Arbetsrelaterad stress har nu ökat avsevärt i Sverige efter några års nedgång. Särskilt utsatta är de som arbetar inom barn- och familjeenheter på socialtjänsten. Stressrelaterade hälsoproblem bland socialarbetare inom barnavården har kopplats till stora arbetsbelastningar i flera studier. En rapport från Arbetsmiljöverket noterar att ökade arbetsbelastningar ledde till mindre tid för klienter, ökad stress, mer sjukfrånvaro, personalomsättning och att anställda kände att det var svårare att göra ett bra jobb. Detta resulterade i negativa effekter för både klienter och arbetstagarna själva. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka organisatoriska faktorer relaterade till upplevelser av arbetsrelaterad stress hos socialarbetare inom barn- och familjeenheter i två kommuner i Skåne. För att samla in data genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta barnavårdsarbetare. Studien belyser de organisatoriska utmaningarna i att hitta balansen mellan arbetskrav och resurser för att minska hög arbetsbelastning och stress. Detta tvingar socialarbetarna inom barn- och familjeenheterna att hitta strategier för att hantera de organisatoriska utmaningarna genom att antingen riskera sin hälsa eller kvaliteten på sitt arbete. Studiens resultat betonar organisationernas personalorientering för att motverka upplevelsen av stress och hög arbetsbelastning. / Work-related stress has now increased significantly in Sweden after a few years of decline. Particularly vulnerable are those who work in child and family units of social services. Stress-related health issues among social workers in child welfare have been linked to severe workloads in several studies. A report from the Swedish Work Environment Authority notes that increased workloads led to less time for clients, increased stress, more sick leave, employee turnover and employees feeling that there is harder to do a good job. Resulting in negative effects on clients as well as the workers themselves. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate organizational factors related to experiences of work-related stress within social workers in child and family units in two municipalities in Skåne. To collect data qualitative interviews were conducted with eight child welfare workers. The study illustrates the organizational challenges in finding the balance between the work requirements and resources to reduce heavy workload and stress. That forces the social workers within the child and family units to find strategies to handle the organizational challenges by either jeopardizing their health or the quality of their work. The study results emphasis the organizations staff orientation to counteract the experience of stress and heavy workload.

This study aims to describe and analyse the ideas behind and the function of the NGO Maskrosbarn’s advocate services for children (barnombud) during child welfare investigations. The main focus is the advocate services relation to children’s participation. The study has a qualitative case-study approach and contains documents from the local authorities and interviews with eight representatives in six different positions such as child advocates, youth and social workers. An analysis has been made using Shier’ (2001) and Hart’s (1992) theories of child participation and theories about human service organisations (Hasenfeldt, 1983), the New Institutional Theory (Meyer & Rowan, 1977) and the street-level bureaucrat theory (Lipsky, 1980). One main obstacle for child participation in child welfare investigation, shown in the study, is organisational conditions and social workers’ position in public authority. By creating a relationship built on trust, the child advocate supports the child in the investigation process and has the ability to increase the child’s participation and thereby overcome the gap between the social worker and the child. This study highlights the importance of an active cooperation between the child advocate services and the social services, and also of a shared view on the meaning of participation.

The aim of this study was to receive a rapt understanding of how child-welfare officer’s reasons about the meaning of attachment theory, from the child´s best, in placements of a child. The aim was also to examine the possibilities child-welfare officer´s feel they have to work with the child´s best and attachment in focus. The study has a qualitative approach and the empirical material is collected thru semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework used is attachment theory, the child´s best and street-level bureaucracy. The result of the study shows that child-welfare officers have equivalent knowledge, experiences and thoughts about the meaning of attachment theory for a favorable development in foster children. The study concludes is that more knowledge about attachment theory is necessary and child-welfare officers demands methods to better assess attachment patterns in children. The child-welfare officers express frustration when they talk about matters in the "grey area" and situations where different perspectives clashes and the child´s best end up in the background. / Studiens syfte var att erhålla en fördjupad förståelse för hur socialsekreterare i den sociala barnavården resonerar om anknytningens betydelse, utifrån barnets bästa, vid familjehemsplacering av ett barn. Syftet var också att ta reda på vilka möjligheter socialsekreterare upplever sig ha att arbeta med barnets bästa och anknytning i fokus. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och materialet är insamlat genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Den teoretiska tolkningsram som används är anknytningsteori, barnets bästa samt gräsrotsbyråkrati. Studiens resultat visar att socialsekreterare har likvärdiga kunskaper, erfarenheter och tankar om anknytningens betydelse för en gynnsam utveckling hos familjehemsplacerade barn. Studiens slutsats är att mer kunskap om anknytningsteori är nödvändig och socialsekreterare efterfrågar metoder för att bättre kunna bedöma anknytningsmönster hos barn. Socialsekreterarna ger uttryck för frustration när de berättar om så kallade gråzonsärenden och situationer där olika perspektiv är i konflikt och barnets bästa hamnar i skymundan.

Syftet med denna kvantitativa studie är att undersöka huruvida det finns skillnader i andelen insatser inom barnavården mellan de svenska kommunerna. Studiens fokus ligger på att analysera kommunernas strukturella förhållanden i förhållande till vilka åtgärder de vidtar i barnavårdsärenden. De empiriska uppgifterna för studien är främst sekundärdata som samlats in från Statistiska centralbyrån och från Socialstyrelsen. Frågeställningarna för studien är ”Skiljer sig kommunerna åt i andelen barnavårdsinsatser och i sådana fall hur?” och "Om det skiljer sig åt mellan kommunerna, har kommunens strukturella förutsättningar en inverkan på andelen barnavårdsinsatser och i sådana fall på vilket sätt?”. Studiens inhämtade data visar att det finns skillnader i andelen insatser i barnavården mellan kommunerna. Vidare visar analyser av data att skillnaderna i andelen insatser är korrelerade, både negativt och positivt till kommunernas strukturella förhållanden. Resultaten visar också att de olika variabelgrupperna av strukturella förhållanden har olika förklaringar till variationen i de åtgärder som vidtagits. Demografi är den enskilt största förklaringen medan ekonomin visar sig vara den minsta mellan grupperna. Den största effekten som kommer av en variabel är kommunens invånares utbildningsnivå. Vidare visar studien på skillnaderna mellan de svenska kommunerna och belyser ojämlikheterna i det svenska välfärdssystemet. Detta trots sina många förordningar för att motverka detta och att vara allmänt känt för att vara i framkant av den universalistiska synpunkten. / The aim of this quantitative study is to examine whether there are differences in the quantity of actions taken in child protections services between the swedish municipalities. Moreover the focus of the study is to analyze the municipalities structural conditions in relation to what actions they take in child protection service cases. The empirical data for the study is primarily secondary data collected from the Swedish Central Bureau of Statistics and from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. The questions at issue for the study are “Do the municipalities differ in the proportion of actions taken in child protection services and if so, how?” and “If it differs between the municipalities, do the municipalities’ structural conditions have an impact on the proportion of actions taken in child protection services and if so, in what way? The collected data shows that there are differences in the amount of actions taken in child protection service cases between the municipalities. Furthermore the analyses of that data demonstrates that the differences in the actions taken are correlated, both negatively and positively to the structural conditions of the municipalities. The findings also shows that the different variable groups of structural conditions have different explanatories of the variation in the actions taken. Demography is the single biggest explanatory while economy is shown to be the smallest between the groups. The greatest effect of a single variable is the education level of the municipality’s citizens. Further on the study exposes the differences between the Swedish municipalities and brings light to the inequalities in the Swedish welfare system. This despite its many regulations to decrees it and widely being known for being in the forefront of the universalistic viewpoint.

<p>Caring for children at hospital with palliative care needs arouses different reactions in nurses and depends on what prior knowledge and experience nurses have. To besides shift focus from to care children palliative to care curative is further a strain and an emotional changeover. The aim of this study was to illuminate nurse’s</p><p>perceptions about caring for children at hospital with palliative care needs, and how they shift focus of care between children with palliative care needs and children with curative care needs. The study has a qualitative approach and data were collected with interviews from two focus groups. The interviews were performed in two different hospitals in the middle of Sweden, and analyzed with a manifest content analysis. Five themes were created from the analysis: create confidence and individualized relations, difference in meeting of children with unlike care needs, acquired experience and ability to reflect, need of support, supervision and distance,</p><p>difficulties to enforce a balance in changing between different care need. The conclusion was that nurses who shift between caring for children with a palliative care or curative care needs are exposed to psychological strain which may lead to psychological ill- health. This is important to prevent through for example continuous supervision which may contribute to the possibility for nurses to obtain more time for reflection and regain new strength.</p> / <p>Sjuksköterskor som arbetar på en barnavdelning möter ofta barn med ett palliativt vårdbehov, vilket väcker olika reaktioner hos sjuksköterskorna beroende på tidigare kunskap och erfarenhet. Att dessutom skifta fokus från att vårda barn palliativt till att vårda kurativt är ytterligare en påfrestande och känslomässig omställning. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa sjuksköterskors uppfattningar om hur det är att vårda barn på barnavdelning i sluten vård med palliativt vårdbehov samt hur det är att växelvis vårda barn med palliativt vårdbehov gentemot barn med kurativt vårdbehov. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och data har samlats in via intervjuer i två</p><p>fokusgrupper. Intervjuerna genomfördes på två olika sjukhus i mellersta Sverige och analyserades med manifest innehållsanalys. Utifrån analysen skapades fem teman: skapa förtroende och att individanpassa relationen, skillnader i bemötande av barn med olika vårdbehov, förvärvad erfarenhet och förmåga att reflektera, behov av stöd, handledning och distans, svårigheter att upprätthålla en balans i växlingen mellan olika vårdbehov. Slutsatser som drogs var att sjuksköterskor som växelvis vårdar barn med palliativt eller kurativt vårdbehov utsätts för psykiska påfrestningar, vilket kan leda till psykisk ohälsa. Detta är viktigt att förebygga genom att sjuksköterskorna får till exempel kontinuerlig handledning vilket ger tid till reflektion och möjlighet att inhämta nya krafter.</p>

This thesis examines the implementation of a philanthropically project called Norrbottens arbetsstugor which were launched during the famine of 1903. The project initially aimed to hinder starvation among children to poor families and was arranged in a similar way as boarding-out schools. Children to poor families were offered this temporary solution and during their stay they received board and lodging as well as schooling and work practice. However, the project continues until 1954 although the threat of famine is hindered fairly promptly which indicates that new policies were introduced. Therefore, the inquiry focuses on how actors on different levels in the implementation structure adapt and transform the philanthropically policy to suit their respective needs and goals. The study is divided into two phases, a so called initial phase and an expansion phase. The implementation is investigated via archive material from the philanthropically organisation itself, Stiftelsen Norrbottens Läns arbetsstugor, as well as from local governments (kommunala skolråd) and representatives of the Swedish government (folkskoleinspektörer). The study shows how policies of childcare becomes blurry or difficult to fulfil due to insufficient means, lack of control or because of absence of recognized tools to evaluate the activity. Commonly, implementation studies sought to show how well or misused the policy has been obeyed after its introduction. This study shows rather how a policy can work fruitfully even though, or thanks to, its intentions are reformulated by different actors. This of course, awakes questions of moral characters. The study also highlights the importance to investigate, in this case a philanthropically case, not only as such, but as a project that is ongoing on several levels. This gives us the opportunity to see what, for example, the conception of ‘good childcare’ means and how it is defined depending on the level studied. To put it short: when studied in different levels, we may unveil the different meanings of a concept. Keywords: Norrbotten, early 20th century, childcare, boarding-school, philanthropy, assimilation, implementation.

Caring for children at hospital with palliative care needs arouses different reactions in nurses and depends on what prior knowledge and experience nurses have. To besides shift focus from to care children palliative to care curative is further a strain and an emotional changeover. The aim of this study was to illuminate nurse’s perceptions about caring for children at hospital with palliative care needs, and how they shift focus of care between children with palliative care needs and children with curative care needs. The study has a qualitative approach and data were collected with interviews from two focus groups. The interviews were performed in two different hospitals in the middle of Sweden, and analyzed with a manifest content analysis. Five themes were created from the analysis: create confidence and individualized relations, difference in meeting of children with unlike care needs, acquired experience and ability to reflect, need of support, supervision and distance, difficulties to enforce a balance in changing between different care need. The conclusion was that nurses who shift between caring for children with a palliative care or curative care needs are exposed to psychological strain which may lead to psychological ill- health. This is important to prevent through for example continuous supervision which may contribute to the possibility for nurses to obtain more time for reflection and regain new strength. / Sjuksköterskor som arbetar på en barnavdelning möter ofta barn med ett palliativt vårdbehov, vilket väcker olika reaktioner hos sjuksköterskorna beroende på tidigare kunskap och erfarenhet. Att dessutom skifta fokus från att vårda barn palliativt till att vårda kurativt är ytterligare en påfrestande och känslomässig omställning. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa sjuksköterskors uppfattningar om hur det är att vårda barn på barnavdelning i sluten vård med palliativt vårdbehov samt hur det är att växelvis vårda barn med palliativt vårdbehov gentemot barn med kurativt vårdbehov. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och data har samlats in via intervjuer i två fokusgrupper. Intervjuerna genomfördes på två olika sjukhus i mellersta Sverige och analyserades med manifest innehållsanalys. Utifrån analysen skapades fem teman: skapa förtroende och att individanpassa relationen, skillnader i bemötande av barn med olika vårdbehov, förvärvad erfarenhet och förmåga att reflektera, behov av stöd, handledning och distans, svårigheter att upprätthålla en balans i växlingen mellan olika vårdbehov. Slutsatser som drogs var att sjuksköterskor som växelvis vårdar barn med palliativt eller kurativt vårdbehov utsätts för psykiska påfrestningar, vilket kan leda till psykisk ohälsa. Detta är viktigt att förebygga genom att sjuksköterskorna får till exempel kontinuerlig handledning vilket ger tid till reflektion och möjlighet att inhämta nya krafter.

Social work is a profession where documentation about people’s behavior and life circumstances is common. In the beginning of the essay we ask ourselves, if these descriptions about people can be problematic? To explore this, we studied social documentation, from the past. We used a historical source because history can help usunderstand the social work that is being conducted today. The aim of our study was to findout how early welfare work defined and described deviant behavior in child care issues, and how the child care agency handled these issues. Out method was a document analysis off the children’s care protocols in Kalmar, from 1929 to 1937. We present our results along with two illustrative case descriptions. Our theoretical approaches are Howard S Becker and Erwing Goffman´s theories of deviation. Their conclusion is that deviation is created by society, not by individuals or their actions. Since cases of children’s neglect and cases with deviant children were common and well documented we focused our empirical presentation on what was included in these terms. Children’s neglect cases focused on parent’s inability to provide the child with proper food, clothes, housing and similar factors. We also found that they made a distinction between mothers and fathers responsibility in these cases. Regarding the deviant children they also made a distinction between the sexes, identifying different behaviors deviant for girls andboys. Though some factors, such as being a illegitimate child and being unreliable is a definition used on both sexes. Since, according to our theories, deviation is created by our society our conclusion is that both children’s neglect and problem children can be seen as a result of societies expectations, and we present examples of how that can be understood in our analyze. In our final discussion we discuss how the definition of deviant behavior is relevant today. We discuss our findings in relation to BBIC, a Swedish child protection investigation guide. Our conclusion is that we still create deviations through documentation.

Svensk barnavård och tvångsvård av barn och unga har diskuterats och problematiserats av flertalet forskare och har även varit lagstadgat sedan början av 1900-talet. Lagen och hur samhället ser på problembeteende och skyddsbehov har sedan dess förändrats. Exempelvis så var den dominerande synen, innan 1900-talet, att samhället hade en viss skyldighet att skydda och hjälpa barn och unga i nöd men präglades snarare av ett samhällsskyddande synsätt. Även vad som anses vara ett problem har förändrats över tid och korrigerats inom lagstiftningen. Hur vi människor kommer överens om vad som är normalt eller normbrytande görs dels genom sociala processer men också genom språk där vi konstruerar en gemensam verklighet som vi förhåller oss till. Lagstiftningen som sådan är en, av människan skapad, konstruktion av vad vi gemensamt anser är de normer som vi ska förhålla oss till. Därav anser vi att det är intressant att se hur barn och ungdomars normbrytande beteende skrivs fram, framställs eller konkretiseras i domar som berör tvångsvård av barn. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur ett barns skyddsbehov och problembeteenden konstrueras i domar rörande 3 § lagen (1990:52) med särskilda bestämmelser om vård av unga (LVU). För att besvara studiens syfte har följande frågeställning varit vägledande; vilka problembeteenden och skyddsbehov framställs i domar som avser vård enligt 3 § LVU? Ett kvalitativt angreppssätt har använts för att svara på studiens syfte och frågeställning. Studiens empiri består av 33 förvaltningsrättsdomar mellan åren 2012 och 2017 från en, för studien, specifik kommun. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är socialkonstruktionism och tematisk analys används som analysverktyg. Studien analyseras med stöd av socialkonstruktivistisk teori och med stöd av tankar från bland andra Johanna Schiratzki, Anna Hollander, Astrid Schlytter, Lina Ponnert, Pernilla Leviner och Titti Mattsson, för att nämna några. Resultatet presenteras med stöd av fem huvudteman; brottslig verksamhet, missbruk av beroendeframkallande medel, något annat socialt nedbrytande beteende, påtaglig risk och samtycke. Samt fem subteman utifrån rekvisitet socialt nedbrytande beteende; olämpliga miljöer, missbruk, bristande skolgång, kriminalitet och sist neuropsykiatriska diagnoser och/eller annan psykisk variation. Studiens resultat visar på att de ungas skyddsbehov och problembeteende skrivs fram genom rekvisiten inom LVU lagstiftningen och att konstruktionen av dessa börjar i och med socialsekreterarens LVU-utredning och socialnämndens ansökan om vård med stöd av LVU. Resultatet visar även på att förvaltningsrätten som oftast bifaller socialnämndens ansökan om vård och i studiens empiriska material avslås endast två ansökningar. I studiens avslutande kapitel förs en diskussion om studiens slutsatser men också om vidare forskning kring konstruktionen gällande barn och ungdomars skyddsbehov och problembeteende. / Swedish child welfare and compulsory care for children and adolescents has been discussed and problematized by most researchers and been statutory since the beginning of the 20th century. The law and the way Swedish society views problem behavior, child and adolescent delinquency and the need to care and protect the children with such needs has changed over time. For example, the dominant view, before the 20th century, was that society had a certain obligation to protect and help children and young in need, but rather was characterized by a community-protection approach. What society considers to be a problem behavior has changed over time and been corrected multiple times within the law. How people agree on what is a normal or problematic behavior, when it comes to children and adolescents, is through social processes and language. Through our common social processes and languages we construct a common reality to which we can relate. Legislation as such is a man-made construction of what we commonly consider to be the norms that we should follow. Therefore, we find it interesting to understand how children and adolescents problem behavior is expressed, produced or concretized in judgments relating to compulsory care.  The purpose of the study is to investigate how a child’s or young person’s problem behaviors and protection needs are constructed in judgments relating to 3 § of the care of young people (special provision) act (LVU). In order to answer the purpose of the study the following questions should be asked; what problem behaviors and protection needs are constructed in judgments relating to care under 3 § of the LVU? A qualitative approach has been used to answer the study’s purpose and questions. The empirical study consists of 33 court judgments between 2012 and 2017 from one specific municipality. The theoretical basis of the study is social constructionism and thematic analysis is used as an analytical tool. The study is analyzed on the basis of social constructivist theory and supported by research from, to name a few, Johanna Schiratzki, Anna Hollander, Astrid Schlytter, Lina Ponnert, Pernilla Leviner and Titti Mattsson.  The results of the study indicate that the problem behavior and protection needs of children and young people are constructed through the LVU-legislation process and that the social construction begins with the Social Welfare Committee's LVU investigation and application for care with the support of LVU. The result also shows that law most often approves of the Social Welfare Committee's application compulsory care. In the empirical material of the study, only two applications were rejected. The study's final chapter discusses the conclusions of the study, but also on further research on the construction of children and young people's problem behavior and protection needs.

Ledarskap och psykosocial arbetsmiljö inom socialtjänstens barnavård - en kunskapsöversikt  Leadership and psychosocial work environment in child welfare services - a scoping review  Social workers in social services and especially in childcare have for many years been a vulnerable professional group with high staff turnover and a heavy workload. There have long been reports of increased sick leave, retention, burnout, and stress related ill health. This due to work related issues that does not seem to decrease, despite the awareness of the nature and complexity of the job. In the study, the focus has been on investigating which management, leadership and supervisor characteristics that are described in the literature impact and their impact on the working environment. A further aim of the study was to investigate potential knowledge gaps in research of leadership characteristics and their potential effect on the working environment. The results have been interpreted based on the Job Demand-Resource model, the Effort- Reward model and the Managerial Grid model. The results show that the leader's characteristics are important for social workers' health and work environment. Several factors are described to play a considerable role in why social workers choose to stay or leave their workplace. A present accessible, responsive, manager and supervisor who listens, was pictured as positively enhance health in the workplace. Personal-oriented characteristics of managers, leaders and supervisors were found to increase social workers' intention to stay at the workplace.