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Children’s and young persons’ rights have received increasing been focus in recent decades, due in a significant degree to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In Sweden, compulsory care in the social-services system is disputed, not least for the forceful measures that facility personnel have at their disposal to control children in certain conflict situations. The general aim of this article is to examine how the increased emphasis in Sweden on children’s rights is promoting resilience for children and youth in youth compulsory secure-care settings. A more general question is whether the child-rights discourse leads in practice to increased resilience for children and youth in this setting, or even in general. The empirical material shows that children and young people’s perceptions of care and treatment are strongly linked to their interactions with staff and how the staff use restrictive measures. Applying Martha Fineman’s vulnerability theory in this context means that achieving resilience demands an analysis of the institutional settings in which children and young persons live their day-to-day lives, including their relationships in this setting. Comparing the legal possibilities of physical constraint with interviews of children and personnel reveals that relevant legislative frameworks and children’s-rights discourse should serve as a protection mechanism for children and youths, but in real life, these seem to have limited effect.

Legislation for dementia care needs to be continually rethought, if the rights of older persons and other persons with dementia are to be addressed properly. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding vulnerability and dependency, which enables us to problematize the currently prevailing legal conception of adults as always able — irrespective of health or age — to act autonomously in their everyday lives. Such an approach gives rise to difficult dilemmas when persons with dementia are forced to make decisions on their own about basic living conditions, such as housing and care, without decision-making support. In Sweden, for example, such matters are frequently left to the person him- or herself to decide, often without any assistance from social workers, and with family members serving as caregivers of last resort. Using vulnerability theory as the framework for our discussion, we argue that policymakers should not apply a group-oriented approach (based on factors like age, legal status, or mental capacity) to persons suffering from dementia. The needs of such individuals are as complex and varied as they themselves are. We discuss our findings from an interdisciplinary (law/social work) research project in which we examine the dilemma that social workers face when they are required, under the terms of the Swedish Social Services Act, to determine whether persons with dementia are to be granted support. We argue further that a cross-disciplinary approach — in which vulnerability theory furnishes the framework — opens up for new ways of understanding and developing social welfare law and practice. This, we believe, can help us better address the rights, interests, and needs of people with dementia, of their families, and of professionals in the social welfare system. Finally, many of the problems faced by ageing societies in general can be understood on the basis of such an approach.

Purpose: The aim of this paper was to describe how people living with a neurological disability such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke reason regarding using apps to facilitate self-management in everyday life.Material and methods: A qualitative research approach with a focus group methodology was used. The sample comprised 16 participants, 11 men and 5 women, with an average age of 64 years (ranging from 51–80 years). Six participants were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, six with Parkinson’s disease and four with stroke. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, which is a method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns.Results: The results formed two themes. The first theme “using apps to have control of my health” comprises two subthemes; “monitor and take responsibility for a healthy lifestyle” and “compensate to facilitate everyday life”. The second theme “using the app as a tool and means for communication” also comprised two subthemes; “dare to trust the app” and “feeling safe when sharing information with health care professionals”.Conclusions: The use of apps put increased responsibility on the person and had the possibility to make them more involved in their own care. The use of an app can facilitate a healthy lifestyle and help to monitor disease-specific symptoms. In order to be able to use apps for communication with the health care sector legislation and safety issues need to be considered. Implications for rehabilitation Apps can be used for self-management if they are safe and can be trusted. People with neurological disabilities want to be involved in their healthcare and needs to be addressed by health care professionals. The use of apps grasp over a wide variety of areas this is something that may be considered in health care and something that can be addressed by interdisciplinary approaches. Ordinary health-oriented apps and disease-specific apps were used differently and for different purposes.

This paper compares legislation on clinical research conducted on patients subject to coercion in the Scandinavian countries and the UK, examines it from a human rights perspective, and problematizes the Danish legal model as the only one employing a total ban on this kind of research. Reference is made to the consequences to evidence-based psychiatric care improvements and international ethical principle statements generally entitling psychiatric patients to treatment under similar ethical and scientific conditions as patients with other illnesses, given the absolute premise that the patient does not object to research participation and always retains the right to withdraw.

AIM: Decades of research confirm that children and adolescents in out-of-home care (foster family, residential care) have much greater healthcare needs than their peers. A systematic literature review was conducted to evaluate organizational healthcare models for this vulnerable group. METHODS: A systematic literature search was undertaken of the following databases: Academic Search Elite, CENTRAL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cinahl, DARE, ERIC, HTA, PsycInfo, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, PubMed, SocIndex. Randomized and non-randomized controlled trials were to be included. Two pairs of reviewers independently assessed abstracts of the identified published papers. Abstracts meeting the inclusion criteria were ordered in full text. Each article was reviewed independently, by pairs of reviewers. A joint assessment was made based on the inclusion criteria and relevance. Cases of disagreement were resolved by consensus discussion. RESULTS: No study with low or medium risk of bias was identified. CONCLUSION: In the absence of studies of acceptable quality, it is not possible to assess the impact of organizational models intended to ensure adequate health and dental care for children and adolescents in out-of-home care. Therefore, well-designed follow-up studies should be conducted following the implementation of such models. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Mycket forskning inom olika vetenskapsområden har länge haft fokus på social­tjänstens insatser för barn i olika avseenden och även på privatiseringen av verkstäligheten av vården. Det saknas däremot studier som fokuserar på förekomsten av privata konsulter som genomför barnavårdsutredningar. Det innebär också att det idag är oklart vilka konsekvenser en sådan förändring innebär för socialtjänstens professionella arbete med barnavårdsutredningar, personalens arbetsmiljö, rätts­ säkerheten i beslutsprocessen och de beslut om insatser som fattas för barn och ungdomar. Syftet med denna artikel är att med utgångspunkt i nuvarande reglering beskriva några rättsliga förutsättningar för denna alltmer förekommande kommunala praktik.

Policy-makers, the medical industry and researchers are demonstrating a keen interest in the potential of large registries of patient data, both nationally and internationally. The registries offer promising ways to measure and develop operational quality within health and medical care services. As a result of certain favourable patient data regulations and government funding, the development of quality registries is advanced in Sweden. The combination of increasing demand for more cost-efficient healthcare that can accommodate the demographic development of a rapidly ageing population, and the emergence of eHealth with an increasing digitalisation of patient data, calls attention to quality registries as a possible way for healthcare improvements. However, even if the use of registries has many advantages, there are some drawbacks from a patient privacy point of view. This article aims to analyse this growing interdependence of quality registries for the healthcare sector. It discusses some lessons from the Swedish case, with particular focus on the collection of data from elderly persons with cognitive impairments.

Det professionella bemötandet inom vård och omsorg kan påverkas av omedvetna värderingar som gör att personer upplever sig kränkta eller särbehandlade. Den här artikeln utforskar hur hälso- och sjukvården bemöter äldre kvinnor som migrerat till Sverige. Vi diskuterar spänningen mellan lika och likvärdigt bemötande och vilken relevans detta har för professionsutbildningar inom vård och omsorg.

Ett initiativ till ett tvångsingripande enligt LVU medför att barnet hamnar i en omfattande process med avgörande betydelse för dess framtid, men där barnet självt har begränsad förmåga att hävda sina intressen. För en lagstiftning vars syfte är att tillvarata barnets intressen är de personer som utreder, presenterar och argumenterar för barnet centrala aktörer. Vilka medel använder dessa aktörer för att definiera barnets behov och intressen? I denna artikel diskuteras hur barnets intressen definieras av det offentliga biträdet och andra aktörer samt om barnet får uttrycka sin mening i tolv undersökta rättsfall.

The article describes and analyses the legal framework concerning children’s participation in research in Sweden. Research on children is one way to improve children’s living conditions. For example, there is a need for knowledge about children’s and young people’s situation at home, at school, in community care and in correctional facilities. It is inevitable that there arise both ethical and legal issues concerning this research. A law has been in force since 2004, which deals with vetting the ethics of research that involves humans, i.e. the Act (2003:460) concerning the Ethical Review of Research Involving Humans. The article aims to analyze the legal preconditions according to this legislation for conducting social science research on children and young people in Sweden and to discuss the child’s status as a research person from a child-rights and vulnerability perspective. In addition to the legal framework, decisions by the Central Ethical Review Board that concern research on children within the social sciences are examined and discussed.

This dissertation deals with the question of the child´s legal status in legal proceedings concerning its own person. Special problems that may arise in investigations concerning the situation of the child and in decisions on measures to be taken in the best interest of the child are also examined. The Care of Young Persons Act (1990:52) constitutes the framework of this study. According to the Act, the County Administrative Court shall, upon application by the social welfare board, decide whether the conditions for statutory care are fulfilled. The law should act as a means of legal protection for exposed children and young persons. The function of the judicial process is to materialize that protection. The thesis examines this function of the law. Three basic demands according to international conventions and Swedish legislation consitute the startingpoint of the work: the child´s right to legal security, the right to personal integrity and the right to successively increasing autonomy. One of the aims of this work is to examine whether the procedural framework for statutory care proceedings according to the Care of Young Persons Act and the practical application of this framework actually satisfy these three demands. Another aim of the study is to describe, at a more theoretical level, the characteristics and special problems in respect of the child´s role in legal proceedings concerning itself. The Swedish legislation is compared with corresponding regulations in Norway and England. An empiricial study based on 390 judgments from the year 1998 in four County Administrative Courts in Sweden concerning statutory care demonstrates how the rules have been applied in practice.

During the last decades, there has been continuous development of nationwide quality registries to assess healthcare and to do research in Sweden. An important background motive is the demographic transition resulting from an increasingly ageing population as one of the most important challenges of our time and a growing concern in many European countries and elsewhere. One condition for meeting this challenge in healthcare is to find more efficient ways of treatment for the elderly and persons with cognitive impairments. For such development research on these groups is necessary. To what extent, then, should research be allowed when people are permanently incapable of giving a valid consent to be included in research, statistics and systematic improvement studies? This paper discusses the tension between the need that also people with limited or no decision-making capacity participate in research and clinical evaluations, and the difficulty in ensuring the privacy of the incapacitated to the same degree that others enjoy. I will argue that Sweden has chosen to put the common good above the individual's privacy, and therefore have accepted a certain weakening of the incapacitated persons' privacy protection.

In both England and in Sweden, the approach to a child's right to representation differs between public law cases and private law cases regarding legal custody/parental responsibility, residence or contact. This article discusses the basis for this distinction, and how far it accords with the best interests of the child.

Artikeln utgör en presentation av forskningsprojektet Regeringsformen och förvaltningen – styrning och rättslig reglering, för vilket Vetenskapsrådet har beviljat medel. Projektet syftar till att undersöka styrningen av den svenska förvaltningen ur ett rättsligt perspektiv. Huvudfokus är styrningen och den rättsliga regleringen idag, men för att förstå den, studeras den ur ett utvecklingsperspektiv under 40 år med startpunkt i antagandet av den nya regeringsformen 1974. Sverige är en rättsstat och en fungerande rättsstat är en förutsättning för en fungerande demokrati. Det går att ta fram ett antal väsentliga egenskaper hos en demokrati och hos en rättsstat. Det är emellertid också klart att uttrycken för demokratin och rättsstaten förändras samtidigt som samhället förändras socialt, ekonomiskt och tekniskt. Det betyder att ramarna för förvaltningen också förändras. Ramarna förändras genom att relationen mellan politik och förvaltning ses på nya sätt. Styrning genom rättsregler och tilldelning av ekonomiska resurser bestämmer förvaltningens handlingsutrymme och också vilken betoning som ska ligga på mål som rättssäkerhet och ekonomisk effektivitet. Tekniska och samhällsekonomiska förändringar ger nya förutsättningar för förvaltningens verksamhet. Detta tillsammans bildar basen för projektet.