The increasing proportion of senior citizens in the population places new demands on the existing welfare system, in terms of the delivery of social services, but also with respect to democratic issues such as ‘inclusion’ and ‘participation.’ Participation in adult education offers a context where senior citizens can be included in society, experience meaningfulness, and even create the conditions for their own well-being. In Sweden, there exist formal adult education systems that have enjoyed more success than others with respect to attracting groups of senior citizens who traditionally have not participated in the same degree in this domain. The Folk High School is one such educational system. The purpose of this article is to provide a description of how Folk High School senior courses are organized and what role the courses that are offered there play in the participants’ lives with respect to meaningfulness, their well-being, and life-long learning. Eight focus group interviews with 33 participants were conducted at eight different Folk High Schools in southern Sweden. The results of this study indicate that Folk High Schools’ senior courses are organized together with the participants and in such a manner that interaction with participants from other courses is made possible. This interaction gives rise to an unpretentious- and, in a broad sense, an intercultural learning experience. The participants experience this as meaningful, and as something which impacts on their quality of life in a positive manner. Furthermore, it plays an important function in the participants’ continued life-long learning.

Purpose:

The purpose of this study is to provide a description of the learning environment at Folk High School for participants with high-functioning autism and to examine their learning experience at Folk High School.

Methods:

A qualitative interview study was conducted with 21 participants who were enrolled at Folk High School which had been adapted to suit young adults with high-functioning autism. The interviews were analysed by means of a thematic content analysis which resulted in the identification of 6 themes related to learning experiences at Folk High School.

Results:

The participants enjoyed themselves and felt secure at Folk High School. They felt that they and their academic endeavours were suitably recognised, acknowledged, and understood. They reported that the teaching was suitably adapted for them and they felt that they could succeed in their studies. A frequent report that they made concerned their experience of clear structures in the teaching process and its predictability. The participants stated that Folk High School has the ability to satisfy each participant?s needs, which entailed lower levels of perceived stress than what they had experienced in their previous schooling. The participants experienced personal development during their time at Folk High School.

Conclusions:

Folk High School, and its special character, is able to successfully satisfy the needs of participants with high-functioning autism. Many of the participants, for the first time in their lives, experienced a sense of inclusion in an educational system and felt that they could succeed in their studies. However, there exists a risk that they become institutionalised, which entails that the participants function well primarily in Folk High School?s safe and caring environment.

Implications for rehabilitation

A supportive environment including both formal and social learning is paramount for people with high-functioning autism.Individually adapted teaching that is structured and predictable improve the conditions under which they can focus on their studies and enjoy academic success.The teachers? relational competence and ability to show interest in each individual are crucial.Social- and special-pedagogic competencies need to co-exist so as to improve learning conditions.Internship/workplace training can provide an important social learning experience for participants, as they learn about themselves and others and as they develop their social competence.To practice living on one?s own is a significant challenge, but it can create opportunities to learn about one?s self and to develop a sense of responsibility and other social skills.

This article investigates gender patterns on how two interprofessional teams communicate about patients in their absence. Thirteen ward rounds and 17 verbal handovers were audio-recorded and analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. The ward rounds consisted of 1 physician and 2–4 nurses. The verbal handovers consisted of 2–3 nurses and as many assistant nurses. The data were collected at a cardiac clinic at a hospital in southern Sweden. The results indicate that when patients acted according to socially-accepted gender norms, the communication among the interprofessional teams was characterized as ‘professional’, including communication primarily about the medical situation of the patient and statements of a non-judgmental nature. When patients did not act according to socially-accepted gender norms, the communication among the interprofessional teams switched to become more ‘informal’, including non-medical oriented statements of a negative nature. When the healthcare workers take the patient’s psycho-social condition into account, as advocated by concepts like ‘holistic care’ and ‘patient-centered care’, the risk for speculation and arbitrariness may increase, especially within interprofessional teams who hold a nursing responsibility for patients. Establishing more defined guidelines of how non-medical aspects should be dealt with are thus of importance to the development of an equitable provision and delivery of healthcare.

Folkhögskolan lyfts ofta fram som ett gott exempel då det gäller utbildning riktadtill personer med olika former av funktionsnedsättningar. Det här har väcktintresset för vad det är som gör att folkhögskolan lyckas med dessa deltagare.Hedegaard och Hugo har i tidigare studier funnit att personer med högfungerandeautism är en grupp i behov av anpassning av utbildningssammanhangetför att det ska fungera och i den här rapporten fördjupar vi oss i hur deltagare,lärare och rektorer ser på verksamhet riktad till personer med neuropsykiatriskafunktionsnedsättningar, främst de med diagnosen högfungerande autism. Syftetmed rapporten är att beskriva hur folkhögskolan fungerar som stödjande miljöför deltagare i denna målgrupp utifrån tre perspektiv: ett deltagarperspektiv, ettlärarperspektiv och ett rektorsperspektiv. Det insamlade materialet består av: 1)21 forskningsintervjuer med deltagare som går kurser och linjer anpassade förunga vuxna med högfungerande autism. 2) Tre fokusgruppintervjuer med lärareoch övrig pedagogisk personal som arbetar med deltagare med högfungerandeautism. 3) 19 telefonintervjuer med rektorer på folkhögskolor som har kurser ochlinjer för deltagare med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar. Slutsatserna irapporten kan sammanfattas i följande punkter:

Deltagarna beskriver att ...

– de trivs och känner sig trygga på folkhögskolan

– de upplever sig sedda, bekräftade och förstådda

– undervisningen är anpassad för dem och att de kan lyckas i sina studier,framträdande är upplevelsen av tydliga strukturer i undervisningen ochförutsägbarhet

– folkhögskolan har förmågan att möta varje individ individuellt, vilketinnebär mindre stress än i tidigare skolformer

– de genomgår en personlig utveckling under sin tid på folkhögskolan.

Lärare och övrig pedagogisk personal beskriver att ...

– kommunikativa och praktiska stödfunktioner är centrala för att stödjafokus på utbildning

– en mycket strukturerad undervisning med förutsägbarhet möjliggör att dessa deltagare kan ta till sig innehållet

– det egna boendet är en viktig del i den personliga utvecklingen

– det ofta krävs en omställningstid för att vänja sig vid att bo själv innandet blir fart på studierna på folkhögskolan.

Rektorerna beskriver att ...

– struktur och stabilitet är nödvändigt för att utbildningen ska fungera fördeltagare med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar

– bemötandet av varje individ är en central del av att få utbildningen attfungera

– utveckling av både lärares och deltagares förmågor är centralt

– ett förhållningssätt som betonar ett kontinuerligt lärande i organisationenmöjliggör anpassning och förändring

Sammanfattningsvis kan sägas att deltagare, lärare och rektorer på olika sätt betonaratt det handlar om att förstå individens hela sammanhang för att kunna få tillett lärande som bidrar till att individen växer. Ett avgränsat fokus på klassrummetoch kursinnehållet är alltså för snävt för gruppen deltagare med neuropsykiatriskafunktionsnedsättningar och högfungerande autism. Deltagare, lärare och rektorerär också eniga om vikten av tydliga och styrande men individanpassade strukturer.Genom att det är vanligt med inackordering under studierna på folkhögskolaär det möjligt att ta ett helhetsgrepp kring individernas utveckling och där bidrarall personal på folkhögskolan på olika sätt. Att ge tydlig styrning av studierna kandock krocka med lärare och rektorers idéer om eget ansvar och självständighet ilinje med folkbildningens grundprincip att det ska vara ”fritt och frivilligt”. Vi harockså noterat en viss skillnad mellan att deltagarna ser socialpedagogerna somcentrala och viktiga för att ta tag i studierna medan lärare och rektorer har en idéom att det behövs fler specialpedagoger. Slutligen kan vi konstatera att ett individfokusoch en ansats som ser till hela människan är i linje med det som brukarbeskrivas som folkbildningens unika kultur.

A group whose competence is underutilised because of discrimination and prejudice is people associated with disabilities. Employers must consider how the workplace and work assignments can be adapted so that people associated with disabilities can be included. There are different types of disabilities and each one demands different adaptations. Once such changes are made, however, many people associated with disabilities can work. The chapter reports on a study of an IT education for people associated high-functioning autism. They need an undisturbed workplace and clear and well-structured work assignments. Managers must understand the conditions that high-functioning autistic people work under and be able to create good personal relationships.

This article explores the effects of activities in Men’s Sheds on elderly women. Specifically, it investigates the opportunities that are made available for women when their husband/partner becomes active in the Men’s Shed movement; focussing on ‘empowerment’, ‘gender identity’ and ‘well-being’. Five focus group interviews and eight individual interviews with elderly women were conducted and subsequently analysed through a content analysis, guided by the concepts of ‘empowerment’, ‘gender-as-performative’ and ‘well-being’. The result indicates that the notions of ‘self-fulfilment’ and ‘self-sacrifice’ are central to understanding how men’s participation in Men’s Sheds has affected elderly women’s empowerment, gender identities, and well-being. When men visit Sheds, it empowers women and offers them a sense of freedom and independence due to the women feeling less concern for their partners and a concomitantly eased bad conscience for leaving the men home alone with nothing to do when the women leave the household to pursue their own activities. Simultaneously, ‘Shedding’ provides new avenues for women to reproduce traditional feminine gender roles where they are primarily responsible for the socio-emotional work within their marriage. This was demonstrated by the women’s extensive engagement by which they, practically and emotionally, prioritised their husbands/partners and their new Shedding experiences.