Perspectives on power relations in human health and well-being

As guest editors of the thematic cluster Perspectives on Power Relations in Human Health and Well-being in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, we would like to introduce the theme related to the five included articles. The incorporated papers discuss aspects of power in different contexts and power’s effects on health and well-being in human relations. Power in human relationships is, among other things, related to gender, age, and differences in knowledge about health issues as well as to contextual factors. The contexts of the studies included range from sports clubs for young people and personal trainers’ (PTs) coaching of individuals regarding health issues to football coaches managing interpersonal relationships with their players in order to win competitions. The cluster also comprises research regarding healthy habits in different populations, and ethical issues related to research among individuals with severe mental health problems such as schizophrenia. In common for all included articles is that they concern power relations related to human health and well-being. All human beings have equal worth regardless of their gender, age, background, or disability, and persons possessing any kind of a professional coaching function should treat other human beings with respect (UN General Assembly, 1948). The concept of Homo capax has developed from the perspective that every human being is a capable person with inherent power, capacity, and resources. Capable persons have the ability to speak, act, and take responsibility for their actions. Each person is both an acting individual and a suffering individual depending on the life events that they are experiencing. Human beings are striving for the good life characterized by harmony and by mutual respect for others (Ricoeur, 2011). In the area of health and well-being, focus on interpersonal relations is critical. In order to promote human freedom, every relationship must be built on respect for the inherent value of each person and a willingness to support each person’s strengths and abilities, and interpersonal relations have to be built on mutual respect for each other’s knowledge and life experiences (Morgan & Yoder, 2012). Hence, it is important to take into account the whole person and his or her physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs. The importance of seeing all individuals as capable persons is described by Lindgren, Annerstedt, and Dohlsten (2017), who explore what sport clubs could do to retain their young adult members. Focus-group interviews were conducted with 27 coaches and 28 young adults. In this grounded theory, the core category “The individual at the centre of a community” summarized a process in which the coaches pay attention to the young adults’ needs and interests regardless of their backgrounds and skills. Three main categories reflected key components in sports clubs: participation and influence, including having their voices heard and participating on equal terms; social connectedness, including friends and fellowship and emotional support and security; and good conditions reflected in low costs and the development of facilities (Lindgren et al., 2017). Moreover, Lindgren and Barker-Ruchti (2017) illuminate how a sample of female Swedish national football coaches describe how they carefully manage interpersonal relationships with respect to the well-being of their players as they face social and organizational pressure to win competitions. In-depth interviews were conducted with five female football coaches, and this resulted in the overarching theme of “a holistic perspective of every person”. Four categories revealed that female football coaches focus on promoting development, wellbeing, and sustainability, listening to feelings of demands and expectations, managing challenging behaviour, and promoting fair play for the greater good (Lindgren & Barker-Ruchti, 2017). Knowledge and power are concepts that affect each other because knowledge creates power and power increases through knowledge (Kuokkanen & Leino-Kilpi, 2000). All human relationships thus incorporate power relations in different contexts (Bradbury-Jones, Sambrook, & Irvine, 2008; Kuokkanen & LeinoKilpi, 2000). Global health—like the arts, law, and medicine—is a social arena with specific rules, but one where people hold unequal positions (Shiffman, 2015). In the area of healthcare, providers have more power and expertise than clients (Brown, 2016), and in contexts that incorporate older people, unequal power relations are common (Eliassen, 2016). There are also aspects of power involved in the relationship between the researcher and the participant in both quantitative and qualitative research. The researcher has the power to determine the research questions and the methods of data collection and analysis, but the researcher also has the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUALITATIVE STUDIES ON HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, 2017 VOL. 12, 1358581 https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2017.1358581