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Studiens syfte har varit att belysa och problematisera förskollärarnas uppfattningar om möjligheter samt hinder i arbetet med att stödja flyktingbarn i svåra livssituationer för att möjliggöra lärande och utveckling i förskolan. Denna studie har genomförts i två olika kommuner med hjälp av enskilda intervjuer av förskollärare som arbetat med flyktingbarn i svåra livssituationer. Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Intervjufrågorna var semistrukturerade. Vi använde oss av öppna frågor samt följdfrågor i intervjuerna. För att kunna belysa studiens syfte har arbetet haft stöd från systemteori, teorin om KASAM samt kategoriska, relationella och dilemmaperspektiv genom vilka vi har analyserat studiens forskningsfrågor. Studien har strävat efter att finna vilka fungerande metoder förskollärare besitter samt eventuella utvecklingsområden för att kunna stödja flyktingbarn. Resultatet visar på en strävan efter en likvärdig verksamhet med en önskan om mer handledning och kunskaper inom området. Ett positivt samt öppet förhållningssätt och strävan efter att skapa trygghet för flyktingbarn lyfts fram som några av de grundläggande komponenterna för att kunna stödja flyktingbarn. Vidare framkommer önskan om kunskaper om olika kulturer samt vikten av ett gott samarbete med vårdnadshavare.

Children in vulnerable life situationsAn interview study of teachers' knowledge to interpret the signals of child abuse

Följande arbete undersöker hur förskollärare bemöter barn i svåra livssituationer i förskolan. Syftet är att få kunskap om hur förskollärare på bästa möjliga sätt kan ge stöd till sådana barn, för att de lättare ska kunna komma ur den svåra livssituationen. Arbetet baseras på muntliga intervjustudier med erfarna förskollärare kring deras kunskaper, erfarenheter och råd i frågan. Intervjuerna resulterade i flera metoder i att bemöta barn i svåra livssituationer i förskolans verksamhet, för att kunna ge dem bekräftande närhet, trygghet, rutiner och se deras individuella behov. Intervjuerna resulterade även i flera metoder som förskollärarna använts sig av för att bemöta de berörda barnens föräldrar, liksom förlag på kreativa sysselsättningar för barnen för att kunna bearbeta den svåra livssituationen.

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to – from a child perspective and with children as informants – describe and analyze childhood conditions for children whose parents suffer from severe mental illness. The method used is qualitative – 28 children, 10 boys and 18 girls, 7–18 years old, were interviewed about their parents’ mental disorder; the family situation and their own personal life – in school and during free time. The analyses are based on Sociology of Childhood and Family Sociology. Previous studies have, to a great extent, focused on the risk the children run of developing mental health- and social problems and what helps them to grow up healthy. The increased risk of mental health- and social problems has been well confirmed, but also that preventive interventions can contribute to resilience in the children. Although some studies have explored children’s experiences of their parents’ mental illness and the challenges they meet, research from a childhood perspective, has so far been scarce. The results of this study reveal different degrees of emotional, physical and social exposure for the children. Their childhood conditions were related to gender, relations, communication, problem load and social situation of the family. If the parent with a mental illness was a woman, the situation for the child was often more exposed than if it was the father – most likely due to parental roles and expectations on men and women in the Swedish society at that time. Girls seemed more emotionally involved in the parents’ problems than boys, especially if the parent with a mental illness was a father. Most of the parents were divorced or had never lived together. Parental conflicts complicated the life of the children, who were expected to have maintained relationships to both parents. Lack of communication about the parent’s mental disorder in - and outside the family - was common. The children were often uninformed about the parent’s problems.  If hindered to pass information between and outside their two homes, they were left to handle difficult, sometimes dangerous, situations with the mentally ill parent, alone. The home was not always the safe place for rest and recovery, as homes are expected to be. The heavier the total problem load of the family, the more exposed was the child. Most exposed were children whose both parents had severe problems – mental illness or addiction. They were often placed in out of home care, for longer or shorter periods. The kind and degree of exposure the children experienced varied. Four kinds of childhood sceneries could be recognized: (1) the well organized childhood, where the parent’s mental health problem was mainly an emotional burden for the children; (2) the complicated childhood, where the parents conflicts and inability to protect the child made the child either too involved or too lonely in handling the problems that the parent’s mental illness caused them; (3) the problematic childhood where the parent’s mental illness was not the only problem in the family, but factors like the other parent’s drinking, siblings’ problems, social and economical difficulties added to the burden and (4) the exposed childhood where none of the parents was able to take care of the child. Knowledge and openness, about the parents’ problems, seemed to increase competence and decrease feelings of guilt and responsibility for the parent. All of the children stood forward, not as passive victims, but as competent agents in their own lives – although often more or less powerless because of their dependence of their parents and other adults around them. It was clear, though, that there is a need for professionals in adult psychiatry, social services, school and preschool, to pay attention to the children of parents with mental health problems and see to that they get the information and support they need. Keywords: Children, childhood conditions, children as agents, parental mental illness/mental disorders, mental health knowledge, exposed life situations, competence.