Between the Promise of Specificity and the Demand for Evidence – A study of knowledge and the approach to knowledge in socially oriented non-profit, private and public sector organizations In the social work field it is possible to identify two parallel processes in time. On the one hand a qualitative developmental process―even towards a form of standardization―where central concepts are academisation, professionalization, scientifically produced knowledge, expertise and evidence based methods. Simultaneously, there is a drive to create the conditions for increased diversity, where hopes are especially being pinned on the non-profit sector. In spite of representations and expectations concerning the non-profit sector and its so-called specificity, however, much of existing research lacks a comparative perspective, i.e., studies where non-profit organizations are related to comparable activities in the private and public sector. The aim of the study―with special focus on issues concerning evidence based knowledge in social work―is to compare and analyse whether and in that case how employee conceptions differ between the sectors, and whether and in what way non-profit employees and their activities can be said to fulfil the expectations of contributing to increased diversity. Data is from a questionnaire directed to about 1300 social work employees. The results show a greater interest in research and more marked efforts at professionalization in the public sector, while above all in the non-profit sector there was skepticism about science paired with reservations about work carried out in a professional way. In the non-profit, but also in the private sector, issues of ethics, views of humanity and values were paid greater attention. Also stressed here was the importance of creating relationships, the unique human encounter, genuine commitment, and human kindness. However, there was significant uniformity across all sectors in the use of methods, where three dominated: solution focused measures, network support/therapy, and psychosocial work.

Evidensbaserad praktik inom socialtjänsten förutsätter att de professionella ställer sig positiva till forskningsbaserad kunskap om insatser och användandet av bedömningsinstrument. I vår studie undersöks vilken tilltro socialarbetare på vuxenenheten i en mindre stad har till bedömningsinstrumentet Addiction Severity Index (ASI). Studien är en kvalitativ undersökning och semistrukturerade intervjuer valdes som metod för att besvara syfte och frågeställningarna. Sammanlagt har sex respondenter intervjuats varav fyra handläggare, en projektledare samt enhetschefen på verksamheten. Forskning visar att handläggare upplever olika fördelar och nackdelar i användandet av ASI. Av resultatet framgår att handläggarna använder ASI Grund regelbundet i sitt arbete men att det finns svårigheter med att implementera ASI Uppföljning. Samtliga handläggare upplever att ASI Grund är tidskrävande och har en del invändningar mot vissa av frågorna. Trots detta uttrycker de ändå att användandet av ASI kan bidra till ett rättsäkerhetsperspektiv, ett strukturerat arbetssätt och en bra grund inför behandlingsplaneringen. I studien diskuteras även förbättringsområden inom ASI. / Evidence-based practice in social services presupposes that the professionals are in favor of research-based knowledge on services an the use of assessment instruments. The purpose of this study is to examining the confidence of social workers in an adult unit, in a small town has to assess the instrument Addiction Severity Index (ASI). The study is a qualitative survey ans semi-structured interviews were chosen as a method to answer the purpose and research questions. A total of six respondents were interviewed; four social workers, one project manager and the head of unit in operation. Research shows that social workers experience different advantages and disadvantages in the use of ASI. The results show that social workers use the ASI on a regular basis in their work, but there are difficulties in implementing the ASI follow-up interview. All social workers feel that the ASI base interview is time consuming and has concerns with some of the questions. Nevertheless, they express that the use of the ASI can contribute to a legal security perspective, a structured approach and a good basis for treatment planning. The study also discusses areas for improvement in the ASI.

The aim with this master’s thesis is to examine the information practices and information literacies among social workers in the field of the social services and in the work with child welfare investigations. This is in this study related to their ambition to fulfill the requirements of an evidence-based practice. On a theoretical level, the study is based on three theories grounded in the idea of situated learning and of human activities based in a social context. These are the sociocultural theory, the theory of communities of practices and the theory of information practices. On a methodological level the survey is carried out, and the empirical material is extracted, by using semi-structured interviews with five social workers in two different social offices. The result of the analysis shows that the social workers see the need of, search, share, evaluate and use several sources of information. They include information from the social workers own working experience and expertise, information from the clients and their social network, colleagues and professionals in institutions and agencies external to the social offices. The survey also shows that scientific research information is searched, used and evaluated by the social workers to a low degree. This is connected to the information barriers found in the empirical material, including lack of time and lack of access to digital databases. The main conclusion is that the social workers see the need of scientific research and the academic information literacy related to this, and that the information barriers at the same time force them to evolve an information literacy fitted to the practical work situation. For an evidence-based practice, the social workers see the need to incorporate more of the academic information literacy and practices with the information literacy and practices of the workplace. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Kuratorer inom hälso- och sjukvården har länge kämpat för en legitimering. I Socialstyrelsens rapport (2014) anses nu att en yrkeslegitimation är nödvändigt för att stärka patientsäkerheten samt att höja yrkeskompetensen. Denna studie är en pilotstudie i Kuratorsklinikens forskningsprojekt som handlar om evidensbaserad praktik. Studien handlar om vilka insatser samt arbetsmetoder som kuratorer arbetar efter då de genomför stödsamtal. Vidare är syftet att få en ökad förståelse om kuratorers praktik är mer evidensbaserad eller erfarenhetsbaserad. För att ta redan på detta har jag gjorde en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av nio avidentifierade journaler. Resultatet visade på att de insatser som kuratorer arbetar med är följande: kartlägga, medvetenhetsgöra, förändra, meningsfullhet samt samordna. De arbetsmetoder som jag fann var motiverande samtal (MI) samt kognitiv beteendeterapi (KBT). För att förstå materialet har jag använt mig av systemteori samt evidensbaserade metoder och olika kunskapsområden dit erfarenhetsbaserad kunskap hör till. Utifrån materialet är det svårt att säga om kuratorer arbetar mer utifrån erfarenhet än evidens dock kan man hävda att de använder båda arbetssätten i deras praktik. / Swedish medical counselors have for many years strived to get a professional certificate without any result. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has now stated in a report (2014) that a professional certificate is necessary to strengthen patient safety and to improve professional skills. This study is a pilot study done in collaboration with Kuratorsklinikens research about evidence-based practice. The studies aim is to get a wider understanding in what methods and efforts counselors use when conducting a supportive session. Furthermore, the aim is to get a better understanding if their practice is based mostly on evidence or experience. The study contains nine anonymous medical patient journals and qualitative content analysis was used. The result showed that the efforts counselors work with are the following: mapping, awareness, change, meaningfulness and coordination. The methods found was motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). To understand the material system theory was used as well as evidence-based methods and experience-based knowledge.

Authors: Carolina Magnusson and Johanna Magnusson Title: The balance between research and practice. A study of family therapist’s knowledge retrieval and the application of evidence-based practice. Supervisor: Jan Petersson Assessor: Peter Hultgren During our research we discovered that a very small amount of research had been conducted about the effect of the social services. It inspired us to fulfill this study. The aim of the study is to describe and analyze what knowledge family therapists in two Swedish municipalities use in family therapy work. We were also interested in which methods they consider having the best effect for social services. Our data collection consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with family therapists in two Swedish municipalities. Our primary focus of the study has been the meeting that is taking shape within the family treatment and which components are key elements. Based on the results we have also been able to draw conclusions about how the function of the social services family therapy can be improved and how the work process is characterized by an evidence-based practice. We discovered that family therapist’s knowledge acquisition was extremely haphazard and not on a systematic basis, which the evidence-based model requires. Keywords / Nyckelord Evidence based social work, families/children in social care, knowledge, competence, protective and risk factors and social service. Evidensbaserad praktik, familjebehandling, familjer/barn i socialtjänsten, kunskap,kompetens, tidiga insatser och risk och skyddsfaktorer.

Abstract Authors: Carolina Magnusson and Johanna Magnusson Title:  The balance between research and practice. A study of family therapist’s knowledge retrieval and the application of evidence-based practice. Supervisor: Jan Petersson Assessor: Peter Hultgren During our research we discovered that a very small amount of research had been conducted about the effect of the social services. It inspired us to fulfill this study. The aim of the study is to describe and analyze what knowledge family therapists in two Swedish municipalities use in family therapy work. We were also interested in which methods they consider having the best effect for social services. Our data collection consisted of qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with family therapists in two Swedish municipalities. Our primary focus of the study has been the meeting that is taking shape within the family treatment and which components are key elements. Based on the results we have also been able to draw conclusions about how the function of the social services family therapy can be improved and how the work process is characterized by an evidence-based practice. We discovered that family therapist’s knowledge acquisition was extremely haphazard and not on a systematic basis, which the evidence-based model requires.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur familjebehandlare upplever det att arbeta med FFT-metoden samt de faktorerna som gör den funktionell. Eftersom FFT är anpassad till den amerikanska kulturen som skiljer sig ganska mycket från den svenska, båda i kultur och socialsystem är det viktigt att inte bara utvärdera utifrån modellen men också hur implementering och anpassning av modellen har gått. För att kunna besvara syftet och frågeställningar har fem kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts av semistrukturerad karaktär. Urvalet av respondenter gjordes utifrån snöbollsmetoden där de intervjuade arbetar inom socialtjänstens öppenvård. Resultaten visade att det finns många saker som ska tas hänsyn till vid anpassning till andra kulturer, bland annat utbildningar, målgrupper och ekonomi. FFT är en behandlingsmetod och en påbyggnadsutbildning där gränsen mellan det som är klientens behandling och det som är FFT-terapeuternas utbildning är diffus. Studien kan bidra med tankar om hur man skulle kunna göra vidare studier rörande utbildning och implementering av evidensbaserade modeller.

Allt högre krav ställs på en vetenskapligt grundad praktik inom det sociala arbetet, en så kallad evidensbaserad praktik. Studiens syfte är att undersöka evidensbasering i det sociala arbetets praktik. Detta uppnås genom en undersökning av arbetsmetoder och synen på evidensbaserat arbete hos fältassistenter verksamma i Rinkeby-Kista stadsdelsförvaltning. Studien genomförs med hjälp av intervjuer vilka analyseras tillsammans med olika dokument och ställs mot det teoretiska ramverket. Dokumenten utgörs av en populärvetenskaplig artikel och två arbetsplatsannonser samt skriftlig information från fältassistenterna. Författarna utgår därmed ifrån en kombination av olika sätt att inhämta kunskap. Det teoretiska ramverket utgörs av Socialstyrelsens modell för evidensbaserat arbete och tillämpad teoretisk litteratur gällande evidensbasering, socialt arbete och fältarbete. Studiens resultat visar enligt författarna att det råder en osäkerhet kring evidensbegreppet bland de fältassistenter som ingår i undersökningen. Detta leder till att den evidensbaserade praktiken till stor del utförs utan en professionell medvetenhet. / Increasingly high demands, in western welfare states, are placed on a scientifically based social work practice; a so-called evidence based practice. The aim for the study is to investigate evidence based social work practice. This is achieved through a study of the work methods of detached youth workers from Rinkeyby-Kista district administration in Stockholm and their view on evidence based social work. The study is conducted using interviews which together with various documents are analyzed and set against a theoretical framework. The documents consist of a popular science article, two job advertisements and data from detached youth workers. The authors thus use different methods of collecting data. The theoretical framework consists of the National Board model for evidence based work and applied theoretical literature regarding evidence based practice, social work and outreach work. The results demonstrate that there is uncertainty about the concept of evidence based practice among detached youth workers included in the survey. This furthermore leads to an evidence based practice which is largely carried out without a professional awareness.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka diskurser inom det sociala välfärdsarbetet utifrån ideologiskt politiska aspekter. Studien grundar sig på artiklar och publikationer från ideologiskt förankrade tidskrifter och organisationer. I arbetet har vi inspirerats av Faircloughs (2003) kritiska diskursanalys, då den inte enbart fokuserar på diskurs utan även strukturerna som påverkar den. I studien kan vi se hur liberala och socialistiska ideal är dominerande inom välfärdsdebatten. Dessa har kommit att bilda två olika diskurser som konkurrerar med varandra om att bli dominerande gällande hur välfärden ska bedrivas. Idag kan vi se hur den marknadsekonomiska diskursen är den som vunnit mest mark, men det finns vissa indikationer på en eventuell diskursiv förändring. Arbetet tar sin utgångspunkt i två idag etablerade begrepp; New Public Management och Evidensbaserad praktik och de diskursiva svängningar begreppen vållat. / The purpose of this study is to investigate discourses influence of the social welfare, based on ideological and political aspects. The study is based on articles and publications from ideologically entrenched magazines and web-sites. We have been influenced by Faircloughs (2003) critical discourse analysis, as it not only focuses on the discourse but also the structures that affects it. In the study, we can see how liberal and socialist ideals are dominant in the welfare debate. These have come to form two different discourses competing to become the dominant force in welfare. Today we can see how the market-economy discourse is the one which has gained most ground, but there are some indications of a discursive change. The work takes its starting point from two established concepts and the discursive fluctuations caused by the New Public Management and the Evidence Based Practice.

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