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Navigating expectations: Concurrent processes of inclusion and exclusion in refugees’(Dis)Integration into the norwegian labour market
Get PDFAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission.The debates following the 2015-2016 refugee influx put the topic of immigration high on the political agenda and accentuated the issue as highly politicized. In a universal welfare state like the Norwegian, labour market participation is considered the leading indicator of successful integration. With the desire to reveal how such policy-led perspectives on integration are negotiated, this thesis explores refugees’ experiences settling in a society that combines a highly formalized labour market with high expectations of labour market participation. The study focuses on refugees' experiences during settlement, considering their aspirations of and actual labour market integration. In addition to focusing on the individual refugee, I explore the interaction between refugees settling in Norway and civil society organizations by investigating how civil society organizations offer support for refugees through integration processes. In the Norwegian context, the coinciding of neoliberal reforms and increased immigration has led to the development of policies aiming to make immigration cost-effective, giving increased attention to the voluntary sector as an important stakeholder in the integration processes. As such, studying the role of civil society organizations in the labour market integration of refugees is a case in point to explore how the volunteer sector navigates the increased expectations as welfare contributors in a modern welfare state influenced by neoliberal discourses and reforms.
The research design has a qualitative approach based on ethnographic fieldwork among refugees in three civil society organizations. The analysis draws on extensive participant observation and several semi-structured interviews with ten refugees and four employees in civil society organizations.
This thesis contributes to the field of migration research by portraying contemporary post-migratory narratives from a Norwegian context. Through the lens of refugees’ labour market integration, the three articles comprising this thesis, in different ways, highlight how the concurrence of exclusion and inclusion portrays the intertwined connection between processes of integration and disintegration. Article I discuss the different (subtle) forms and consequences of perceived discrimination as a specific and salient constraint influencing refugees' labour market aspirations. Based on these findings, I argue that the intersectional outcomes of labour market aspirations are connected to intersectional experiences of discrimination. Article II deals with the role of civil society organizations in the labour market integration of refugees considering how integration processes are experienced by the refugees in the study. The findings suggest a particularly vulnerable phase immediately after the public introduction program for refugees not moving on to employment, education, or training. Moreover, civil society organizations are highlighted as facilitators of arenas that are salient for capital acquisition. Article III delves into the entanglements of integration, belonging, and precarity. Taking gig economy employment as a case in point, the article discusses the refugees’ perceptions of how such a specific occupational context shapes their sense of belonging and integration. The findings suggest that structural and individual limitations in many ways condition the refugees to precarious work. Being relegated to precarious work at the bottom end of the labour market acts as an imaginary boundary line of exclusion, dichotomizing 'us' and 'them'. Based on these findings, I argue that their belonging is precarious: fragile and conditional.
Finally, the findings of this study speak to the broader discussion on how immigrationand integration issues pose an intriguing case to reflect on the social sustainability of the Norwegian society by accentuating its ability to transform itself due to the new circumstances. While the authorities’ perspective on the integration challenge is to increase the competence of the individual refugee, this thesis has shown that structural and contextual dimensions significantly impact refugees’ chances of inclusion or exclusion. On a deeper level, it reflects how structural and contextual dimensions should be considered when shaping a future socially sustainable society and welfare state.
Paper I: Nessa, B. (2024). Linking Labour Market Aspirations to Perceived Discrimination: the Case of Refugees in Norway. (Accepted to be published in Revue Européenne Migrations des Internationales, 2nd issue of 2024).
Paper II: Nessa, B. (2023). One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Reversed Integration Processes among Refugees in Norway. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 13 (3) DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.580
Paper III: Nessa, B. Gig economy and precarious belonging: experiences of refugees navigating labour market integration in Norway. (Accepted to be published in Migration and Society).publishedVersio
Exploring the holistic mission according to Christ's model: Empowering street families in Madagascar
Get PDFStarting from the context of Madagascar, where many homeless people are found in the major towns, this writing contains the life of the homeless living in Antananarivo, the Capital of Madagascar. It reveals the extreme poverty that exists in Madagascar and the reasons why these people become homeless, and their lives enduring such misery. The purpose of this thesis is to persuade the Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy (FLM or Malagasy Lutheran Church), to engage in the mission that awaits them in the care of these homeless. therefore, what has an important role in this writing is also to show God's mission that He was performing, indeed in Christ, for the poor and needy, manifested in words and deeds, in a holistic manner. That is the model He initiated, to be followed by all believers. And since the FLM in general, indeed in the local churches, is a church that gives great importance to spirituality, and besides, does not give much importance to social action, it is developed in this research that God's mission is holistic, where evangelization and social action are both important and interrelated. It is also presented in this research, how this holistic mission, where the relationship between evangelization and social action has been developing in the Evangelical circles and the Lutheran World Federation
Facilitators and barriers to communication in rehabilitation services across healthcare levels: A qualitative case study in a Norwegian context
Get PDFThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Background: People with problems in functioning following severe injury or illness often need multiple and combined interventions in their rehabilitation processes. In these processes, communication and collaboration between the involved healthcare professionals are essential. Despite efforts in research and policy, communication across hospital and primary healthcare services and within the primary healthcare settings remains challenging. In one region of Norway, a new intermunicipal rehabilitation team has been established to supplement the traditional services and context-bound research is needed to gain insight into the complexity of the new communication structures that are developing. The aim of this study was to explore facilitators and barriers to communication to inform further improvement of the services.
Methods: A qualitative case study design was used to explore the exchange of patient information in the rehabilitation processes of four patients. Data collection included participant observations in communication situations and an exploration of the electronic patient records of these four patients. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the empirical data.
Results: The complex rehabilitation processes explored involved a large number of actors across healthcare organisational levels. Lacking a common culture for rehabilitation, poor access to written information and unclear responsibility for sharing information across organisational boundaries seemed to represent barriers to interprofessional communication. Joint meetings, the use of common rehabilitation tools and language and establishing informal communication channels served to facilitate communication.
Conclusion: The intermunicipal team collaborating across different organisational levels added complexity to communication structures, but also facilitated interprofessional communication by promoting formal and informal ways of exchanging information. However, the intricate organizational divisions of healthcare provision in the Norwegian context represent boundaries which can be difficult to overcome. Therefore, cross-organisational coordination services should be developed.publishedVersio
Unable to see the diagnosis. Harmed bodies and oil extraction in Peruvian Amazonia
No full textThis article discusses two distinct notions of harm, wakllichishka and oil harm, and two distinct ways of shaping bodies. Following postcolonial and decolonial insights, I develop an approach that deploys two Indigenous concepts—wakllichishka, and not being able to see the diagnosis—as valid tools of analysis. Kichwa people in northern Peruvian Amazonia use both to analyze the condition of being harmed, illness, and the possibility of recovering. While wakllichishka rests on understandings and practices that assume that bodies are transformable and the locus of human and more-than-human sociality and agency, not being able to see the diagnosis reveals how biomedical and toxicological practices enact bodies as indicators of unspecific conditions and environmental degradation, and as incurable. Using Kichwa analytics shows the situatedness of these practices and counteracts a common disposition to undertake a colonizing reduction that defines our own categories as the only ones adequate for analysis of the consequences of extractive capitalism.publishedVersio
The role of incidental objects in ‘making things work’: An example from assisted living facilities for young adults
Get PDFThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.This article studies material practices in assisted living facilities (ALF) for young adults, building on empirical data from fieldwork and on analytical resources from the research field of science and technology studies (STS). For the analysis, we made use of the notions of ‘fit’ and ‘misfit’ to zoom in on and illuminate the complexity of service provision at ALFs and of the materialities involved. The article mainly focuses on trivial and easily overlooked objects, which we name ‘incidental objects’, and how these are mobilized in order to ‘make things work’ in the intersection of residents, carers, and their material surroundings in everyday life. Our analysis revealed that incidental objects are key components in the process of handling situations involving misfits, and hence in enabling participation, flexibility, and agility in everyday life. Moreover, it unveiled that the incidental objects have important common characteristics.publishedVersio
Mot til å møte pasienten sine åndelege tankar og kjensler - ein kvalitativ studie
Get PDFAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)Bakgrunn: Sjukepleiarar gjev uttrykk for manglande kompetanse innan åndeleg omsorg.
Føremål: Føremålet med studien er å undersøkje korleis sjukepleiarstudentar uttrykkjer sine eigne styrkar så vel som område dei ønskjer å utvikle kring fire kompetansar innan åndeleg omsorg.
Metode: Studien nyttar kvalitativ metode og baserer seg på skriftlege svar på opne spørsmål som vart utvikla som ein del av sjølvevalueringsverktøyet EPICC-Tool. Svar frå 65 sjukepleiarstudentar ved tre bachelorutdanningar i sjukepleie i Noreg vart innhenta frå august til oktober 2020. Me følgde Braun og Clarke sin tematiske analyse av kvalitative data.
Resultat: Studentane utrykkjer både styrkar og svakheiter i tillegg til manglande merksemd på åndeleg omsorg i praksiskvardagen. Analysen gav tre tema: 1) «Open og respektfull haldning», 2) «Behov for kunnskap og erfaring» og 3) «Å opne opp for åndeleg omsorg i praksis». Diskusjonen ser på forholdet mellom auka kunnskap om åndeleg omsorg og kompetansen til sjukepleiarstudentar i møte med pasientar sine behov for åndeleg omsorg. Det vert diskutert om auka kompetanse og søkjelys på åndelege forhold kan påverke studentar sitt mot til eit aktivt fokus på åndeleg omsorg i praksiskvardagen.
Konklusjon: Funna viser at mange sjukepleiarstudentar har ei open og empatisk haldning og er motiverte til å utøve åndeleg omsorg. Dei rapporterer vidare at dei treng meir kunnskap for å bli trygge på å møte pasienten sine behov for åndeleg omsorg. Merksemd på åndeleg omsorg i praksis både retta mot pasientar, men òg i open dialog med kollegaer, er viktigpublishedVersio
The ideal meal: Masculinity and disability among host and guests in Luke
Get PDFAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)In the Gospel of Luke, the social gathering of the meal appears again and again. It is a setting for Jesus’ interactions as well as a topic of conversation. Drawing on theories of disability and masculinity, this article examines the various meal scenes in Luke 14. The focus is on Jesus’ advice to the host about who to invite and who not to invite when hosting a meal (vv. 12–14). This saying constructs a complex and intersecting web of potential guests. Those that should not be invited, belong to the social world of the privileged man: his brother, friend, relative and rich neighbor. Represent ing different levels of his radius of trust, they all have something to give back. The preferred guests in Jesus’ parable, however, are those who lack the resources to give anything back, due to bodily disability and lack of means: “The poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind” (Luke 14:14, NRSV). The article thus examines how health, economic ability, and gender intersect. The ideal meal in the Gospel of Luke negotiates the complex social web of the ancient world. We sug gest that disability and masculinity are key issues and scrutinize these categories to rethink the social make-up of ideal communities as suggested by Luke.publishedVersio
The impact of New Families home visiting program on first-time mothers’ quality of life and its association with social support: a non-randomized controlled study
Get PDFThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Background: The transition to motherhood is characterized by physical, psychological, social, and relational changes. Quality of life (QoL) changes substantially during this transition. Higher QoL is associated with social support, essential for coping with the challenges and changes of becoming a mother. An early universal home visiting program (New Families) is developed to strengthen and support families. The study aims to evaluate the impact of New Families on first-time mothers’ QoL and to investigate the association between their QoL, social support, and selected possible predictive factors.
Methods: A prospective non-randomized controlled study with parallel group design. Child Health Services in five city districts of Oslo were matched in intervention and control groups. First-time mothers were allocated based on the residential area and assessed at pregnancy week 28 (N = 228), six weeks postpartum (N = 184), and three months postpartum (N = 167). Measures of the World Health Organization Quality of Life brief, Perinatal Infant Care Social Support Scale, and background variables were collected from October 2018 to June 2020. Multivariate linear regression models were applied to examine intervention impact and assess associations.
Results: Our data did not reveal a significant association between New Families intervention and the QoL levels of first-time mothers at three months postpartum. Thus, we analyzed the whole sample together. Emotional support was significantly associated with higher QoL levels in the physical health (B = 0.19, 95%CI [0.04 to 0.34]) and social relationships (B = 0.40, 95%CI [0.20 to 0.60]) domains. Appraisal support was significantly associated with higher QoL levels in the psychological (B = 0.34, 95%CI [0.18 to 0.50]) and environment (B = 0.33, 95%CI [0.19 to 0.48]) domains. QoL levels in pregnancy were significantly associated with QoL levels postpartum, showing small to medium effect size (ES = 0.30 to 0.55), depending on the domain.
Conclusions: Further research, including qualitative interviews, could provide more insights into the impact of New Families on QoL. A positive association between QoL levels in pregnancy and postpartum suggests that postnatal interventions targeting improved QoL could potentially improve postpartum QoL. Emotional and appraisal support seems beneficial for first-time mothers’ QoL and could be provided and facilitated by public health nurses.publishedVersio
Perceptions of a caring school climate and mental well-being: a one-way street? Results from a random intercept cross-lagged panel model
Get PDFThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.We investigated the between- and within-person longitudinal relationship between perceptions of a caring school climate and mental well-being, and the role of socioeconomic position (SEP) for these constructs among high school students in Norway (N = 1508; 60.7% girls). Using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model, we found positive concurrent associations between perceptions of a caring school climate and mental well-being at both between and within levels, and positive cross-lagged effects at the within-person level from mental well-being to later perceptions of a caring school climate across all time points. SEP was positively associated with mental well-being at time one, and at all time points with perceptions of a caring school climate. The findings suggest that mental well-being is a significant contributor to how Norwegian adolescents subsequently perceive their school context, and underscore the importance of school staff being particularly attentive toward students who struggle with mental health, as well as those with lower SEP.publishedVersio
Bedre beskyttelse for voldsutsatte flyktninger og innvandrere
Get PDFThis is a project on the needs for protection and crisis center services for newly arrived refugees and immigrants who are exposed to negative social control, honor-related violence, and other domestic violence. The project gives insights about the additional needs of protection for this group, to what extent these needs are being met by different institutions in the support system, and in what ways the system can be improved. With this project, we have produced knowledge which will support the follow-up of this group as well as providing insight and tools for the provision of services. We thank the Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) for giving us the opportunity to do research in this very sensitive and crucial area. It has been both a challenging and a rewarding experience for our research team. We would also like to thank all our informants who have agreed to participate in our research and have given us their valuable time. Additionally, we thank the members of our reference group who have participated in our meetings: Janne Waagbø from Barne-, ungdoms- og familiedirektoratet (Bufdir), Ragnhild Elise Johansen from Nasjonalt Kunnskapssenter om Vold og Traumatisk Stress (NKVTS), Margrethe Stensland from NAV Rogaland, and Katrine Bakke Lossius and Aimar Alkholt from Integrerings- og mangfoldsdirektoratet (IMDi) who participated in the reference group meetings. The project has been carried out by researchers from the Center for Intercultural Communication (SIK) at VID Specialized University. Meltem Yilmaz Sener has been the leader of the project. Zubia Willman Robleda, Oleksandr Ryndyk, Anne Brit Hatleskog, Norma Wong, and Meltem Yilmaz Sener have participated in the data collection. Yilmaz Sener, Willman Robleda, Hatleskog, and Wong have also participated in the writing of the report. Finally, Hugrun Osk Gudjonsdottir and Maria Tendenes have participated in the completion of the report.publishedVersio