Research project The body as a resource in everyday interactions
The body as a resource in everyday interactions between people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) and care workers
The study contributes to previous research on people with PIMD and provides knowledge about their way of interacting in everyday life. It also helps to understand care workers´ use of body language and touch. In this way, the project not only contributes to the understanding of the body as a resource in interactions between people with PIMD and care staff but also makes a difference in the well-being of people with PIMD and the way the care staff work. This is so that the new knowledge can be used in everyday interaction with people with PIMD.
Project description
The empirical question of the comparison will be to find out what differences there are in the interaction between people with PIMD and the care staff in Sweden and Germany, with a focus on body language and touch, and how these differences can be derived from cultural and structural differences between both countries. It will be demonstrated whether there are differences in the Swedish compared to the German context in how and what people with PIMD can choose when it comes to their bodies, for example, what, how, and when they want to eat. This is done to investigate how the body is used as a resource in the interaction between people with PIMD and the care staff and thus in a broader context contributes to the well-being of people with PIMD in everyday life.
Project members
Project managers
Simo Vehmas
Professor
Wieland Wermke
Professor, studierektor
Members
Simo Vehmas
Professor
Wieland Wermke
Professor, studierektor
Joana Franziska Debelt
Doktorand
More about this project
The project is carried out with people with multiple disabilities living in group homes (one per country/in Sweden and Germany) and their everyday interactions with the care staff. Daily activities will be observed.