Barns delaktighet. En mikrosociologisk studie av barn- och familjeterapeutiska samtal

Abstract in English

Children’s right to involvement (sometimes referred to as participation) in child and family social work practices is widely acknowledged. While research on the benefits of children’s involvement is expanding, there is also a growing body of studies suggesting varying outcomes. Yet, knowledge of what children’s involvement entails and how social workers contribute to it is still limited.

The study aims to deepen the understanding of children’s involvement in child and family social work practices. Specifically, it seeks to generate empirically grounded knowledge on 1) how children exercise involvement, 2) how social workers contribute to children’s involvement, and 3) social workers’ and children’s perspectives on children’s involvement in child and family therapy sessions.

Drawing on 23 audiovisual recordings of child and family therapy sessions and 24 stimulated recall interviews with children and social workers in the recordings, the results of the study propose that children exercise involvement in diverse and overlapping ways. For example, a child may simultaneously respond to a question (participatory involvement) and express their standpoint (positional involvement) as well as their emotions (emotional involvement).

Moreover, the results illustrate how children’s involvement is co- constructed in and through dialogues. Social workers play an important role in these co-constructions, employing practices such as adjusting the intensity of what is spoken about and staying relevant. The practices are not rigidly defined. Instead, the results provide practical insights into how involvement processes can be continuously tailored and achieved in practice.

The results also indicate that children share similar perspectives on what involvement entails and what involvement-facilitating processes look like.Notably, the children’s perspectives were largely aligned with those of the social workers.

Finally, the results challenge the notion that children’s involvement is inherently positive (or negative). Rather than focusing solely on increasing involvement or achieving so-called “higher levels” of involvement, the results underscore the importance of working mindfully.