Enabling positive framings of stigmatised settings: a neglected responsibility for social work

Abstract

Settings in social work may be associated with spatial stigma. This study uses the case of a highly stigmatised setting to investigate ways of ascribing positive characteristics to tainted contexts. Guided by symbolic interactionism, the aim is to analyse how residents in 'wet' eldercare facilities manage to view these in a positive light. Wet eldercare facilities are designed for older people with long-term substance use problems, where abstinence is abandoned for well-being. Forty-two residents of four such facilities were interviewed, revealing how the hybrid status of these places enabled residents to frame their situation as being 'in the right place', but for different reasons. Some framed the place as a care home, others as an ordinary flat. Both frames were made credible by the formal hybrid organisation: Swedish wet eldercare facilities are part of the eldercare system, and residents' rooms are formally regarded as flats. The study suggests that it is social work's (often neglected) responsibility to counter spatial stigma and improve residents' sense of dignity. Based on promising practices in the Swedish system, the study presents three strategies that enable residents in nominally tainted settings to ascribe positive characteristics to the place where they live. SAMMANFATTNINGSociala problem och klientgrupper har länge studerats som konstruktioner skapade i samspel med omgivningen. Det sociala arbetets platser, däremot, har sällan undersökts med samma kritiska ansats. Denna studie undersöker hur platser, som skapats av samhället och som associeras med problem, kan ges en positiv inramning. Syftet är attmed utgångspunkt i lågtröskelboenden för äldre med missbruksproblematikförstå hur positiva platsinramningar kan möjliggöras. Platserna i fokus har beskrivits som 'en sista anhalt för äldre alkoholister ' där mål om nykterhet övergivits till förmån för mål om värdighet. I studien intervjuades 42 äldre personer från fyra lågtröskelboenden. Trots att platserna otvivelaktigt associerades med problem, gavs de ofta toppbetyg av de boende själva. De menade att de hade hamnat på rätt plats, men av vitt skilda skäl. En del beskrev platsen som ett äldreboende och sig själva som äldre. Andra beskrev platsen som en vanlig lägenhet och sig själva som vanliga

Stigma‐related barriers to participation in support groups for children: Social workers' experiences and destigmatizing strategies

“…To handle the stigma and shame associated with the public image of CPS, interviewees described adjusting the attributes of support groups for children to create an appealing aesthetic and as far as possible to disconnect from CPS. Establishing a physical and rhetorical distance to a devalued place is a well‐known strategy to handle spatial stigma (Harnett & Jönson, 2021). Support groups usually met not at CPS offices but in ordinary office buildings or in apartments in housing estates.…”

“Making a Difference”: Unpacking the Positives in Correctional Work and Prison Life From the Perspective of Correctional Workers

“…Other participants, overwhelmingly, felt correctional work did carry several nonmaterial benefits in their lives, including a greater sense of self-awareness, empathy for others who find themselves in precarious and marginalizing circumstances, and skill-building to help those in such less fortunate positions. On the one hand, it could be argued that, sociologically, participants’ discussions around the positives of their work in terms of how they facilitate positivity for PWAI are not surprising given normative expectations about seeking fulfillment and reward in one's work beyond narrow material benefits (see Harnett & Jönson, 2022). However, in the context of correctional work, the positives discussed at length by them warrant further attention.…”