I Personlig professionell utveckling för socionomer tar författarna ett grepp kring den livslånga lärandeprocess som kan ge blivande och yrkesverksamma socionomer förutsättningar att utveckla en hållbar yrkesroll samt en yrkesidentitet präglad av etisk medvetenhet och en personlig professionalitet. 

Ett vanligt budskap inom socionomens profession är vikten av att vara professionell, möjligen personlig, men aldrig privat. Författarna menar att detta delvis är ett missförstånd, att många tror sig behöva bli opersonliga eller spela en roll som professionell. För att skapa ett såväl personligt som professionellt bemötande behöver man arbeta med sin självkännedom, sin empatiska förmåga och med att utveckla en etisk medvetenhet.

Författarna kombinerar teoretiska resonemang med olika reflektionsövningar för att uppmuntra läsaren till eftertanke kring de teman boken behandlar; viljan att utvecklas, självkännedom, empatisk förmåga, etiskt bemötande samt strategier för att hålla som socionom. Det handlar om att hur man som socionom kan smälta samman sin personlighet med sin professionella roll. Ja, att vara sig själv som socionom. 

Boken vänder sig till såväl socionomstudenter som till yrkesverksamma socionomer samt till andra inom socialt arbete och människovårdande yrken.

What does it mean to live a long life and grow old with disabilities? Or to be an aging parent and still be a caregiver to a disabled adult child? These are questions discussed in this article, the aim of which is to show how a life course perspective adds insight to the lived experience of disability and ageing of adults with disabilities. It is argued that the time concept is fundamental to the understanding of the lives of disabled people. Results are presented which challenge established knowledge regarding disability policies, autonomy, body, biographical disruption and prerequisites of active aging.

Vad innebär det att åldras med funktionsnedsättningar som man fått redan i tidig ålder eller som yngre vuxen? På vilket sätt formar funktionshinder livet över tid? Och hur är det att vara en till åren kommen förälder och fortfarande vara central som hjälpgivare till ett vuxet, funktionshindrat barn? Vilken betydelse har epoken och reformerna? I artikeln diskuteras dessa frågor med utgångspunkt i ett brett upplagt forskningsprojekt ”Funktionshinder, livslopp och åldrande”

This article addresses the role of the Church of Sweden in spiritual care for parishioners in their end-of-life phase. The frame of reference is a new geography of dying that implies that a majority of Swedes today, particularly older people, die in their local neighborhood of belonging, in fact in their parishes. Findings from a study of all parishes in two Swedish communities are presented that indicate support for dying parishioners is surprisingly uncommon, although most parishes offer support for the bereaved. A possible interpretation of these contrasting patterns is discussed. The findings indicate that divergent forms of care logic motivated the different types of support offered by the Church. Long-standing relationships with aging parishioners seemed to be at the heart of the matter.

Over the past 10 - 15 years the geography of death has changed in Sweden. Dying and end-of-life care has to a great extent been moved out of hospitals back into the local community, and renewed attention is given to dying and spiritual care issues. Yet, at the same time, a new ideological investment in civil society has taken place, which ascribes caring and networking qualities and resources that may not always be encountered in practice. This article discusses the implications of this situation, by focusing on the role of the Church of Sweden, as an actor in civil society, and on its support for parishioners in their end-of-life phase. Questions discussed are: what role do local church parishes play in the care of dying parishioners, and what is the meaning of parish belonging and networks in this context? Results from a study of all parishes in two Swedish, medium-sized, communities indicate that support for dying parishioners is surprisingly uncommon, while most parishes offer support for the bereaved. The article argues that this may be an indication of failing resources, on the part of the parishes, to meet the needs of these contrasting situations. While a relational logic motivates support for the dying parishioner, support for the bereaved seems to follow a service logic, one with which the representatives of the parishes are more at ease. Networks and personal relationships seemed to be the heart of the matter and the concept of social capital was used to capture this phenomenon. In a more general sense, however, the results illustrate the partly contradictory roles and strategies that the Church has adopted in order to face different interpretations of civil society and ongoing societal change in Sweden.

The article describes spiritual care offered by the Church of Sweden to people in the last phase of their lives and to the bereaved. The Church ministers in a secularized society. Its changed place in the culture can be seen in the fact that it was recently officially separated from the State. The article contrasts the languages of spiritual care about the support given to those in their last phase of life, compared to those in grief. Traditional theological language is used with the dying, while the newer psychological "clinical lore" is used with the bereaved. These contrasts are expressions of the different positions linked to expectations that are connected with roles that the representatives of the Church are trying to meet.

This is the first book to address the issue of ageing after a long life with disability. It breaks new ground through its particular life course perspective, examining what it means to age with a physical or mental disability and what the implications are of 'becoming old' for people who have had extensive disabilities for many years. These people may have had to leave the labour market early, and the book looks at available care resources, both formal and informal. Ageing with disability challenges set ideas about successful ageing, as well as some of those about disabilities. The life course approach that is used unfolds important insights about the impact of multiple disabilities over time and on the phases of life. The book highlights the meaning of care in unexplored contexts, such as where ageing parents are caregivers or regarding mutual care in disabled couples. These are areas of knowledge which have, to date, been totally neglected.

This article focuses on family involvement and its various patterns and expressions in the context of end-of-life care in a nursing home. Based on analyses from an ethnographic study carried out at a nursing home ward, the aim is to describe and analyze the conditions of aging and dying for the old residents, as well as effects on their visiting families and relatives. As in similar research findings, it became clear from the study that families continue to visit and contribute to the care of the old resident throughout the years, from the time of placement to their demise, but that this involvement might vary both in content and in extent. However, it was found that families'' involvement (as well as their changing relationships and roles) is particularly shaped by the very process of dying and lingering aura of death on the ward. The analysis presented in the article evinces the difficult — and in many ways impossible — role of the family in the institutional end-of-life setting, and discloses the various patterns and manifestations of family involvement in this environment. Different meanings and implications of family involvement are discussed and highlighted.

The human body has been the object of extensive attention in the social sciences, recently receiving increasing interest from social gerontology as well. However, the issue of old bodies and particularly the body in the fourth age of life remains relatively under-researched. The need to give emphasis to the subjective experiences of the oldest old during their final phase of life has been pointed out. This article is based on data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork carried out on a nursing home ward, and explores and analyses how the residents talk about and regard their own aging and dying bodies. The focus is on the link between the disintegrating body, aging and death in an institution-based care context. It was found that the body is the central entity through which the residents experience daily life, through pain, through the caring process, through diminished physical and cognitive functions, and as such constitutes the existential nucleus of their being. The article includes a discussion on how these experiences also elucidate the way in which the body is a mediator for issues seldom acknowledged such as existential needs.