The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand how the professions within the human service organization experience and describe inter-professional collaboration. The questions that the study discusses is the negative versus positive aspects that inter-professional collaboration entails and what conditions that are necessary for such cooperation to work.   The results are analysed with the help of Blumers (1969) theory of symbolic interactionism and Goffmans (2014) theory of team and appearance. The empirical material for the study is collected from semi-structured interviews with eight informants: two counsellors from the neuropsychiatric unit, two counsellors from kids and youth psychiatry, one counsellor and one sexologist from the youth clinic and three school nurses from different schools. The studies informants find that the inter-professional collaboration is crucial for the care that is provided for the patients. The informants believe that the consequences of non-cooperation would be longer treatments, misconceptions among the professionals and reduced overall visibility of patients' needs. The difficulties that the studies informants find with the cooperation are mainly the cooperation between different organizations. The difficulties include the different routines, loyalties, laws and objectives that organizations have. The conditions that the studies informants think is needed for a working inter-professional collaboration are effective communication, knowledge about each others professions, the staff’s willingness to cooperate and to increase learning about inter-professional collaboration.

This study explored human service providers’ perception of the quality of client services provided as related to the providers’ level of self-care. We utilized a quantitative research approach to survey 54 human service providers from three Southern California agencies. An independent t-test was conducted to analyze the difference between participants’ perceptions of self-care by age, gender, and level of education. This study revealed a significant difference was found between gender and social care. Females are more likely to maintain an open, trusting relationship with someone who they can share their frustrations with, sustain balance in their life by pursing a variety of interests outside of work, and have a close relationship with someone who serves as a mentor and/or advisor. Also, a significant difference was found between gender and service delivery. When not meeting self-care needs, men felt that their service delivery was affected more so than women. Additionally, when stressed, males had more difficulty relating to clients than females. Due to the limitations of the study such as: sample size, sampling technique, validity and reliability of the questionnaire, these results cannot be generalized. For future research, it is recommended that similar studies are conducted on human service providers’ perception of the quality of client services provided as related to their level of self-care utilizing a larger sample size and a standardized instrument. It is also recommended that gender differences are studied within social work regarding self-care and its impact on job retention.

Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich aus zwei Teilstudien zusammen. In Teilstudie 1 wird die Stabilität eines allgemeinen Modells zu den Zusammenhängen zwischen Über- und Unterforderungsmerkmalen, sozialen Belastungen, Anforderungen und organisationalen Ressourcen einerseits sowie den Fehlbeanspruchungen emotionale Erschöpfung und Klientenaversion bzw. Distanzierungstendenzen andererseits für personenbezogene Dienstleistungstätigkeiten untersucht. Einbezogen wurden Ärztinnen und Ärzte, Pflegende und Mitarbeitende aus dem paramedizinischen Bereich sowie Lehrkräfte. Die deutlichsten positiven Zusammenhänge zeigen sich zwischen den Belastungen und der emotionalen Erschöpfung, wobei für die quantitative Überforderung die stabilsten Ergebnisse resultieren. Die Belastungen weisen über die emotionale Erschöpfung hinaus signifikante Zusammenhänge mit aversiven Gefühlen gegen Klientinnen und Klienten auf. Hinsichtlich der modellimplizierten Annahmen zu den positiven Zusammenhängen zwischen den Belastungen und der Distanzierung können in dieser Untersuchung zwar signifikante Ergebnisse, aber keine über die Stichproben hinweg stabilen Zusammenhänge gefunden werden. Die Annahmen zu einem negativen Zusammenhang zwischen den Anforderungen/Ressourcen und der Distanzierung können nur für die Anforderungsmerkmale bestätigt werden. In Teilstudie 2 erfolgte auf der Basis des in Teilstudie 1 entwickelten Arbeitsmodells eine vertiefte Betrachtung der Lehrkräftetätigkeit. Dabei wurden sowohl verschiedene Schulsystemebenen einbezogen als auch verschiedene Aufgabentypen unterschieden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass auf organisationaler Ebene Gratifikationskrisen und mangelnde kollektive Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen fehlbeanspruchungsrelevant sein können. Besonders deutliche Zusammenhänge mit den Fehlbeanspruchungen und der Distanzierung zeigen sich für die primäraufgabenbezogenen Belastungen. Auch die Reziprozitätseinschätzungen in Bezug auf Schülerinnen und Eltern zeigen diesbezüglich ähnliche, wenn auch weniger deutliche, Zusammenhänge. Die Ergebnisse zu den Personmerkmalen lassen darauf schliessen, dass die Rolle der Person bei der Burnoutentwicklung nicht unterschätzt werde sollte. Als praktische Implikationen der Untersuchungsergebnisse werden u.a. Vorschläge für eine Stärkung der unterrichtsbezogenen und der klassenübergreifenden Kooperation, für eine Optimierung der Organisationsstruktur und eine „Professionalisierung“ der Organisation sowie für eine weiterführende Erarbeitung schulhausspezifischer Konzepte und Leitlinien gemacht. Es wird die Frage gestellt, ob die Lehrkräftetätigkeit sinnvollerweise als Lebensberuf verstanden werden sollte. Schliesslich wird auf die Bedeutung der Distanzierungsfähigkeit und der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen der Lehrkräfte hingewiesen. / The present work comprises two parts to a study. In the first part, the stability of a model on the associations between workload (i.e. quantitative overload), task requirements (i.e. variety, completeness), organisational resources (i.e. decision possibilities) and strain as well as tendencies toward disengagement in human service work was investigated. This included four samples: assistant physicians, senior physicians, nursing and paramedic workers and teachers. The clearest positive associations are shown between stressors and emotional exhaustion, whereas the quantitative overload reached the most stable results. The stressors show beyond the emotional exhaustion significant associations with aversion to clients. Regarding the associations between workload and disengagement, there were some significantly positive coefficients, yet no stable associations over the four samples. The assumptions of a negative association betweend task requirements/resources and disengagement can only be confirmed for the task requirements. The second part to the study involved a deeper look into teachers' work based on the working model developed in part 1 of the study. Different school system levels were included and distinctions were made between different types of tasks. The results of this analysis showed that on an organizationl level, the effort-reward imbalance and the (lacking) of collective self-efficacy were associated with strain. Particularly clear associations have been demonstrated for primary task-related workload with strain and disengagement. Also, but not as clear, the reciprocity estimates relating to students and parents show similar associations. The results on the personal characteristics lead to the conclusion that the role of the person in the development of burnout should not be underestimated. Based on the results of the analyses, there are different implications for in practice. There was allusion to the possibilities for reinforcing teaching-related and inter-class cooperation. Further important implications are the "professionalisation" of the organisation school, combined with an optimisation of the school organisation and school management. The fundamental question arises, whether one would have to refrain from portraying teacher activities as a lifetime career. Finally the importance of the abilty to distance onself and the self-efficacy of teachers is pointed out.

The aim of this study has been to highlight how school social workers experience their discretion, and furthermore how they feel about working in a context mainly dedicated to teachers. The study is executed with a qualitative research method where ten interviews with school social workers, in eight schools in the area of Stockholm have been conducted. The theoretical framework used to analyze the results was discretion, street-level bureaucracy and human service organizations.The main findings of this study imply that the most important ambition of the social work that was conducted in the schools was to help the students reach their knowledge goals. The assignment is, however, not clearly defined, which has lead to school social workers defining the mission and goals themselves. They all have wide discretion and great possibilities to decide how to execute their work, but how they use the freedom that was given seems to vary among them. An additional finding was that being a school social worker is often a solitary role in the organization, and therefore most of them highlight the importance of enjoying independent work and having a co-worker to discuss their work with.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur olika aktörer inom det människobehandlande området arbetar med hemmasittande ungdomar. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter är KASAM, systemteori och nyinstitutionell organisationsteori. Datainsamlingen skedde genom kvalitativa, strukturerade intervjuer med sex olika aktörer inom det människobehandlande området. Resultatet av denna studie visar att det är skolan som uppmärksammar problemet och att det inom vissa områden arbetas i större utsträckning med målgruppen än på andra, men att det inte finns något generellt övergripande arbetssätt med hemmasittande ungdomar i de aktuella kommunerna. Det framkommer även att samverkansformen SIP – samordnad individuell plan – används framgångsrikt i samtliga kommuner. Att genomföra samverkan beskrivs av de flesta aktörer fungera bra, men att önskat resultat av samverkan inte alltid uppnås. En bra relation mellan elev och lärare samt ett gott samarbete mellan hemmet och skolan är de mest främjande faktorerna för att få en elev tillbaka till skolan. / The aim of the study has been to examine how different actors within human service professionals deal with dropout-students. The theoretical perspectives used are KASAM, general systems theory and neo-institutional organizational theory. The data for this study was collected in a series of qualitative and structured interviews with six participants within various human service professionals. The outcome of this study shows that it is the school that signals if there is a problem and it shows that in some areas this pursues higher focus on target groups but there isn’t an overall way of working with dropout-students in the local authorities that this study contains. It also emerges that the form of collaboration – Coordinated Individual Plan – used successfully in all municipalities. To implement collaboration described by most actors works well, but the desired result of collaboration is not always achieved. A good relationship between student and teachers and a good collaboration between home and school are the most promoting factors to get a student back to school.

A recurring concept for social workers to relate to in child protection investigations and assessments of parenting capacity is the concept of good enough. There is no clear definition about the concept in research or literature. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to investigate how social workers in child protection relate to the concept of good enough and how their understanding might affect the assessments and investigations. To fulfill the purpose, semi- structured interviews have been held with four social workers. The results have been analyzed while relating them to scientific research and theories about discretion in human service organizations, Banks' (2012) thoughts about values in social work and Thompson's (2016) Personal, Cultural and Structural (PCS) analysis model.  The results show that social workers in Child Protection have room for discretion. This space is affected by the organization's framework. If the room for discretion is being restricted because of lacking resources, the concept of good enough may look different as it relates to the current situation of the social worker. Good enough is also affected by the social worker's subjective knowledge, intuition, and experience. Normative values on family situations may influence what is considered acceptable in parenting and children's living conditions. Factors such as culture, ethnicity, religion, disability, and gender identity could, therefore, impact on the assessments and decisions. If the social worker is not aware of these normative values and factors, they could have a discriminatory effect on the families who are being investigated.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Melinda S. Markham and Karen S. Myers-Bowman / The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the phenomenon of social networking sites (SNSs) and its impact on practicing human service professionals. In this exploratory study, 33 interviews, comprised of family life educators and social workers, were conducted in order to gain the perspective of how SNSs were being used in practice. A phenomenological approach was used to get at the lived experiences of these professionals. In addition, a Johari Window lens provided a way to understand the level of transparency professionals had when interacting with the digital culture. Themes found described how SNSs were being utilized in practice. These centered on benefits to the agency, clientele, and to the professional. The changing technological climate was shown to be impacting the delivery of services, yet professionals were underutilizing SNSs in practice. Regardless if the professional was on or offline, being recognized as a professional was extremely important. As a result, professionals were cognizant of potential consequences of using SNSs for professional and personal use. This awareness not only led professionals to want to safeguard their privacy, but also provided an opportunity for these professionals to develop guidelines for ethical digital behavior. Implications for research include exploring how a person’s digital status should be defined, if at all, how do privacy and ‘connecting’ influence each other, and what is the impact of viewing others’ posts on the ego strength of the person. The biggest implication for practice was the need for specific policies designed around professional digital behavior. In the absence of specific guidelines, professionals established their own set of rules to guide their practice. However, as more agencies and professions begin to see the need for and develop policies for SNS use, professionals will need to assimilate these new guidelines into their practice.

Bakgrund: I socialtjänstens utredning om barn är barnen en viktig informationskälla. I svensk lagstiftning beskrivs det att barnets bästa ska betraktas när åtgärder rör dem. Socialarbetare känner sig ibland osäkra inför samtal med barn. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken möjlighet socialarbetarna har gällande kompetensutveckling i att samtala med barn och behovet av verksamhets ut veck l ing för att förbättra samtal med barn. I studien ingår det två arbetsgrupper, socialarbetare som arbetar inom öppenvården och socialarbetare som arbetar med främst myndighetsutövning, mellan dessa grupper kommer det ske jämförelse för att se om det finns likheter och olikheter i upplevelsen av sin kompetens. Metod: Studien har genomförts med kvantitativ metod där datainsamlingen har bestått i online - enkäter. I studien är det totalt 10 av de totalt 13 tillfrågade kommunerna i Region Jönköpings län som har tackat ja till att vara med. Av tillfrågade 77 socialarbetare inom den sociala barnavården deltog 52 (65,7 procent) och av dessa arbetar 19 inom öppenvården och 33 arbetar med myndighetsutövning. Resultat: I studien framgår det att det finns förbättringsmöjligheter i samtal med barn för socialarbetare rörande utbildning och arbetsmaterial. I studien framgår det också att det inte finns några signifikanta skillnader mellan socialsekreterare och behandlare. Slutsats: Studien tyder på att socialarbetare är i behov av mer kunskap kring samtal med barn, samt att det finns områden som behöver förbättras för att känslan i samtalet med barnet ska bli mer positiv. / Background: Children are an important source of information in the investigations of the social services. Swedish law stipulates that the best interests of the child should be considered when measures concern them. Social workers sometimes feel insecure about speaking with children. The purpose of this study is to examine the opportunities of social workers for training in speaking with children, and the need for development of the organization in order to improve conversations with children. Two groups are included in the study, social workers that work with non-institutional care, and social workers that primarily work with the exercise of public authority. These groups will be compared to see whether there are similarities and differences in their perception of competence. Method: The study has been done by a quantitative method where data has been collected with online surveys. In total, 10 of the 13 municipalities in Jönköping County have participated in the study. Out of the 77 social workers in child welfare asked to participate, 52 (65.7 per cent) chose to do so, whereof 19 work with non-institutional care and 33 with the exercise of public authority. Results: The study shows that there is room for improvement of social workers’ conversations with children with regards to education and work material. The study also shows that there are no significant differences between different types of social workers. Conclusions: The study indicates that social workers need more knowledge of speaking with children, and that there are areas that need improvement for the conversation with the child to be perceived as more positive.

While recent publications indicate that employees in human service professions have higher risk of sickness absence and mental ill-health, little is known about the association with other health outcomes and possible mechanisms behind the differential risk. This study investigates differences in burnout, self-rated health and sickness absence between those in human service professions and other professions and examines whether differences in psychosocial and organizational work environment can explain possible variations. Data were derived from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), an approximately representative sample of the Swedish working population (n=4486). Results from binary logistic regressions suggested that those in human service professions had higher odds of burnout and sickness absence those in other professions. Differences in burnout were explained by background variables while differences in sickness absence were explained by psychosocial and organizational work factors. Employees in human service professions had lower odds of suboptimal self-rated health than others in the fully adjusted model. Women were at higher risk of burnout, sickness absence, and all adverse psychosocial and organizational work environment factors except social support. Future studies should investigate the most crucial psychosocial and organizational work factors in human service professions with the objective to improve employee health.

This study aims to examine how students who are studying social work are experiencing the combination of full time studies and a part-time job in a human service organization. Furthermore, the aim of this study is also to examine how these students consider legitimacy and the rule of law in relation to their part-time job. To answer this study, we put the focus on students who are studying their sixth or seventh semester in social work at Linnaeus University in Sweden where some students are combining full time studies with a part-time job in a human service organization. In total, nine students with this combination where interviewed in this study, all with different part-time jobs. The outcomes of this study show that students who are studying social work and working part-time are working for different reasons. Some of them say that they work for extra money, and some of them would like to get work experience. The students in this study think that this combination goes well and that they can relate practice from work into their theory in school and vise versa. Some of the students in this study have not thought about legitimacy in relation to their work, which we think is interesting. However, all of the students had thought about the rule of law in relation to their work. What is interesting to us is that we also learned that the students think that they can implement good work even though they have not thought about legitimacy that much.