Syftet med studien är att studera subjektiva upplevelser av vilka faktorer som varit bidragande till ett upphörande med brottsligt beteende, samt de faktorer som enligt egna upplevelser leder till ett upprätthållande av en mer konventionell livsstil. För att studera detta har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats och semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra före detta kriminella individer genomförts. Studiens resultat visade att kärleksrelationer och föräldraskap, att sluta med alkohol- och narkotika missbruk, bryta upp från tidigare omgivning samt egen vilja är faktorer som i samspel med varandra påverkat de intervjuade att upphöra med brottsligt beteende. Rutiner, nytt socialt nätverk och stöd är faktorer som enligt intervjupersonerna möjliggjort ett upprätthållande av en mer konventionell livsstil. Studiens viktigaste slutsats är att samspel mellan yttre och inre faktorer även kallade vändpunkter, är av största vikt för att en upphörandeprocess skall vara framgångsrik. / ”It´s never too late.” - Four stories about the path out of crime. The purpose of this paper was to study the subjective experiences of factors that have contributed to desistance from criminal behavior, and the factors which, according to the interviewees own experiences lead to the maintenance of a more conventional lifestyle. The study was performed using qualitative semi-structured interviews with four ex-offenders. The results have shown that factors, such as love relationships and parenting, as well as desistance from alcohol and drug abuse and changing their environment are factors that in interaction with each other have affected the interviewed individuals desistance from criminal behavior. Routines, new social network and support are factors which, according to the interviewees made it possible to maintain a more conventional lifestyle. The study's main conclusion is that the interaction between external and internal factors so called ”turning points”, is crucial to a desistance process to be successful.

"Perhaps if one had been raised elsewhere, in another environment ..." is a qualitative study whose purpose is to describe and create an understanding of past criminals' experiences in their childhood and turning point. The questions are further explained how risk factors and risk behaviors affect the childhood, as well as what factors can lead to a turning point. The empiric is reached through the performance of six individual interviews with former criminals, and analyzed with theories of Social bonds by Travis Hirschi, Life Course Theory of Laub & Sampson and KASAM by Aaron Antonovsky. The result and conclusions show that previous criminals have shown a risk behavior based on the risk factors they were exposed to during their growth. Furthermore, the turning point is understood to depend on how strong and weak the previous criminals associated with their relatives during their childhood. The turning point can also be understood from the inner will that the former criminal finds, with the help of motivation and meaningfulness. / “Kanske om man hade varit uppväxt någon annanstans, i en annan miljö…” är en kvalitativ studie vars syfte är att beskriva och skapa en förståelse för tidigare kriminellas upplevelser i deras uppväxt och vändpunkt. Frågeställningarna ställs vidare hur riskfaktorer och riskbeteenden påverkat uppväxten, samt om vilka faktorer som kan leda till en vändpunkt. Empirin nås genom utförandet av sex enskilda intervjuer med tidigare kriminella, och analyseras med teorier om Sociala band av Travis Hirschi, Livsförlopps-teorin av Laub & Sampson och KASAM av Aaron Antonovsky. Resultatet och slutsatserna visar på att tidigare kriminella har visat på ett riskbeteende utifrån de riskfaktorer som de utsatts för under sin uppväxt. Vidare förstås vändpunkten ske beroende på hur stark respektive svag anknytning de tidigare kriminella knutit an med sina närstående under uppväxten. Vändpunkten kan dessutom förstås utifrån den inre viljan som de tidigare kriminella finner, med hjälp av motivation och meningsfullhet.

<p>This thesis, titled “Change, choice and conditions”, is written by Lina Skantze and Bianca Zandén. The study explores the process in which individuals’ attempt to end their criminal career, focusing on the interplay between path of life, choices, and conditions. The method is qualitative, and the empirical material consists of interviews with four young adults that all have experience of criminality. The empirical material is analyzed within a theoretical framework based on social construction, Antonovskys “Sense of coherence, SOC” and Giddens “Structuration theory” as well as existential philosophy. The authors suggest a theoretically and empirically based model illustrating the change process.</p><p>The model, developed through abduction, suggests that the process in changing ones life radically includes a number of steps such as; distance to everyday life and its habits, existential choices, new conditions, reflection around former situations and experiences, formulating a life story, new habits and routines, new and/or re-established social relationships, orientation towards new goals and a sense of meaning in life, as well as hopes and ideas about the future.</p><p>The authors conclude that there are no absolute turning points in the lives of the interviewees. Instead change happens in a complex process best described as incremental, consisting of small – and sometimes incoherent – steps. However, certain situations during the process are crucial and offer opportunity for fundamental existential choices.</p>

This thesis, titled “Change, choice and conditions”, is written by Lina Skantze and Bianca Zandén. The study explores the process in which individuals’ attempt to end their criminal career, focusing on the interplay between path of life, choices, and conditions. The method is qualitative, and the empirical material consists of interviews with four young adults that all have experience of criminality. The empirical material is analyzed within a theoretical framework based on social construction, Antonovskys “Sense of coherence, SOC” and Giddens “Structuration theory” as well as existential philosophy. The authors suggest a theoretically and empirically based model illustrating the change process. The model, developed through abduction, suggests that the process in changing ones life radically includes a number of steps such as; distance to everyday life and its habits, existential choices, new conditions, reflection around former situations and experiences, formulating a life story, new habits and routines, new and/or re-established social relationships, orientation towards new goals and a sense of meaning in life, as well as hopes and ideas about the future. The authors conclude that there are no absolute turning points in the lives of the interviewees. Instead change happens in a complex process best described as incremental, consisting of small – and sometimes incoherent – steps. However, certain situations during the process are crucial and offer opportunity for fundamental existential choices.

This is a qualitative study aiming to illuminate and gain better understanding of deliberate self-harm. The study has a narrative perspective and is based on three women’s life stories, focusing on a period when they had an active self-harming behaviour. The study examines what the participants experienced as important to the initiation and the cessation of the deliberate self-harm. It is also examining identity performances and turning points which can be discerned in the life stories. The analysis is based on theories of the narrative perspective and on Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. Our conclusions are that the participants of the study at the time prior to the self-harming behaviour felt as outsiders, and that they lacked strategies for dealing with emotions. We also found that functional relationships had an important role for the participants to enable the cessation of the deliberate self-harming behaviour. At the time when the participants managed to end the self-harming behaviour, they all had developed more functional relationships and did not feel the same alienation. They also feel that they have a different identity now than they had during the period of deliberate self-harm.         Keywords: Deliberate self-harm, identity performances, turning points, narrative   Nyckelord: Självskadebeteende, identitetsuttryck, vändpunkter, narrativ

Vad är avgörande vändpunkter i psykoterapi? Detta är en kvalitativ studie av konfidenters upplevelser av avgörande ögonblick/vändpunkter. Studien utgår från konfidenternas upplevelser och beskrivning av dessa vändpunkter. Metoden är fenomenologisk och utgår ifrån EPP- metoden. Samtliga sex informanter har gått i terapi över 25 timmar och alla har gått i en psykodynamisk terapi. Resultatet visade inte på några avgörande ögonblick/vändpunkter i form av aha-upplevelser. Konfidenterna lyfte istället fram vändpunkter i form av insikter över tid. Två gemensamma drag trädde fram i materialet. Konfidenterna framhöll hur de med terapins hjälp fick syn på hur de suttit fast i mönster och försvar i sina tidiga objektrelationer. Konfidenterna framhöll också vikten av ett "eget rum" att möta sig själv tillsammans med terapeuten. / What is the crucial turning point in psychotherapy? This is a qualitative study of patients' experiences of the crucial moments/ turning points in their psychotherapy. This study examined patients' experiences and their description of these. The method is phenomenological and is called the EPP- method. The six informants have all attended more than 25 hours of therapy they have all attended psychodynamic therapy. The results revealed no crucial moments/ turning points such as "aha moment". Instead the patients emphasized turning points and insights over time. Two common features emerged in the material. The patients emphasized how they due to the therapy became aware of how they have been stuck in patterns and defense systems due to their early object relations. The patients also emphasized the importance of a "private room" of their own where they could meet themselves together with the therapist.

Studien handlar om processen som leder ut ur hemlöshet, och jämför personer med en psykisk funktionsnedsättning och personer utan. Uppsatsen bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med nio personer som har lämnat hemlöshet och missbruk. Fokus för studien och intervjuerna har varit individens upplevelse av processen som leder ut ur hemlöshet. Fem av intervjupersonerna hade en psykisk funktionsnedsättning och fyra av intervjupersonerna hade ingen diagnos. Vi har använt oss av Helen Ebaughs (1988) exitteori för att tolka och tematisera resultatet. I analysen har vi utvecklat teorin utifrån resultatet, då teorin inte beskriver individer som lämnar rollen som hemlös. Processen som leder ut ur hemlöshet har sett olika ut för intervjupersonerna i studien men det har funnits gemensamma inslag. Processen har tagit tid, vilket har varit viktigt för individen för att lyckas etablera sig i den nya rollen. För intervjupersonerna har det varit centralt att tillfriskna från missbruk för att ta sig igenom processen som leder ut ur hemlöshet. I början av processen var det viktigt att få lugn och ro omkring sig och senare i processen att finna en meningsfull sysselsättning samt en ny umgängeskrets för att kunna etablera sig och känna trygghet i den nya rollen. För många har självhjälpsgrupper eller ideella föreningar varit en plattform för dessa aspekter. Många har uppgett att det varit svårt att bryta med tidigare bekanta som fortfarande var kvar i missbruk. En annan svårighet som har beskrivits var misstroende från myndigheters sida. Processen som leder ut ur hemlöshet har varit likartad för personer med eller utan en psykisk funktionsnedsättning. Skillnaden har bestått i den sista fasen, att bygga nytt, då det har varit viktigt för personer med en psykisk funktionsnedsättning att få förståelse och kunskap om samt professionell hjälp med sin funktionsnedsättning.

Uppsatsen undersöker behovet av och tillgången till studie- och yrkesvägledning i vändpunkter och utgår från karriärvalsteorin Careerships definition av dessa. Alla individer ställs inför flera vändpunkter under sitt liv och vissa är mer tydliga än andra. Tidigare forskning visar att individer med fler valmöjligheter inom sin vändpunkt upplever ett större behov av studie- och yrkesvägledning än individer med få valmöjligheter. Ofta upplever exempelvis arbetssökande ett litet handlingsutrymme och lågt förtroende för myndighetsutövare. Undersökningens resultat visar att behovet men också tillfredsställelsen av studie- och yrkesvägledning är störst inom grundskolan och lägst för gruppen arbetssökande. I uppsatsen diskuteras om intresset för studie- och yrkesvägledning skulle öka i vuxengrupper om fler gavs möjlighet att ingå i en kontinuerlig studie- och yrkesvägledningsprocess. / This essay examines the need for career counselling when reaching a turning point based on the career selection theory, Careership. All individuals are recurrently faced with turning points during their career, some clearer than others. Previous research indicates that individuals with more options in their turning point feel a greater need for career counselling than individuals with fewer choices. For example jobseekers often experience that they have little room for manoeuvres and a low confidence in authorities. The result from this study shows that the need for and also the satisfaction with career counselling are biggest in elementary school and the lowest for jobseekers. In the essay we discuss whether the interest in seeking for career counselling would increase if grown ups were given the opportunity to be a part of a continuous career counsellingprocess.

abstract: Romantic relationships are an important aspect of anyone's life. For individuals with an autism spectrum disorder, this is true as well. However, these people may experience relational dynamics and trajectories that are in some aspects either similar to or markedly different from those who are not on the spectrum. There are very few studies analyzing and understanding how adults with an ASD navigate romantic relationships. This particular study examined how turning points pertaining to relational escalation or de-escalation were recognized and understood by eight individuals (four men and four women) possessing an ASD. The Retrospective Interview Technique (RIT) was implemented in order to accrue data from participants. Each participant completed a RIT graph mapping out a romantic relationship of their choice by understanding when a turning point was identified and placing a mark next to the corresponding level of relational closeness or attachment. Once all turning points were mapped out, they were connected with lines so that a visual representation of the entire relationship may be viewed. Participants were then queried about how they knew that particular event (or mark) to be a turning point, how it impacted the relationship, and how they were, personally, influenced by it (how they responded to the event). Interviews were transcribed and explored through a grounded theory approach. Specifically, Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method was applied to articulate interview data. The research revealed four main themes (Relational Genesis, Relational Escalation, Relational De-escalation and Conflict Management) as well as seventeen sub themes. Limitations for this study, information relating to discourses surrounding autism spectrum disorders and romantically intimate relationships, as well as, areas for future study are also discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Communication Studies 2016

abstract: This qualitative study examines the major changes in relationship closeness of married couples when one spouse acquires a vision disability. Turning Points analysis and Retrospective Interview Technique (RIT) were utilized which required participants to plot their relational journey on a graph after the onset of the disability. A sample of 32 participants generating 100 unique turning points and 32 RIT graphs lent in-depth insight into the less explored area of the impact of a visual disability on marital relationships. A constant comparison method employed for the analysis of these turning points revealed six major categories, which include Change in Relational Dynamics, Realization of the Disability, Regaining Normality in Life, Resilience, Reactions to Assistance, and Dealing with the Disability. These turning points differ in terms of their positive or negative impact on the relational closeness between partners. In addition, the 32 individual RIT graphs were also analyzed and were grouped into four categories based on visual similarity, which include Erratic Relational Restoration, Erratic Relational Increase, Consistent Closeness and Gradual Relational Increase. Results provide theoretical contributions to disability and marriage literature. Implications for the application of turning points to the study of post-disability marital relationships are also discussed, and research directions identified. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Communication Studies 2014