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Sammanfattning ; Summary

Based on a qualitative study of Swedish parents with small children, this article focuses on fathers' access to informal support in their parenting, for example in the form of practical help and emotional support. The article discusses the importance of informal social capital in parents' everyday lives. Family members play a significant role with regard to practical help with the children, while friends and particularly work colleagues are important sources of emotional support, with fathers sharing the joys and burdens of parenthood with colleagues. Discursive resources concerning involved and emotional fatherhood are thus available to the fathers interviewed in the study, and the workplace becomes an arena in which fathering practices are formed. The findings support the idea of role expansion, that having access to multiple arenas, including in this case the workplace, can serve as a positive resource for working parents.

Abstract
Purpose
Studies on sexual health following male child sexual abuse (CSA) have identified the negative effects of such experiences on body functioning, but little is known about male CSA survivors' ability to create emotional and physical closeness in romantic relationships. The purpose of this article is to explore how male CSA survivors perceive, experience and develop intimacy in romantic relationships, including both the challenges they face and the positive changes that enable them to grow and achieve healthy relationships.

Method
The study has employed a qualitative research approach and is based on in-depth interviews conducted among adult male CSA survivors residing in Sweden. Participants were recruited through civil society organizations and an ad in a daily newspaper. Using reflexive thematic analysis, the results are presented in relation to two themes: (a) challenges of intimacy; and (b) building trust and close relationships.

Results
The results show that participants desired couple relationships that included both sexual and emotional intimacy. The challenges of intimacy were related to compromised sexual identity, sexual dysfunctions and compulsions, emotional dysregulation, and body shame. Efforts to achieve intimacy were facilitated by disclosing abuse experiences, developing emotional bonds or awareness, embracing sensitivity, and having an empathetic and supportive partner.

Conclusions
Reconstructions of abuse histories were both challenged and facilitated by the accessibility of various and shifting ideas about masculinities that co-exist in Sweden, which were important sources for meaning making and assisted the men in developing positive valuations of themselves as men.

AbstractSocial workers often fail to engage fathers in child protection investigations (CPIs), especially when they involve domestic abuse (DA) by fathers. The aim of this study is to examine the strategies used by social workers to achieve cooperation with fathers in CPIs that involve the father being suspected of DA against the child's mother. With the use of qualitative methods, we conducted 31 semi‐structured interviews with 15 social workers during their work on 12 CPI cases. Through thematic analysis, two main strategies for achieving cooperation were created: (1) Securing an Initial Bond, which involved reducing the tension in CPI proceedings and affirming the father; (2) Maintaining the Bond while addressing the father's abusive behaviour, which involved negotiating with fathers about the DA and helping them shift their perspective on how their behaviour has impacted the victims. This analysis is rooted in the framework of shame, guilt and social bonds. However, there is a risk that these strategies may lead to the DA being minimized or overlooked. Striking a balance between building a bond and addressing abuse is crucial, and the timing of addressing DA plays a central role.

This book takes a life course perspective, analysing and comparing the biographies of mothers and fathers in seven European countries in context. Based on an innovative, cross-national EU study, it examines the ways in which working parents negotiate the transition to parenthood and attempt to find a 'work-life balance'. Using in-depth qualitative biographical data, the book offers a deep understanding of working parents' real lives by locating them within diverse national, workplace and family contexts. It provides rich insights into how policies and practices at the institutional level play out in individual and family lives, how they shape the decisions during both transition phases and in parents' daily experiences of juggling work and family life. It highlights some difficult and complex issues about the sustainability of contemporary working practices for bringing up children that are highly relevant in times of economic retrenchment. 'Transitions to parenthood in Europe' will be of interest to an academic readership at all levels of the social sciences, as well as employers, managers, trade unions and policy makers

In this exciting book, leading fatherhood scholars from Europe and Scandinavia offer unique insights into how to research fathers and fatherhood in contemporary society. Outlining research methods in detail, including examples of large scale studies, online research, surveys and visual and aural methods, they explore how each approach worked in practice, what the benefits and pitfalls were, and what the wider and future application of the chosen research methods might be. Covering a wide range of subjects from non-resident fathers to father engagement in child protection, this major contribution to the field also critiques and addresses the notion that fathers, especially young fathers, can be 'hard to reach'. Essential reading for both students and policy makers in a fast-growing area of interest