Schoolgirls’ health agency: silence, upset and cooperation in a psycho-educational assemblage

Abstract

Purpose: Since the millennium, manual-based preventive health programmes, drawing on psychological models of behaviour management, have dominated psycho-educational practices in school. The aim of this article is to study the health agency of 13-year-old schoolgirls participating in a programme for improving schoolchildren’s psychological health in Sweden. Method: Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s theories of assemblages, the interaction between schoolchildren, teachers, the manual and psycho-educational techniques is scrutinized. The methodology of assemblage ethnography is used in the analysis of video observations of 13 course meetings. Results: Three salient attitudes in relation to the possibilities built up for the schoolgirls are identified—silence, upset and cooperation. The girls’ acts and stories question the psycho-centric, individualized and gender-normative approach used in psycho-educational programmes and make visible the relational and contextual aspects of schoolchildren’s psychological health. Conclusion: Children depend on multiple factors for their agency; the institutional networks they are involved in both allow and restrict their actions. The study demonstrates that focusing on children as health actors, in the sense that agency develops in the assemblages children take part in, can complement the knowledge base and question the predominant framing of psychological health.

Children’s agency in the family, in school and in society: implications for health and well-being

“…For example, Bolin (2019) considers children as interpretive agents with legitimate knowledge whose participation should be engaged by service providers when making of decisions in programs of care. Wickström (2019) documents adolescent girls' evasion, resistance and repurposing of psycho-educational program exercises to suit their own needs and preferences. De Mol, d'Alcantara, and Cresti (2019) examine the capacity of clinically depressed adolescents to identify cultural expectations that detrimentally influence their views of themselves and their possibilities for success.…”

“…First, there is a diversity of contexts where children act as agents. These include the macro level contexts of culture (De Mol et al, 2019) and acculturation (Bergnehr, 2019), poverty (Cheang and Goh (2019), school (Bolin, 2019;Wickström, 2019) and dyadic family relationships Kuczynski et al (2019), Robson and Kuczynski (2019), Gurdal and Sorbring (2019). Nowhere to be found is the individual agent operating devoid of context.…”

“…For example, De Mol et al (2019) unpack the multi-layered messages that adolescents derive from the social representations of depression in society. Wickström (2019) provides a multifaceted analysis of the context of psychoeducational school programs using Deleuze and Guattari (1987) theories of assemblages. In her analysis, social contexts have multiple material aspects, social meanings and expectations that dynamically change and alter the possibilities for action, including resistance and cooperation by human agents.…”

“…As well, these articles foster a strengths perspective that reinterprets children's behaviors in a constructive way that previously were interpreted as deviant. Wickström (2019) questions the predominant framing of psychological health programs, highlighting young people's own views about psychological health. Furthermore, a common, but misleading view, is that young people living in precarious situations, are passive and helpless victims.…”

“…Instead, recognizing that even children experiencing adversity or oppression are agents who are capable of acting in a way contributes to their own well-being and the well-being of their families. The results from Bergnehr (2019), in the case of refugee families, Cheang and Goh (2019) in the case of economically disadvantaged families, and Wickström (2019) in the case of children with mental health concerns, will help social services professionals to develop skills to identify children's acts of agency despite disadvantage and to work with or support children's capacities and initiatives to achieve therapeutic goals. Furthermore, incorporating children's and young people's perceptions and knowledge into therapeutic interventions, is a way for professionals working with children and young to find proper ways to help young people on their own terms.…”