n = 25) in care showed that, in the biological family, sibling relationships are characterized by alliances, parentification, conflicts or nonexistence. After admission to child welfare services care, sibling relationships developed along multiple pathways. Their sibling relationships reshaped into either close and supportive, conflictual or completely broken relationships. Sibling relationships were dynamic, complex, with the pathway, and its impact on well‐being, being unique to each young person. Sibling relationship quality in the biological home did not predict relationship quality after admission to child welfare services. The implications for social worker practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The approach to standardized services in Norwegian mental health care is tailored to the needs of the majority population, focusing on diagnoses and overshadows an approach that understands, values and emphasizes Sámi storytelling and everyday life. This study aims to contribute knowledge regarding the promotion of user involvement in mental health care from the perspectives of Sámi mental health care users. A narrative approach offers an opportunity to unravel an indigenous approach to mental health care and user involvement. People organize their storytelling according to culturally available narratives. This paper focuses on 9 Sámi men's and women's stories related to user involvement in mental health care services. Through a thematic analysis of personal stories, we emphasize how the participants make sense of their needs as patients in a culturally adapted mental health context and their experiences living in Sámi core areas. The following four themes are identified as prerequisites for user involvement in services: (1) the expectation of raising children to be independent, (2) the importance of accepting and recognizing the Sámi identity, (3) the need to live in close relations with nature and family, and 4) the right to be in the Sámi mode. Based on the results of our analysis, we find that user involvement among Sámi mental health care users is related to important Sámi values and norms within the culture and that treatment without these important values ​​could adversely affect user involvement in mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what characterizes individual teachers' reflections on proposals for change in situated teamwork sessions and discuss the potential for professional development that lies in teachers' reflections. The teamwork sessions take place in the context of school-based professional development. Stimulated recall interviews (SRI) with teachers commenting on video recordings from their participation in teamwork form the empirical basis for the research. The sample consists of 17 teachers representing four teacher teams from different schools. We identified three primary types of reflection on proposals of change – comment and describe, extend and exemplify, and critical exploration. In the last type of reflection, when teachers critically explore, reflect and problematize existing practices whilst watching critical incidents that contain proposals for change, we identified tensions arising. The tensions emerged between teachers' established practices grounded in national regulations (ex. national tests, exams, documentation) and their basic assumptions, values, and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants face barriers in seeking and accessing mental health and addiction services. Health professionals are crucial in providing and promoting healthcare and it is important to understand their experiences in order to enhance the access of mental healthcare. The aim of this paper is to explore and describe health professionals' experiences with treatment engagement among immigrants with co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health disorders (MHD) in Norwegian mental health and addiction services. Within a collaborative approach, 3 focus group interviews were conducted with health professionals, who had provided various mental health and addiction care services to immigrants with co-occurring SUD and MHD. The focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using systematic text condensation. The analysis resulted in 5 main categories: (1) difficulties due to language barriers, (2) difficulties due to lack of culturally competent services, (3) difficulties due to social factors, (4) being curious and flexible improves the user-provider relationship, and (5) increasing access to mental health and addiction services. This study provides an enhanced understanding of how health professionals' experienced treatment engagement among immigrants with co-occurring SUD and MHD in the Norwegian context. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how men who were delinquent as adolescents experience themselves as fathers. The men who took part in a longitudinal study, all in their 40s, had severe adjustment problems as teenagers, and thus have a past that causes uncertainty about their parenting abilities in the present. The paper analyses the men’s affective investments in their ways of being fathers. Four analytical categories that address the men’s fathering experiences were identified as significant in the interviews. First unsettling relations and distance from their own children, which for many of the men appeared as a recurring pattern that resembled the relationships they had with their own parents. Second, several men emphasised capacities such as personal traits or strength that made them able to make a break with the past. Third, the importance of support from others was also recognised, particularly being able to share parenthood with the children’s mother and for some, receiving help from child welfare services. Fourth, a key finding is that all the men, independent of whether they live with their children or not, experience a fragile point of balance, that is, incidents such as a relapse into drug abuse or a break in their relationship with the other parent strongly affect their relationships with their children. The difficulties these men experienced as youth intersect with their experiences of their own capacities as fathers in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Digital inclusion is a strategy pursued to foster social inclusion of those who have been sidelined from the mainstream of information society due to lack of access to digital technologies and the skills to use them. Libraries have been working to close the gap by providing access to computers, the Internet, digital content, and digital literacy programs. However, research reveals a new type of divide where digitally competent people could be digitally excluded. This shows the need for a better conceptualization of access and literacy. This paper commits to exploring the concept of access to digital content from the perspective of people with print disability. It involved in-depth interviews with ten participants with print disability where the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health was used as a framework for data analysis. The overall analysis shows that digital inclusion would be more meaningful if it involved providing content in alternative formats and empowering users to make informed choices. Issues such as flexibility and adaptability in content presentation and design of content discovery tools are among those discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Little is known about how harm reduction is practiced in Norwegian housing first (HF) projects. The purpose of this paper is to explore, describe, and interpret how providers apply a harm reduction approach within a housing project focused on individuals who are homeless with co-morbid substance use and mental health problems.Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study was part of a larger evaluation study of a three-year HF project in a Norwegian municipality. Data were collected using four multi-stage focus groups with five providers working in the HF project. Focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.Findings Analysis resulted in three main themes: “Letting the service user sit in the driver’s seat,” “We don’t follow service provision contracts, we do everything,” and “Collaborating with the local community.”Research limitations/implications There is a need to develop increased knowledge about service users’ experiences within the harm reduction approach.Practical implications To practice effective harm reduction, treatment providers must have open authorizations and the opportunity to exercise professional judgment. Harm reduction practice must also focus on social, political, and economic factors influencing users’ everyday lives.Originality/value The paper contributes to the knowledge base on harm reduction within HF practice that differs from a traditional model wherein clients are expected to abstain from substance use. It highlights important preconditions for challenges practitioners might encounter at both individual and service system levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]