Att föra barnen på tal - Yrkesverksammas erfarenheter av att anamma ett barnperspektiv i vuxenpsykiatrin.

Sammanfattning: Professionals in adult psychiatry are obliged to consider the children’s perspective when a patient suffering from mental illness has children. Studies indicate that many children do not receive the support, advice and information to which they are entitled to under the law. It seems that the professionals are lacking in the work of translating law into practice. The study examines what experiences the professionals in adult psychiatry have of working with children as relatives and in what way the children’s perspective is taken in account in their daily work. Also, what opportunities and limitations do they see? In this study, qualitative inter- views are used to gain an understanding of professional’s experiences of working with the child perspective in adult psychiatry. Four professionals with an assign- ment as spokesperson for children in adult psychiatry was interviewed. The result of the interviews has been analyzed by the concept discretion and power. The study found that own responsibility and commitment is a prerequisite for the work to be done and that the professionals can use their space of discretion to bring children to speech. However, difficulties such as time, resources and the patient’s self-determination can limit the opportunity. The law and guidelines advocate a way of working with the issue, but theory differs from practice in part due to lack of structures and support from management. On the other hand, the study also shows that there is an opportunity to bring the children to speech by talking about the children, with the discretion available to the professional.