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Sensitive Issues in Vulnerable Conditions

Studying Violence in Youth Residential Care

National Research Institute of Legal Policy, Finlandpaivi.honkatukia{at}om.fi

Leo Nyqvist

University of Turku, Finlandleonyq{at}utu.fi

Tarja Pösö

University of Tampere, Finlandtarja.poso{at}uta.fi

This article discusses the experiences of the ethical dilemmas encountered in a research project on teenage reformatory school residents’ understanding of violence.The study is based on group interviews of teenage youth (15 interview sessions) in two Finnish reformatory schools.The agenda for the interviews dealt with the adolescents’views on violence, experiences of it in different contexts such as home, school and residential care, as well as their moral judgement of it. The study has been motivated by the growing body of knowledge and concerns about youth violence, linking the experiences of violence, seen as traumatic, with behavioural and psychosocial problems. We would like to contribute to that debate by saying something about violence as defined by young people.

Confidentiality and voluntary participation are some of the basic principles guiding the research process.The ethical issues are, however, more complicated.The actual act of asking young people to speak about violence can be (re)traumatizing. On the other hand, it is important to give them a chance to speak. The dilemma of misusing the young people’s participation in the research and the option of giving space for voices to be heard is one of the ethical dilemmas confronted in this paper.

Key Words: gender • methodology • reformatory school • research ethics • residential care • sensitive issues • violence

Young, Vol. 11, No. 4, 323-339 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/11033088030114002


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