No abstract

Social science literature dealing with cross-cultural research tends to discuss 'language' as a methodological problem. One focus is hereby on testing the equivalence of concepts in different languages, usually in relation to one survey carried out in various countries.However, what hardly seems to feature are experiences and thoughts on the social process of conducting interviews with a party of a different linguistic background from that of the interviewer, and the possible role of interpreters.It is in clinical interviewing in the mental health services where such issues have received considerable attention.This article is based mainly on two sources of knowledge and experience: first, on literature about the methodological issues generated by mainly clinical interviews conducted with interpreters; second, on experiences related to my thesis fieldwork in Budapest, which comprised 26 interviews with labour and management representatives, carried out with the assistance of interpreters. On this basis, the following issues are addressed: the possible interview bias arising due to the interpreter's background characteristics; the potential difficulties which are likely to occur, in particular when lay interpreters are involved; the possible lack of control over the interview process. Finally, the role of the interpreter as providing the non-native interviewer with a cultural context is explored. R6sum6La bibliographie des sciences sociales portant sur la recherche interculturelle tendi parler du 'language' comme d'un problème méthodo-logique. L'accent est donc mis sur la vérifica-tion de l'equivalence des concepts dans différentes langues, le plus souvent dans le cadre d'enquetes menées dans plusieurs pays. Par contre, on tend a négliger le vgcu et la riflexion concernant le processus social associg aux entretiens dans lesquels l'interviewer et son interlocuteur ne parlent pas la même langue ainsi que le rôle éventuel des interpretes. Ces questions ont fait l'objet d'une grande attention dans le cadre des entretiens cliniques des services de santi mentale.Cet article se fond principalement sur deux sources de connaissance et d'experience: premièrement les documents sur les questions de métholodologie qui doivent le plus souvent leur existence d des entretiens cliniques menés en présence d'interprètes; la deuxième est l'expérience acquise lors de mes travaux de thèse sur le terrain d Budapest, qui comprenaient vingt-six entretiens avec des représentants de la main d'ceuvre et de la direction, effectués avec l'aide d'interprètes. Sur cette base, les questions suivantes sont examinees: la possibilité d'un manque d'objectivité de l'entrien du aux antécédents de l'interprète; les di f ficultes susceptibles d'apparaite, notamment en cas de participation d'interprètes non professionnels; le manque éventuel de contr6le sur le processus d'interrogation. Le dernier point examin6 est celui de l'apport d'un contexte culturel à l'interviewer étranger pa l'interprète.

Background The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the situation and well-being of children and their families, while simultaneously affecting the ability of welfare services for children and youth to support vulnerable families. As measures of contact restrictions were introduced to contain the virus, and schools and childcare facilities closed, the potential risk to child welfare could hardly be overlooked. Objectives Focusing on Germany, this article aims to explore some of the effects of the COVID-19 measures on children and families. Furthermore, it examines a number of key challenges for child protection practitioners. These include identifying potential cases of child maltreatment without the support normally provided by teachers and child carers; and establishing and maintaining contact with clients under physical distancing rules. Methods The article is based on a review of German and English language scientific and journalistic articles, position papers from professional associations and other gray literature. It benefits from recently published (interim) results of empirical studies conducted in Germany, which explore child welfare issues in the pandemic. Conclusion Under COVID-19, the child welfare system faces unprecedented challenges and uncertainty (e.g. (partial) loss of cooperation opportunities with key partners) whilst showing signs of remarkable resilience (e.g. child protection workers’ ability to adjust to new conditions). While the potential of digitalising work processes in child protection has become apparent in the pandemic, the proven continuous face-to-face contact between practitioners and their clients is neither dispensable nor replaceable.

Female breadwinning has recently gained in significance in Germany. This article examines the extent to which female breadwinning is linked to new gender roles, and the impacts the role reversal may have on families’ everyday lives. Qualitative interviews with female breadwinners living in Western Germany were conducted to explore families’ ways of doing gender and doing family as an interrelated process. The research examined, first, the female-breadwinner families’ division of employment and domestic labor and second, the relationship between individual gender self-concepts and factual income arrangements. Some examples of modernization of gender roles and arrangements in everyday life in female-breadwinner families were found, but traditional gender concepts and practices prevailed. The families achieved doing family results comparable to couples with other breadwinning arrangements, but this demanded extraordinary efforts. We reconstructed “practices of normalization,” which couples used to reassure themselves and others of their “normalness” despite their gender-atypical roles.

The SAFE Strategy Development Tool is now available to governments, organizations, and institutions involved in the implementation of maternal health programs.