Constructions of Vulnerability by Different Groups of Welfare Professionals

Bibliographic Data

ID19541209
AuthorsBirgitte Theilmann (Aalborg University), Erik Laursen (0000-0003-3057-8412, Aalborg University)
Year2020
Volume10
Issue3
Publication date2020-12-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueProfessions and Professionalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1893-1049 • E-ISSN: 1893-1049
PublisherOsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.7577/pp.3838
OpenAlexW3111162349
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

This article has examined the various ways vulnerability among children is constructed by four groups of welfare professionals (teachers, daycare workers, social workers, and health care workers) within a Danish welfare context. Based on an empirical research project that featured a large number of interviews, the article has demonstrated how professionals construct vulnerability from a combination of their professional background and experiences in their working practice related to vulnerability among children. The research findings have revealed that professional employees in general tend to link vulnerability among children to either diagnoses and deviant behavior or a child’s family context. At the same time, professional employees tend to ignore the possibility that vulnerability might be produced inside an institutional context like a school or kindergarten. In linking vulnerability to the child’s family context, professional employees generally point to classic forms of risk and social problem factors related to children’s families

Danish · Developmental psychology · Geography · Political science · Vulnerability assessment · Welfare · Early Childhood Education and Development · Employment and Welfare Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice