One more year with Nordic Social Work Research
Another interesting and busy year has passed as Nordic Social Work Research now is entering its third year. In 2013, there will be two issues, of which the second will be a special issue with the thematic focus ‘Understanding the other’. For 2014, the intention is to publish four issues, three ordinary ones and one special issue. For the special issues, two guest editors will usually be invited to share responsibility with the editor. We hope this will contribute to make the journal more diverse and less susceptible to editorial bias.
As the journal has become better known, an increase in contributions is registered. During 2012, we received all together 99 submissions – 63 original and 36 revised articles. We currently have a small queue for 2014. As editors, we are very pleased by this increase that presents a welcome challenge to the efficiency and professionality of editorial work. We will do our best to make the journal as attractive as possible for authors who want to publish interesting research in social work.
Active collaboration – different actors
In October 2012, the Nordic FORSA conference was arranged in Trondheim, hosted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Approximately 200 social workers from the Nordic countries attended the three days conference to take part in plenary sessions, workshops and to establish networks and initiate cooperation. The theme of the conference was: ‘Partnership in social work – active collaboration with different actors’.
The perspective of the conference was that development of new knowledge requires cooperation and communication between different actors. Scientific ‘truth’ is established, ultimately, in the course of scientific communication. Far more people and institutions than earlier are participating in the production of knowledge erasing timeworn distinctions between basic and applied research and between theory and practice. The shift parallels basic changes that have occurred in the world community. Increasing commercialization of research, increasing globalization and the massive growth in the numbers who receive a higher education are trends that have converged to make the production of new knowledge more open and more interactive. This may create possibilities for new forms of socially distributed knowledge production based on reflexivity, organization, cooperation and participation and represents a challenge for both practitioners and researchers in social work. This may produce a more ‘robust’ knowledge, well suited for politics and practical work, but should not lead to a lowering of scientific standards.
Ethics in writing and publishing in social work
When the FORSA research conference was planned, we realized the possibility to include ethical issues related to partnership and cooperation in publication within the thematic frame of the conference. Initiated by Nordic Social Work Research, a workshop was organized about ethics in writing and publishing. In our editorials in 2012, we have presented this theme under the headlines Ethos, policy and practice (Volume 2 Number 1) and Does it matter more where you publish than what you publish? (Volume 2 Number 2). The two editorials present a number of ethical dilemmas that, according to our experience, is not often spoken of.
The workshop ‘Ethics in writing and publishing in social work’ was organized as a panel debate with invited editors from international journals. The editor of Nordic Social Work Research Tarja Pösö did share the experiences from the first years of the new journal and co-editor John Pinkerton from the British Journal of Social Work gave a presentation entitled ‘Not getting lost in translation’ about language barriers. Conflicts of interests between authors, editors and scientific norms were addressed by Stefan Sjöström, the editor of Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift. Sissel Seim, the editor of Fontene Forskning, pointed to the familiar and consistent problems of how small countries like the Nordic ones, with limited professional societies, may secure the hability of peer reviewers. Sofie Wennström, representing the publisher Taylor & Francis, raised a number of questions viewed from the perspective of a publisher, among them the problem of plagiarism.
Again and again the important and invaluable effort of the peer reviewers was emphasized. This contribution is based on an obligation to the scientific society and gives motivation to make a substantial effort to make articles publishable, often requiring several revisions.
The workshop was well received and attracted a substantial number of participants. Judging from the encouraging comments from the participants, we felt that ethical questions related to publishing are important and deserves further attention. Based on the interest and enthusiasm for this workshop, we feel committed to follow up the discussion.
Four articles – mirroring life from babies to seniors
We are very proud to present the four articles and three book reviews in this first issue of 2013. The articles are all based on solid empirical research and are addressing urgent political and social issues at the heart of social work practice.
In the first article, Older caregivers in Iceland: providing and receiving care, Sigurveig Sigurðardóttir and Marie Ernsth Bravell analyse the characteristics of older informal caregivers and how they interacted with other informal caregivers and the formal care system. The study is based on the ‘Icelandic Older People’ (ICEOLD) survey that consisted of 782 participants of whom 157 were caregivers age 65 + . Almost 50% of the older caregivers in the study were in need of assistance themselves, and the article articulates the need for a good relationship and good cooperation between this type of voluntary caregivers and the public services. The study exposes the importance of the emotional support that is given by the older care providers. This emphasizes the importance of the special relations of civil society and should be taken into account when making plans for the care of older people.
The second article, titled Social esteem in the narratives of refugees living in Finland by Kati Maaria Turtiainen, is based on interviews with 13 quota refugees living in Central Finland. The theoretical approach is the concept of ‘recognition’ with references to Axel Honneth and Charles Taylor, and specifically social esteem as one form of recognition. The author explores how the past experiences affect social functioning and self esteem in a new country, and how the reflection of the host society to refugees’ traits and capacities is exposed in their narratives. The author is suggesting that the concept of social esteem can be applied to social work in at least three ways: to identify social needs, to discover relationships and structures which humiliate and stigmatize and to identify relationships supporting social esteem.
The third article, Socio-emotional development of children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in long-term foster family care: a qualitative study, by Anne Koponen, Mirjam Kalland, Ilona Autti-Rämö, Ritva Laamanen and Sakari Suominen, includes 34 children and is based on foster parents’ descriptions of the child. Children taken into care at birth were compared with children who had lived their first years of life with their biological parents and had been exposed to traumatic experiences. The study shows that among children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), the last group showed more severe problems related to behaviour, attachment, concentration and hyperactivity during the foster family placement than children taken into care at birth. The authors concludes that traumatic experiences in the first years of life during the rapid development of the central nervous system form a major risk for the later adverse development of children with FASD. These results support the necessity for early intervention to help children at risk.
The fourth article Small groups for parents: motives and practical issues boosting attendance, by Arja Häggman-Laitila and Anna-Maija Pietilä, describes small group attendance from the perspective of 77 parents with small children. The intention of the small group project was to offer families support on a number of parenting issues such as interaction between parents and children, parents own relationship, upbringing and development of children and the families immediate community. The authors claim that there is some research on the impact of group activities intended for families, but little is known about the factors that make families seek support. The study is based on 13 group interviews with parents and shows that the parental motives for participating in small groups for parents are strongly diverging, from pure curiosity, active knowledge seeking, needs for getting social contact and – perhaps, the most important motive – a feeling of uncertainty about being a parent.
I hope you will enjoy this issue. Good reading!