Using the National Survey of Hispanic Elderly People, 1988, this study examines the support system of the Mexican American elderly and their utilization of formal social services. Two major research questions were addressed: 1) How does the Mexican American family provide assistance to their elderly family members? and 2) How does the bureaucratic structure affect the Mexican American elderly's access and utilization of formal social services?

The following study is about how non-profit organizations in Sweden with focus on social services utilize strategic planning in their organizations. Furthermore, the thesis addresses the existential challenges associated with the strategic planning process. In addition, the study also takes the possible benefits of strategic planning process into consideration. With help of interviews and previous research the thesis has managed to gain plentiful information regarding the strategic planning process, its possible challenges as well as the benefits associated with the process. After analyzing both the empirical and theoretical materials, the study has come to the conclusion that strategic planning is an integral factor for the non-profit organizations' success. This is because the strategic plan aids the non-profit organizations when it comes to defining its goals as well as achieving them. In addition, the strategic planning process creates a sense of community in the organizations. Conversations and discussions that arise during the process are valuable and create cohesion. However, there are some potential challenges as well pertaining to the strategic planning process, which are addressed in the study later. Despite all the possible challenges all non-profit organizations that have been interviewed state that the benefits of the strategic plan outweigh the costs generated by creating and implementing the strategic plan.

Var tionde man i Sverige har någon gång köpt sex trots att detta är olagligt. Vill dessa män ha hjälp att sluta köpa sex, finns det begränsat med insatser som de kunde få. Syftet med denna studie var att få en överblick av vilken hjälp sexköpare i Dalarnas län, beläget i Sverige, kunde få på kommunal nivå vid studiens utförande. För att få en överblick intervjuades sex personer som var yrkesverksamma inom Socialtjänsten. Samtliga informanter ansåg att det fanns ett behov av att arbeta med sexköpare, men kommunerna hade olika uppfattningar om det är Socialtjänsten eller Regionen som hade det övergripande ansvaret över arbetet. / Every tenth Swedish man has at some point bought sex despite it being illegal. If these men wanted help to stop buying sex, there were few options. The purpose of this study was to get an overview of what kind of help sex buyers in the county of Dalarna, in Sweden, could get on a municipal level at the time of the study. To get the overview, interviews with six professionals in social services were conducted. All the informants agreed on that there was a need to work with and help sex buyers, but there were some different opinions on whether it was the social services or Region Dalarna (healthcare) who had the overall responsibility of the work.

This study aims to examine the Swedish Social Services work with women exposed to domestic violence by their male partner. The study investigates the opportunities versus the obstacles that social workers may encounter in their purpose to help and support these women. Methods used were qualitative, semi-structured interviews with four social workers.  The study found that problems that can occur in social services work with women exposed to domestic violence are insufficient routines in the organization, inadequate opportunities to help with housing and difficulties with the cooperation within Social Services between different sections. In terms of cooperation with external professionals, the social workers found the biggest struggle with the police. There are also difficulties when it comes to motivating women to receive help and a problem seems to be that there are limited possibilities to work with the abuser. The conclusion of this study is that changes need to be done on an organizational level. Currently it seems to be a lot of responsibility laid on the individual social worker regarding cases related to intimate partner violence. There needs to be more distinct routines, better conditions for cooperation and compulsory education for social workers about intimate partner violence.

Att bli utsatt av hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck kan påverka en individs hälsa både psykisktoch fysiskt. Det som utmärker hedersrelaterat våld är att det utövas av personer med starkkoppling till varandra i syfte att bevara familjens heder. Konsekvenser som hedersrelaterat våldför med sig är att den som utsätts riskerar att utsättas för våld, hot, kränkningar, bli bortfördmot sin vilja eller i värsta fall hedersmord. Socialtjänsten har en skyldighet att stötta och hjälpade individer som utsätts för hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Signs of safety är en metod somidag används inom barnskyddsutredningar i många av Sveriges socialtjänster. Det är därmedav relevans att veta hur metoden kan användas inom ett aktuellt ämne som hedersärenden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur socionomer implementerar metoden Signs ofsafety inom hedersärenden samt vilka utmaningar som finns med metoden. För att besvarafrågeställningarna utgick studien från tidigare befintlig forskning samt tre kvalitativa intervjuerav yrkesverksamma inom socialt arbete. I resultatet framkom det skilda åsikter om Signs ofsafety är en lämplig metod inom hedersärenden. Samtliga intervjupersoner var dock överensom vikten av att utforska nätverket noggrant och att som professionell vara öppen ochriskmedveten under hela utredningen. Slutsatsen från denna studie visar på att än fast det kan vara en utmaning att arbeta mednätverket som är en stor del av Signs of safety, kan metoden vara behjälplig under etthedersärende. Metoden medför ett helhetsperspektiv och en fördomsfri process, vilket är tillfördel för professionella som möter och hanterar olika människor. Kunskapen omhedersrelaterat våld är en viktig förutsättning för att kunna ge lämplig hjälp och stöd till utsatta.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social workers experience children's participation in childcare investigations, and whether the work has been affected since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was enacted. The study is based on a qualitative method and has been conducted through five semi-structured interviews with social workers. The data have been processed using a thematic analysis, thereafter the empirical material has been analyzed based on KASAM, the concept of power, Shier's Pathways to Participation model and previous research. Our results show that there is a lack of a uniform view of how children's participation should be attended to in practice. Furthermore, a lack of resources and the children's age and level of maturity appeared as factors that could reduce children's opportunities for participation. At last, the results indicate that the statutory provision of the Convention on the Rights of the Child had a minimal impact on the social worker’s daily work. In only a few cases it seems to have contributed to more frequent discussions about the convention.

The diploma thesis is focused on handling complaints in organizations providing social services. The process of handling complaints is conceived in the work as a process which, if properly set up and coordinated within the organization, can be useful in improving the services provided. The thesis summarizes professional theoretical knowledge in the field of complaint handling, describes the Czech legislative anchoring of work with complaints and offers an overview of possible processes procedures, rules and practices that can be used in practice. The practical part of the work is focused primarily on handling complaints in the field of providing interpretation of Czech sign language. Part of the diploma thesis is qualitative research, in which the process of handling complaints in the selected organization is diagnosed in detail. The results of the research include suggestions for possible procedures and recommendations that can help the organization streamline the complaint handling proces and can also be an inspiration for organizations that are open to a critical approach to their own complaint handling and possible implementation of changes.

This work maps the supply of social assistance to prostitutes in Dubí. Its aim is to determine which organizations are active in this direction and what is their job. For this detection was used a method called "snowball", followed by an analysis of written documents of these organizations and data collection through interviews with their staff. It was found that five oraganizations were here. Of these are currently only three aktive: Rozkoš bez rizika, Diecézní charita i Litoměřice and WHITE LIGHT I. I managed to create an overview of the activities of all the identified entities. Some information about conditions that they have in Dubí were found at the same time. The results of my work can be used by organisations themself for their better work coordination, as well as for city hall, which could be able to gain a better view of services, which have been afforded in its scope.

Diploma thesis "Effect of Act No. 206/2009 Coll. to community planning of social services in the Liberec region" deals with the influence of the Amendment to the Social Services Act No. 108/2006 Coll. on cooperation between local, regional and state level in social services planning in Liberec region. The thesis builds on the concept of civil society, principles decentralization and deconcentration and also relies on the theory of bureaucracy and public policy networks theory. In the thesis is used qualitative research approach. The chapters analyze community plans of social services in municipalities of Liberec region and also the mid-term developing plan of social services for the Liberec region. Based on document analysis are summarized Liberec region activities in the area of planning social services. There are evaluated semi-structured interviews made with actors of planning of social services, which explain the cooperation between three levels of governance (municipalities, region and state), the effect of political influence on the planning of social services and also understanding of the Act No. 108/2006 Coll. and its Amendment. It is worked also with stakeholder analysis and is discussed the future direction of Liberec region in the planning of social services. The thesis is case study of...

Master Thesis 2013 David Pospíšil Abstract: The subject of this master thesis is to analyze the current state of the mid- term planning of social services at regional level. This master thesis also describes the historical context of community planning, social services and their financing system. In this thesis there are applied methods as problem and objectives tree and multi-criteria evaluation of mid-term plans of social services development at the regional level, analysis and study of current legal standards related to this issue and questionnaire survey with representatives of the regions and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. This thesis deals with the mid-term planning of social services in relation to the present legal anchor in Czech legislation. Mid-term planning of social services is based on the principle of subsidiarity. The whole process should be as open to the public and especially other immediate stakeholders as to providers or users of social services. The planning process is not entirely new tool for decision-making and the development of strategies. It appears there are many activities and areas that are not well interconnected. For example, the process of financing social services, which is conducted partly at the regional and partly on the state level. Within the planning...