Life Narratives and Desistance from Crime : Case study about the roles and use of life narratives at Redis Peer support Center
Mefful, Nina (2013)
Mefful, Nina
Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu
2013
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201305056341
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201305056341
Tiivistelmä
Mefful, Nina. Life Narratives and Desistance from Crime – Case study about the roles and use of life narratives at Redis Peer Support Center. Diak South, Järvenpää, Spring 2013, 47.,2 appendices.
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences Degree Program in Social Services, Community Development,Bachelor of Socia Services (UAS)
The aim of the study was to illustrate the use, meanings and roles of life narratives at Redis Peer Support Centre, Probation Foundation. Thus, the focus of the study was to discover repeated themes related to life narratives in connec-tion to identity reconstruction and desistance from crime. The research material was collected during the autumn 2012 and the target group included of-fenders at different stages of their re-entry process. Moreover, the research was conducted by using mixed qualitative methods. The focus of the study was on narrative inquiry which was executed by using the combination of participant observation and thematic interviews. The number of participants for the thematic interviews was five.
The main results of the study are six different themes discovered through participant observation and substantiated by the interview materials. These themes were shared life narratives (peer support), life narrative as a resource for life management, life narrative and social roles, sharing life narrative for the purpose of raising awareness, life narrative as source of experience expertise and finding/creating meaning through life narrative.
In addition, two of these themes, life narrative as resource for life management and finding meaning through life narrative, were closely interlinked themes and their importance to identity reconstruction and desistance were emphasized. Furthermore, the interviews disclosed four additional themes which were first, theme that included substance abuse, addiction, sobriety and recovery, second, importance of the wholeness of life narrative, third, life span of recovery through narratives, and fourth, imperative element of hope.
Finally, the use of life narratives in social work has inherent strengths. The re-search revealed strengths as the connection between the use of life narratives and the general principles of holistic and client centered approach as well as the utilization of client’s knowledge about his/her life situation Conversely, the main weaknesses of the use of life narratives is that this approach requires resources, namely time, which is often scarce in the social work professions. To conclude, recognizing the importance of indivual’s life narrative and organizing the social work accordingly empowers person from the initial states of the process to be actively involved and so obtain self-confidence and inner motivation for finding solutions and/or engaging in life change.
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences Degree Program in Social Services, Community Development,Bachelor of Socia Services (UAS)
The aim of the study was to illustrate the use, meanings and roles of life narratives at Redis Peer Support Centre, Probation Foundation. Thus, the focus of the study was to discover repeated themes related to life narratives in connec-tion to identity reconstruction and desistance from crime. The research material was collected during the autumn 2012 and the target group included of-fenders at different stages of their re-entry process. Moreover, the research was conducted by using mixed qualitative methods. The focus of the study was on narrative inquiry which was executed by using the combination of participant observation and thematic interviews. The number of participants for the thematic interviews was five.
The main results of the study are six different themes discovered through participant observation and substantiated by the interview materials. These themes were shared life narratives (peer support), life narrative as a resource for life management, life narrative and social roles, sharing life narrative for the purpose of raising awareness, life narrative as source of experience expertise and finding/creating meaning through life narrative.
In addition, two of these themes, life narrative as resource for life management and finding meaning through life narrative, were closely interlinked themes and their importance to identity reconstruction and desistance were emphasized. Furthermore, the interviews disclosed four additional themes which were first, theme that included substance abuse, addiction, sobriety and recovery, second, importance of the wholeness of life narrative, third, life span of recovery through narratives, and fourth, imperative element of hope.
Finally, the use of life narratives in social work has inherent strengths. The re-search revealed strengths as the connection between the use of life narratives and the general principles of holistic and client centered approach as well as the utilization of client’s knowledge about his/her life situation Conversely, the main weaknesses of the use of life narratives is that this approach requires resources, namely time, which is often scarce in the social work professions. To conclude, recognizing the importance of indivual’s life narrative and organizing the social work accordingly empowers person from the initial states of the process to be actively involved and so obtain self-confidence and inner motivation for finding solutions and/or engaging in life change.