ABSTRACT

In Sweden, according to law, adolescents with extensive psychosocial problems, substance abuse or criminal behaviour can be cared for in institutions. The two-fold aim of these institutions (to rehabilitate and incarcerate) puts special demands to their socio-spatial context.

Purpose: To elucidate adolescents’ lived experiences of the socio-spatial environment at special youth homes run by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) in Sweden.

Methods: Data collected through Photovoice and analysed employing a phenomenological hermeneutical method. Fourteen adolescents (age 15–19) were asked to photograph their environment, and this was followed up by in-depth interviews.

Results: Two themes emerged from the material: the dense walls of institutional life and create and capture the caring space. The socio-spatial environment can be seen as an additional “other” that distances the adolescents and the staff from one another. Negotiating with their behaviour, the adolescents strive to present themselves as worthy of increased degrees of freedom and ultimately access to the desired outside life.

Conclusions: In an institutional setting dominated by a security and criminal justice logic, words appear to have less impact than the environment. The adolescents appear to understand themselves through the socio-spatial other, causing reinforced feelings of social exclusion.

摘要

在瑞典，根据法律，可以在机构中照顾有广泛的社会心理问题，药物滥用或犯罪行为的青少年。这些机构的双重目标（康复和监禁）对其社会空间环境提出了特殊要求。

目的：阐明青少年在瑞典国家机构关怀委员会（SiS）运营的特殊青年之家中对社会空间环境的生活经验。

方法：通过Photovoice收集数据，并采用现象学解释学方法进行分析。要求十四名青少年（15至19岁）拍摄他们的环境，随后进行了深入采访。

结果：材料中出现了两个主题：机构生活的高墙以及创造和捕捉关爱空间。社会空间环境可以看作是一种额外的“其他”环境，使青少年和教职员工之间保持距离。通过协商他们的行为，青少年努力使自己表现为值得增加自由度，并最终获得所需的外部生活。

结论：在一个以安全和刑事司法逻辑为主导的制度环境中，言语的影响似乎不如环境。青少年似乎通过社交空间他人来了解自己，从而增强了被社会排斥的感觉。