The aim of this study was to gain an increased understanding of how social worker’s in Sweden experience, manage and prevent secondary traumatization at work. It was a phenomenological and qualitative study were the results was collected through semi-structured interviews with social worker’s. The result has been interpreted from the coping theories by Lazarus and Folkman. The result shows that the majority of the social worker’s that we interviewed experience secondary traumatization and use different coping stratigies to handle said trauma. The main problemfocused coping strategies constitues coaching sessions and also simply being prepared. The more often used emotional strategies includes, among others, social support, self-care, reflection and avoidance. Social worker’s use different strategies during similar situations which is mainly based on their own personality, experiances and knowledge. A sense of purpose, competence building, and a balance between work- and private life are largely perceived to be the most important preventative factors, where both the organization and the individual need to take their respective responsibility.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:15:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Regina Esther de Araujo Celeguim Tuon.pdf: 438156 bytes, checksum: 1aaf9e7bdaef46821825d90e1e3f18f0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this work is to analyze the insertion and performance of Social Workers in the Center of Psychosocial Attention for alcohol and other drugs- CAPSad, a community-based outpatient service, created by the Ministry of Health in 2002 to treat individuals with disorders related to the use of psychotropic substances. The starting point of this analysis was a qualitative research carried out from July to December 2010, with social workers of the CAPSad units in the State of São Paulo. The content of their statements made it possible to analyze the practice of social workers regarding the following aspects: daily routine in the institution; specificities of the Social Work in the CAPSad; relation between the Social Worker and other areas of knowledge, and the critical view this professional has of CAPSad. From the analysis of the empirical categories it was possible to conclude that Social Workers play a fundamental and strategic role in this institution, since they work with people from a broader perspective, thus allowing the suffering of the individual with psychotropic substance-related problems to be understood within a historical, social and cultural context. The study also points to the need of Social Workers to enlarge and improve their competences for the institutional work from the perspective of interdisciplinarity / A proposta deste trabalho consiste em analisar a inserção e atuação do Assistente Social no Centro de Atenção Psicossocial para o álcool e outras drogas - CAPSad, serviço ambulatorial de base comunitária, criado pelo Ministério da Saúde, no em 2002, para atender portadores de transtornos decorrentes do uso de substâncias psicotrópicas. O ponto de partida para essa análise foi uma pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, realizada no período de julho á dezembro de 2010, com assistentes sociais que trabalham em CAPSad do Estado de São Paulo. O conteúdo dos depoimentos dos sujeitos permitiu analisar a prática do assistente social nos seguintes aspectos: cotidiano da prática institucional, especificidade do Serviço Social no CAPSad, a relação do Assistente Social com as outras áreas do conhecimento e o posicionamento crítico desse profissional frente o CAPSad. A partir da análise das categorias empíricas pode-se concluir que o Assistente Social tem um papel necessário e estratégico nessa instituição, pois trabalha com pessoas numa da perspectiva mais ampla, permitindo que o sofrimento do dependente de substâncias psicotrópicas, seja compreendido dentro de um contexto histórico, social e cultural. O estudo também aponta a necessidade do Assistente Social ampliar e aprimorar suas competências para o trabalho institucional na perspectiva da interdisciplinaridade

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Generally, studies on social work supervision, in the university setting, has focused mainly on students’ experiences. Research on the experience of the supervisor, or agency, providing guidance is scant. This study argues that the narrow focus on students’ experiences is disproportionate, and marginalises all the other stakeholders involved in fieldwork education. In addition, the existing studies create blind spots for programme evaluation, as they are not holistic. This current study proposes a broader analysis. Global and national standards for social work training involve the theory and practice component of the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) programme. The practice component requires students to conduct fieldwork training at social work organisations, under the supervision of a qualified and experienced social worker. International and local studies on the supervision of BSW students reveal that social workers often consider themselves to be underprepared to supervise students. In addition, social workers often lack post-qualifying training to undertake student supervision, specifically, which is further exacerbated by the dearth of policies, or legislation, stipulating post-qualifying training and experience for the supervision of BSW students. The purpose of this current study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of social workers, related to fieldwork supervision in the BSW degree, at a selected university in the Western Cape (WC), South Africa (SA). A qualitative research approach was used, as it is attentive to the personal experiences, from the insider’s perspective, and aims to understand multiple realities. This approach is relevant to the current study, as it focuses on exploring and describing the perceptions and experiences of the participants, which the qualitative method underscores. A case study design was utilised, as it is descriptive, and is an in-depth study of a single instance of a social phenomenon. The case, in this instance, is the BSW programme at a selected university. Purposive sampling was used, as the participants, who are most representative of the study, were selected in the sampling process. The sample for this study comprised of twenty four participants: 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted and 13 questionnaires were completed by registered social workers. The following data verification methods were used: http://etd.uwc.ac.za ii member checking (See Annexure J); triangulation; researcher reflexivity; peer debriefing and an on-going dialogue, regarding the researcher’s interpretations of the data, as this aided the accuracy of the findings. Coding was applied by the researcher to create categories within the data, and thematic analysis to further identify the emerging themes and sub-themes, which were subsequently funnelled. Typologies are interpreted and developed, and the data, finally presented. Four themes and sixteen sub-themes emerged from the data (See Chapter 4). The focus of theme four was on continuous professional development (CPD), which reiterates the importance of post-qualifying training of social workers who supervise BSW students, and the importance of this study. This study recommends CPD of all social workers who provide fieldwork supervision in the BSW programme. There is also a need for emotional support for students and essentially fieldwork supervision needs to be viewed as indispensable to academia. An implication of the lack of CPD could be detrimental to students and could lead to stagnation in the field of social work and ultimately affect the standard of the profession.

The diploma thesis deals with the description of terms such as senior, old age and basic physical and psychological changes that accompany this period. The next part of the thesis describes the concept of client, social worker and the possibilities of social work legislation in the Czech Republic. In the third part the thesis describes in detail the terms such as ethics, ethical behavior, professional ethics, ethical code and ethical dilemmas. The following chapter, based on a written questionnaire, describes the view of the ethical dilemmas of six female social workers. Furthermore, in this chapter, I present 13 selected dilemma situations that are based on the direct practice of female social workers. This part of the thesis is followed by another chapter, in which the analysis of the selected dilemma situation is carried out and a preview of the various ethical theories most frequently encountered in the literature. The ethical theories chosen are deontology, utilitarianism and ethics of care. The aim of this thesis was to describe the basic concepts of ethical dilemmas with which workers in social services can meet. The concrete practical solution of individual ethical situations by social service workers will enable a realistic view of solving ethical dilemmas in practice. The analysis of a particular selected dilemma situation will provide a view of solving this situation using the most important ethical approaches. Knowledge of these approaches can help social workers to make choices and choose the right ethical approach.

The aim of this study is to examine how social workers in municipal authorities and NGOs experience their discretion and if there are any areas of development, in social work with youths and adults who are exposed to prostitution or human trafficking for sexual purposes. The study's aim and the questions at issue were answered through eight semi-structured interviews with female social workers in two municipalities in mid-Sweden. The study includes Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development (1979) and Lipskys (1980) concept about street-level bureaucrats. The result shows that all social workers are experiencing that they’ve discretion in their work. A majority experience their discretion as free, because they make assessments and decisions on their own. The majority experience that external factors as workplace climate, colleagues, guidelines, routines, norms, views in society or laws does not delimitate their discretion and all social workers claim that social workers’ knowledge is inadequate. The majority also claims that knowledge is inadequate in society. Other areas of development are resources such as staff, sheltered housing for men and housing for women with active drug abuse. An increased priority of the target group in organisations is also an expressed development area, to strengthen the work around the target group. / Studien syftar till att undersöka hur socialarbetare inom kommunala myndigheter och frivilligorganisationer upplever deras handlingsutrymme och vilka utvecklingsområden som finns i det sociala arbetet med ungdomar och vuxna som är utsatta i prostitution eller människohandel för sexuella ändamål. Studiens syfte och frågeställningar besvarades genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med kvinnliga socialarbetare i två kommuner i Mellansverige. Den teoretiska referensramen i studien består av Bronfenbrenners utvecklingsekologiska systemteori (1979) samt Lipskys (1980) begrepp gällande gräsrotsbyråkrater. Resultatet visar att samtliga socialarbetare upplever att de har ett stort handlingsutrymme i arbetet med målgruppen. Majoriteten av socialarbetarna upplever att handlingsutrymmet i arbetet är fritt då de gör egna bedömningar och beslutar på egen hand. Majoriteten upplever även att handlingsutrymmet inte begränsas av yttre faktorer såsom klimat på arbetsplatsen, kollegor, riktlinjer, rutiner, normer, värderingar i samhället eller lagar. I resultatet framkommer även att samtliga socialarbetare hävdar att kunskapen är bristfällig hos socialarbetare och majoriteten upplever att den även är bristfällig i samhället. Socialarbetarna beskriver även andra utvecklingsområden som resursbrist i form av personal, skyddade boenden för män, boenden för kvinnor i aktivt missbruk, samt en ökad prioritet inom organisationerna för att ha möjlighet att stärka arbetet kring målgruppen.

This study aims to answer how social workers conceptualize the risk of violence in their workplace. The data consisted of seven interviews with social workers working in financial aid departments in or around the Stockholm area. Semi structured interviews were used to gather the data which then were processed with a fenomenographic method. The data was analyzed with Lazarus and Folkman theory on coping and Antonovsky’s generalized resistance resources. The findings in this study shows that all respondents have experienced threats or violence in some form in their work. They use strategies to cope with both the situation at hand and the emotions connected to the event. The respondents were affected in their spare time to some extent. It will be argued that there is a form of duality between to not accept violence and at the same time have understanding for client’s vulnerable situation and for the effect social workers decision-making have on the client’s lives.

Titel: “Exposed – but in different ways”. A vignette study on social workers' view of addicted clients based on beliefs about gender. Authors: Caroline Johansson and Linn Johansson. The purpose of this essay was to investigate whether gender affects how social workers in the addiction area assess the client's situation. This was done through a vignette study with a qualitative approach in which six social workers' from four different municipalities participated. The fictional case description was about a client who was in a situation where the use of alcohol and prescription drugs was highlighted. Social factors were also reported when the person in question had two children, a former partner, a current partner and two parents. Two vignettes were constructed with the same content, the only difference was that in vignette 1, the main character was a woman and in vignette 2, the main character was a man. Three social workers received vignette 1 and the remaining three received vignette 2. Individual interviews were conducted and the result was analyzed using a social constructivism perspective focusing on gender. This was done by using the concepts genus order, heterosexual matrix, typing and stereotyping and "making gender". Previous research within the field was also included in the analysis. The result showed that the social workers' made different assessments based on beliefs about gender in a number of different areas. The conclusion is that a discussion needs to be raised about how to create gender equality in social work services which takes into account the different positions that gender entails in society.   Keywords: sex, gender, social worker, addiction, social constructionism.

Child welfare has been part of American society since the early 1900s and continues to play a pivotal role in response to troubled families. Although there is a need for qualified child welfare staff, the process of maintaining staff is a constant struggle for many child welfare agencies. Many states are experiencing high turnover rates within the child welfare system, and Florida has been acutely impacted. Researchers have demonstrated that the nature of the work, supervision, and other organizational factors continue to contribute to job satisfaction among child welfare professionals. Guided by the social exchange theory as the theoretical framework, which is based on intraorganizational relationships and workplace behavior, this quantitative study determined which indices of job satisfaction influenced retention among workers in Palm Beach County, Florida. It also examined how job satisfaction impacted different worker groups. Using Spector's Job Satisfaction Survey and additional demographical questions, data were analyzed to measure job satisfaction among the different worker groups (n = 18). A 2-tailed t test, analysis of variance, and multivariate analysis of variance indicated that adoption workers were more satisfied than were dependency workers in each of the 9 indices measured and that having a degree in social work did not influence job satisfaction among the different worker types. By understanding the factors related to job satisfaction in Palm Beach County, Florida, child welfare agencies can implement measures and procedures geared at increasing retention among child welfare workers.

<p><strong>This essay reflects on the thoughts and experiences of social workers in child protection agencies when it comes to talking about sexuality with teenagers, age 13-20, who is being subjected to inquiry. The research is qualitative and based on five semi-structured interviews. It has a phenomenological position and has been analyzed hermeneutically through cognitive and gender theory. Previous research shows that youths who get in contact with child protection often have issues about their sexuality. This study show that social workers in the agencies lack knowledge about this issue and that they seldom talks about it with the teenagers or their own colleagues. They are however aware of risks involved with the youth’s sexual activities and the problems that may evolve from it. Despite this they sometimes avoid the subject. Their reason is that they are afraid of investigating more than necessary and by doing so offend the clients. Sexuality for them is a private area and they feel that they need motivation for asking certain questions. The study also shows that they find it easier to talk with teenagers of the same gender as themselves. The teenagers therefore get varied help and treatment. </strong></p>

<p>This study is investigating what conditions can strengthen an alliance and which obstacles there are. Coercion aspects can also influence an alliance and are therefore also written about. The asymmetrical relationship between the social worker and the juvenile delinquent is investigated also with in regards to the tacit and explicit coercion when they are entering care. The study is focusing on the consequence/influence programs that the juvenile delinquents can be sentenced to because of their crimes. Counseling is a major part in these programs. For the definition of alliance I have used Bordin´s definition, it includes mutual agreement about the task and goal. It also includes bonding between the two parts. This study also uses Hill´s definitions sham alliance, mutual adaption and alliance breakdown. This study´s result shows that in order to achieve a strong alliance it is important for the social worker to handle the conditions in a non-judgmental way and be clear about the rules and regulations. It is also important to get the juveniles parents involved in the treatment.</p>