Search results for ‘Author:"starke mikaela"’ Sort:
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Supporting families with parents with intellectual disability: views and experiences of professionals in the field
- Author:
- STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 8(3), September 2011, pp.163-171.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Parents with intellectual disability often disagree with professionals on what support is needed and how it should be provided, with parents often having little say in the matter. This study explored the views and experiences of 19 support professionals from urban areas in Sweden working with parents with intellectual disabilities, via an analysis of focus groups. Findings revealed that participants considered their work with client families as fraught with difficulty. Their accounts differed depending on whether the child was living with the parents or the child had been placed in out-of-home care. In the first case, parental limitations and inability to meet the needs of their children were emphasised, with parents failing to recognise their own high support needs. In the second case, the parental role was seen as important, and it was considered vital to continue to provide proper support to enable the parents' ongoing contact with their child and maintaining their parenting. Professionals doubted the capacity of the parents to care for their children and were uncertain about how to best support them.
Young adults with intellectual disability recall their childhood
- Author:
- STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 15(4), December 2011, pp.229-240.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
The aim of this article is to examine the experiences of young adults with intellectual disability with their childhood, with a particular focus on their relationships and interactions with their family members and on their informal and formal broader social networks. The study participants were 11 young adults aged 18-25 years who have grown up in homes where at least 1 parent had the same or a similar disability. Two face-to-face interviews were held with each of the participants. Two main themes emerged from the interviews. Firstly, a clear majority of the young adults had positive experiences of family life during their upbringing, as expressed especially through their memories of their grandparents. Secondly, the study participants all described experiences of being bullied and harassed outside the family context. The findings highlight the importance of the parents, the family, and informal networks in the upbringing of these children. The study also considers the consequences that the study participants’ negative experiences of peer contacts and their sense of exclusion might have for their prospects in later life.
Encounters with professionals: views and experiences of mothers with intellectual disability
- Author:
- STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 14(1), March 2010, pp.9-19.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
The combination of having an intellectual disability and being a parent has been discussed both in terms of parenting, and in the parents’ ability to satisfy the needs of the child. Seven Swedish mothers with an intellectual disability were interviewed in order to charting mothers’ views and experiences of their encounters with different health and social service professionals. Findings revealed three distinct themes: the mothers experienced the interaction to be marred by lack of comprehensibility, resulting from inadequate information and their perception of not being treated properly; despite reservations about the nature of the interaction, several of the mothers also reported having received support that had strengthened their parental ability and had been experienced as empowering; and several of the mothers also clearly perceived themselves as subjects needing support. In conclusion, the results indicated that the interaction between the mother and the professionals suffered from paternalism in the attitude of the latter.
Groups for parents with intellectual disabilities: a qualitative analysis of experiences
- Authors:
- GUSTAVSSON Marie, STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 30(4), 2017, pp.638-647.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Background: Parents with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are often socially isolated and need support. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study is based on participant observations of a group for parents with with intellectual disabilities. Data were categorised and interpreted in the framework of social capital and symbolic interactionism. Results: Being a part of the parent group provided parents with a social network, which had the potential to be supportive in everyday life. The social workers in the group were seen as allies, and parents appeared to trust them and felt they could seek advice and tell them about their personal problems. The parents sometimes asked for advice about how to handle contacts with other professionals in their everyday life. The parents valued the social contact with the other parents. Conclusions: The group provided the parents with the opportunity to meet both other parents and two social workers. The group gave a greater number of social relations, adding to the parents' social capital and helping to reduce social isolation. (Publisher abstract)
Parenting with disabilities: experiences from implementing a parenting support programme in Sweden
- Authors:
- STARKE Mikaela, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 17(2), 2013, pp.145-156.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
This article reports on the initial stages of implementing an Australian-based education programme for parents with intellectual disabilities (IDs) in Sweden. The clinical utility of the programme, Parenting Young Children (PYC), in the new country context is explored through Swedish professionals’ experiences in learning and using it. Study participants found PYC well suited for use in their working environment. Most of them reported the programme to have strengthened their work with parents. The programme was seen as benefiting both the study participants in their work with parents with IDs and these parents themselves, and its structure and content were found to be helpful in several ways. The checklists forming part of PYC were considered useful, but their purpose was sometimes misunderstood. The reported study helps to identify what is needed to improve the translation of the programme into the new country context, to promote appropriate and more effective use of programme materials. (Publisher abstract)
Identifying the invisible: the experiences of prostitution among persons with intellectual disabilities: implications for social work
- Authors:
- KUOSMANEN Jari, STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 13(2), 2013, pp.123-140.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Although professionals have long been aware of issues around prostitution and intellectual disabilities, little research has focused on this area. This article describes and analyses how employees working in specialised prostitution units, the police, social services, special school classes, and care workers in homes for people with intellectual disabilities detect and deal with prostitution among these groups. The data were obtained through six focus group interviews in the Gothenburg region, involving 18 informants who had experience of working with people with intellectual disabilities and people working with prostitution. The responses revealed that organisational specialisation in different authorities and services makes it difficult to identify and work with this group. Clients with complex problems tend to find themselves falling between the jurisdiction of different authorities, and as a result many do not receive the support they need. Each organisation is regulated by specific legislation, regulations, forms of knowledge and normative assumptions. Professionals working with people with intellectual disabilities have difficulties in detecting prostitution among their clients, whilst those who work with prostitution lack the knowledge and methods to work with intellectual disabilities. At the same time, social work with these individuals has to balance the tension between the client’s right to self-determination and the professionals’ responsibilities for their well-being.
Women and men with intellectual disabilities who sell or trade sex: voices from the professionals
- Authors:
- KUOSMANEN Jari, STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation, 10(3), July 2011, pp.129-149.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
In this study undertaken in Sweden, the authors explored the knowledge and perceptions of professionals working in the field about people with intellectual disabilities who sell or exchange sexual services. The article introduces the study and includes a brief overview of the background to disability and prostitution in Swedish legislation. 19 professionals from various types of agencies and specialisations (including social workers, psychologists, special education teachers, support volunteers, and care workers) were recruited to participate in 6 focus groups. The discussions were transcribed and analysed, and the article presents and discusses the results, with examples from the focus groups. Different motives and contributing factors were identified for the behaviour, and 2 distinct discourses emerged: people with intellectual disabilities who traded sexual favours were presented as either conscious and autonomous agents or unaware and exploited victims.
Construction of a global assessment scale of family function, using a questionnaire
- Authors:
- STARKE Mikaela, SVENSSON Elisabeth
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 34(1/2), 2001, pp.131-142.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Self-report questionnaires are commonly used in family research, but very little attention is paid to the specific measurement properties of the ordered categorical data recorded. The item responses of self-report questionnaires consist of ordered categories. The main property of this type of data is that the labels do not represent a mathematical value but only an order, i.e., one set of labels can be replaced by another set of increasing numbers of symbols. The non-additivity of categorical data means that sum scores cannot be used as a global assessment of the variable.
Opportunity to participate in planning and evaluation of support for children with disabilities: parents’ and professionals’ perspectives
- Authors:
- NOWAK Herawati I., BROBERG Malin, STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 24(1), 2020, pp.5-20.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
A random sample of parents of children with disabilities (n = 144) from three Swedish municipalities participated in a structured telephone interview including seven questions on child participation and 156 professionals from the same municipalities completed a web-based survey including six questions on child participation. The aim of the study was to explore parents’ and professionals’ (1) ratings of the opportunities available to children with disabilities to participate in planning, decision-making and evaluation of support and (2) satisfaction with the children’s current level of such participation. The results indicated that opportunities for children with disability to participate directly in decision-making processes were limited. Parents and professionals rated older children’s opportunities to participate as better compared to younger. Most professionals relied more on parents’ descriptions of the child’s needs and opinions of support services than on direct communication with the child. (Publisher abstract)
Parents’ experience of support in Sweden: Its availability, accessibility, and quality
- Authors:
- NOWAK Herawati I., BROBERG Malin, STARKE Mikaela
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 17(2), 2013, pp.134-144.
- Publisher:
- Sage
- Place of publication:
- London
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six parents of children with intellectual disabilities, in the Western region of Sweden. The aim of the study was to explore and to gain a deeper understanding of parents’ experiences of received support for them and their children with intellectual disabilities. The study focused particularly on their experiences of the availability, accessibility, and the quality of services. Parents in this study were unsure about what the diagnosis meant specifically for their child as well as for their whole family. Moreover, the parents experienced great difficulty in obtaining information about available services, which resulted in feelings of helplessness to some. Parents also reported that although services are available, they were not easily accessible. Lastly, parents felt that the quality of care and support were to some extent inadequate, as no attention was paid by professionals to their actual needs or wishes. (Edited publisher abstract)