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Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka anhörigkonsulenters erfarenheter av arbetet med anhörigstöd samt upplevelsen av samverkansprocesser med andra aktörer. Studien gjordes med en kvalitativ ansats där empirin samlades in genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med anhörigkonsulenter i olika kommuner i Sverige. Empirin analyserades och sammanställdes genom en tematisk analys. Vidare analyserades resultatet i relation till studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter vilka var det salutogena perspektivet och tillhörande känslan av sammanhang [KASAM] samt strukturella aspekter av samverkan. Resultatet visar att anhörigkonsulenterna upplever anhörigas behov som varierande utifrån deras skilda situationer. Tre övergripande behov uppfattas av anhörigkonsulenterna vilka är ett informationsbehov, behov av nya perspektiv och behov av att sätta sig själv i fokus. Resultatet visar att anhörigkonsulenterna upplever att de arbetar med ett individuellt utformat stöd för att möta anhörigas stödbehov men att arbetet görs inom vissa fastställda ramar. Det finns generellt tre insatser som erbjuds anhöriga vilka är individuella samtal, gruppsamtal och aktiviteter av olika slag. Några kommuner erbjuder även andra insatser vilket tyder på att stödet till anhöriga varierar mellan olika kommuner. Anhörigkonsulenterna upplever samverkan som individberoende men som en stor och viktig del av arbetet, dels för att nå ut till anhöriga, dels för att implementera anhörigperspektivet internt inom kommunerna. / This study seeks to explore caregiver consultants' experiences in providing assistance for relative caregivers and their views of collaboration process with other actors. The study adopted a qualitative approach with empirical data gathered from six semi-structured interviews with caregiver consultants in various municipalities throughout Sweden. The empirical data were analyzed and compiled using thematic analysis. Furthermore, the results were analyzed in relation to the study's theoretical framework, which encompassed the salutogenic perspective and the sense of coherence [SOC], along with structural aspects of collaboration. The study's findings indicate that caregiver consultants perceive the needs of relative caregivers as varied, depending on the specific situations of the caregivers. Three overarching needs were identified by the caregiver consultants: an informational need, a need for new perspectives, and a need to prioritize oneself. The results show that the caregiver consultant works with an individually formed support to meet the family caregiver needs, even if the support is predefined within certain boundaries. Generally, three types of support are offered to family caregivers, namely individual sessions, group sessions, and various activities. Some municipalities also offer additional support, suggesting variations in support for relative caregivers across different regions. Caregiver consultants regard collaboration as individual dependence but a significant and integral part of their work, both for reaching out to relative caregivers and for embedding the caregiver perspective internally within municipalities

Despite the significant growth of inter-institutional research collaboration, there has been a disparity of partnerships between universities with different history, missions and identities. In competition for limited resources, inter-institutional collaborations among Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and research-intensive universities appear more frequent and better supported than between PWIs and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or other minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Developing grant funding strategies is one way to enhance collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and faculty at PWIs and improve pathways for success among traditionally underrepresented groups. The Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at Virginia Tech, a research-intensive PWI, launched a unique seed funding program, the ICTAS Diversity and Inclusion Seed Investment (ICTAS DandI Investment), in 2016 to build direct faculty-to-faculty research partnerships between faculty at Virginia Tech and faculty at various HBCUs/MSIs. With the rarity of such initiatives and recognizing the primacy of the topic, this doctoral study was defined in the context of the ICTAS DandI Investment to investigate the little-understood phenomenon of research collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and faculty at PWIs. The study informed by several bodies of literature including social psychology, inter-organizational relationships, and ethics and moral philosophy. A qualitative multiple case study approach was employed to explore factors that influence the sustainability of collaboration considering the perspectives of faculty in the context of the ICTAS DandI Investment. The ICTAS DandI Investment-related reports as well as survey and interview data were collected from 15 faculty members representing eight collaborative teams, across Virginia Tech and six different HBCUs. The findings indicate that potential collaboration and sustainability of partnerships rely on dynamic interactions between three dimensions in temporal context: Structure, broader institutional and contextual elements, Diversity, similarities and differences between team members' characteristics, abilities, and identities, and Relation, interactions and exchanges between collaborators and their outputs in doing collaboration. The study shows ICTAS has been successful in facilitating fruitful collaborations among faculty participants at different institutions. Based on the findings in this study I recommend that forging and maintaining long-term relationships of collaborative teams across HBCUs and PWIs need attention to the importance of capacity building over time and broader organizational and administrative factors such as support structure and credit allocation. Further, I recommend that administrators and policymakers to develop similar programs as a strategy for broadening participation and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, not merely as a means for enhancing research productivity. / Doctor of Philosophy / Research collaborations between faculty members have become a common practice in higher education. The number of research collaborations across institutions, inter-institutional research collaborations, has increased significantly over the last few decades. However, there has been a disparity of partnerships between universities with different history, missions and identities. Collaborations among elite universities and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) appear better supported and far more common than collaborations between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and PWIs. Considering the rarity of faculty collaboration across HBCUs/MSIs and PWIs and the lack of research studies on the process and dynamics of faculty collaboration, this dissertation study aimed to enhance the understanding of research collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and PWIs. The study was defined in the context of a seed funding program, the ICTAS Diversity and Inclusion Seed Investment Program (ICTAS DandI Investment) at Virginia Tech. The program aims to facilitate research partnerships between faculty at Virginia Tech, a PWI, and faculty at HBCUs/MSIs. The general phenomenon of interest was faculty research collaboration across HBCUs/MSIs and PWIs. The dissertation specifically investigated factors that facilitate sustainable collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and a PWI, primarily through understating faculty experiences with collaboration. In this study, sustainability has been characterized as continued working relationship between faculty at Virginia Tech and faculty at HBCUs/MSIs beyond the funding period, when they first received support through the ICTAS DandI Investment. Fifteen faculty members representing eight collaborative teams, across Virginia Tech and six different HBCUs, participated in this study. The primary sources of data were individual interviews and survey questionnaires. The data analysis and comparison across different teams indicated several factors essential to sustainable inter-institutional faculty collaboration. The factors were further aggregated to three broader dimensions: Structure, broader institutional and contextual elements; Diversity, similarities and differences between team members' characteristics, abilities, and identities; and Relation, interactions and exchanges between collaborators and their outputs in doing collaboration. In addition, the findings indicated that time plays an essential role in team processes. Based on the findings in this study, I recommend that forging and maintaining long-term relationships of collaborative teams across HBCUs and PWIs need attention to the importance of capacity building over time and broader organizational and administrative factors such as support structure and credit allocation. Further, I recommend that administrators and policymakers to develop similar programs as a strategy for broadening participation and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, not merely as a means for enhancing research productivity.

This study is about how preschool teachers perceive special educational collaboration processes in relation to governing documents. The purpose of the study is to make visible and gain an increased knowledge of how preschool teachers perceive collaboration with special educators around children in need of special support, and how they perceive guidelines about this in the preschool's governing document. According to the Education Act (2010: 800) and the curriculum (2018), children who temporarily or permanently need more stimulation or support should receive this based on their conditions and needs to develop as far as possible in preschool education. Based on the fact that the concepts of special education and special educator are nevertheless not described or mentioned in the curriculum, it is considered that different ideas and interpretations about the special educational collaboration process around children in need of special support may arise in professional preschool teachers. Based on a qualitative method approach combined with a quantitative method approach, interviews and questionnaires have been the methods for collecting the study's empirical material. Phenomenography has been the study's theoretical starting point where a visualization of preschool teachers' perceptions of special educational collaboration has been in focus. Based on a phenomenographic and a univariate analysis of the empirical material, a result is presented that shows that preschool teachers 'perceptions and conditions for collaboration with special educators vary and guidelines in governing documents are often perceived as unclear, which affects preschool teachers' ability to perform their professional mission towards creating an equal preschool where all children have their needs met. / Den här studien handlar om hur förskollärare uppfattar specialpedagogiska samverkansprocesser i relation till styrdokument. Syftet med studien är att synliggöra och få en ökad kunskap om hur förskollärare uppfattar samverkan med specialpedagoger kring barn i behov av särskilt stöd, samt hur de uppfattar riktlinjer kring detta i förskolans styrdokument. Enligt Skollagen (2010:800) och läroplanen (2018) ska barn som tillfälligt eller varaktigt behöver mer stimulans eller stöd få detta utifrån sina förutsättningar och behov för att utvecklas så långt som möjligt i förskolans utbildning. Utifrån att begreppen specialpedagogik och specialpedagog trots detta inte beskrivs eller nämns i läroplanen anses olika föreställningar och tolkningar av den specialpedagogiska samverkansprocessen kring barn i behov av särskilt stöd kunna uppstå hos yrkesverksamma förskollärare. Utifrån en kvalitativ metodansats kombinerat med en kvantitativ metodansats har intervjuer samt enkäter varit metoderna för insamling av studiens empiriska material. Fenomenografi har varit studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt där ett synliggörande av förskollärares uppfattningar kring specialpedagogisk samverkan har varit i fokus. Utifrån en fenomenografisk samt en univariat analys av det empiriska materialet presenteras ett resultat som visar på att förskollärares uppfattningar och förutsättningar till samverkan med specialpedagog varierar och riktlinjer i styrdokument uppfattas ofta otydliga, något som påverkar förskollärares förutsättningar att utföra sitt yrkesuppdrag mot att skapa en likvärdig förskola där alla barn får sina behov tillgodosedda.