Postdoctoral Fellow (Utacas)
1.8.2010-31.7.2011
Office: Pinni B, room 3091
Phone: 03 3551 8307
Email: suvi.raitakari@uta.fi
My general research interests include the issues related to the construction of everyday working practices and clienthood in the field of mental health and substance abuse work, changes in welfare societies , and the methodology and methods related to discursive and rhetoric approaches in social sciences. During the course of my Utacas year (2010-2011) the focus of research lies at the inseparable ethical tensions of daily practice in mental health care. Ethical tensions depend on the local and particular features of each situation. Because of this my aim is to study professional ethics in action, as it occurs in the mundane interactional practices of work. My study follows the ethics in action line of research. The research question is: How is the tension between autonomy and dependence negotiated and tackled by both clients and practitioners in community mental health care? The data is from two mental health agencies, where the tension between autonomy and dependence calls for constant negotiations. The first research site is a supported housing unit. The second research site is a three-month long rehabilitation course targeted for young adults (between 18–30 years) suffering from schizophrenia
The data include meetings among professionals, client-worker conversations, client documents and interviews. I draw on discursive constructionism, discursive psychology and rhetoric analysis as research methods. I share the same data with the Utacas fellow Kirsi Juhila.
Homepage: http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/sostyo/hlokunta/raitakari/