Social media has proliferated throughout the nonprofit sector over the last five years and organizations use these new tools in a variety of ways. Little research is available on the use of social media within nonprofit human service organizations (HSO) specifically. This study is one of the first of its kind to explore how and why human service organizations are using social media. The aim of this study is to understand the current status of social media use among nonprofit human service organizations by exploring and describing the social media platforms in use, associated practices with social media, the frequency of use, general satisfaction, and plans for the future use of social media. A cross-sectional research design was selected and a survey instrument was created for the study. Data were collected from 125 nonprofit human service organizations in the Richmond, VA metropolitan area that were identified from a sampling frame of nonprofit organizations. The current status of social media use among nonprofit human service organizations is that HSO’s initially adopted social media to engage the community. Although many HSO’s continue to do this, promoting the HSO’s programs and services has also become a top priority. This is primarily done using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to share organizational newsletters and other information with their online community at least twice a day. On average, human service organizations have been using social media for more than five years and most plan to continue using social media in the future. Although HSO’s report using social media less than ten hours a week, they are generally satisfied with the outcomes, but admitted more assistance is needed. This study establishes a foundation for HSO’s to discuss the uncertainty of the future and to identify goals and strategies to help the HSO move forward. Increased understanding of why and how to use social media will also help HSO’s to determine strategies for using social media that can add to the sustainability of the organization. Additional implications for HSO’s and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

<p>The aim of this study is to illustrate, and analyze how social workers are able to more effectively pursue operative possibilities within their own particular organizations. The main question concerning this issue is: How are social workers, working within the same district organization able to realise any potential for co-operation with other social workers, in different locales and units, yet working within the same organization? Following on from this question, further issues arise such as: 1. How do the varying demands of the clients affect the workload of the social worker? 2. How does the organization facilitate or hinder co-operation between social workers? 3. How does the workload, staff turnover and delegation influence on the co-operation between social workers? To attempt to answer to the above set of questions a qualitative method was employed. A group interview was conducted bringing together a group of five social workers working within the same district administration of the city of Stockholm. The outcome of the interview has been examined using a theoretical framework based on organization theory, symbolic interactionism and social constructivism; all applied in accordance with post-modern research principles. The main result shows that the organization both hinders and facilitate co-operation through work load, staff turnover and delegation. The outcome of this particular study is associated to results of previous research within the same research field.</p>

The aim of this study is to illustrate, and analyze how social workers are able to more effectively pursue operative possibilities within their own particular organizations. The main question concerning this issue is: How are social workers, working within the same district organization able to realise any potential for co-operation with other social workers, in different locales and units, yet working within the same organization? Following on from this question, further issues arise such as: 1. How do the varying demands of the clients affect the workload of the social worker? 2. How does the organization facilitate or hinder co-operation between social workers? 3. How does the workload, staff turnover and delegation influence on the co-operation between social workers? To attempt to answer to the above set of questions a qualitative method was employed. A group interview was conducted bringing together a group of five social workers working within the same district administration of the city of Stockholm. The outcome of the interview has been examined using a theoretical framework based on organization theory, symbolic interactionism and social constructivism; all applied in accordance with post-modern research principles. The main result shows that the organization both hinders and facilitate co-operation through work load, staff turnover and delegation. The outcome of this particular study is associated to results of previous research within the same research field.

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The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of resource schools 1 as a human services organization and institution, based on teachers and principals’ perspectives. The purpose of resource schools is to provide the students tools and resources to enable them to return to the regular school within two years. The study also aims to examine more closely how this objective applies to the studied resource schools in the studied municipality, as well as highlighting the success factors and barriers that exist to achieve the goal. Previous studies show that this kind of differential practice tends to become a permanent solution. The categorization of the children concerned may also affect their future negatively. Four interviews were conducted with six teachers and principals at three of the municipalities’ four resource schools. The results shows that teachers and principals are defending resource school as an institution because they fulfill a need that regular schools do not. Staff expertise and pedagogical design are described as success factors. The study also shows that the objective to return to regular school rarely is reached. The barriers described include lack of collaboration between the resource schools and regular schools and their inability to adapt the working environment for the target group of students. Teachers and principals can also be seen as barriers as explained by neo-institutional organization theory

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.

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.

Abstract The aim of this qualitative case study was to examine social service workers and managers approach towards the implementation of the Signs-of-Safety (SoS) model and their comprehension of working with the model. This study took place at a children and youth unit at a social service office in Stockholm. The empiric is based on three qualitative semistructured interviews and participant observations. The result was analyzed by definitions from Hasenfeld’s Human service organizations (HSO), Lipsky’s and Johansson’s definitions of "street-level bureaucrats", and room for manoeuvre. Lundquist’s definitions of "understand", "want" and "can" was also used, as well as the core-components that Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman och Wallace draw together of a successful implementation. The main result of the study indicates that the SoS-model contributes to the participation of children and parents and that it is complicated to implement the SoS-model in such a specialized organization. The study’s result also shows that the implementation is promoted by the support and the resources of every level in the organization and the fact that the initiative came from the street-level bureaucrats. The documentary system that comes with the BBIC is complicated to combinate with the SoS-model and therefore this might become a restricting effect.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers experience their cooperation in childcare investigations, how they experience their discretion and what happens emotionally with social workers in relationship with child care investigations. The study is based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The interviews have been analyzed via a thematic analysis and have been interpreted with the theoretical frameworks, human service organizations, street level bureaucracy and power. The results show that work linked to childcare investigations arouses feelings of the social secretary. Feelings like hopefulness, fear, stress and powerlessness. Further results show that the social secretary prefers parents to accept voluntary efforts compared with imperativ efforts and cooperation is of the greatest importance to bring child care investigations forward. The study shows that the social secretaries consider themselves to have discretion in their work but their work is also controlled by the organization. Especially when it comes to imperative care, something that the law also prescribes.

The study examines family law secretaries’ descriptions of working with parents and children in matters of custody, residence and contact. In addition, the study intends to shed light on the activities that family law secretaries work with, as well as examine the family law secretaries’ descriptions of the interpersonal meeting between a client and a person in authority. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with seven family law secretaries in southern Sweden. The collected data has been analyzed using a thematic analysis. The study’s theoretical premises are based on Yeheskel Hasenfeld’s human service organizations, Michael Lipsky’s street-level bureaucrats, power according to Michel Foucault and the concept of empowerment. By investigating the family law secretaries’ descriptions of the purpose of the activities informational dialogue, collaborative talks and contract, it emerges that the family law’s ambition is to, as far as possible, prevent parental conflicts from leading to disputes in court. Throughout, family law secretaries highlight the importance of a children's law perspective where the best interests of the child should be taken into account based on the individual and his or her situation. Furthermore, there is a common perception among all family law secretaries regarding the dilemma they face as representatives of an organization and fellow human beings. They describe how they have both a little and a large amount of power at the same time, something that has an impact on the room for action of the family law secretaries. In the study’s discussion reasoning is carried out using previous research and the study’s theoretical premises. Among other things it is discussed how the family law secretaries need to take into account factors at both individual, group and societal level, when it comes to working with families. / Studien undersöker familjerättssekreterares beskrivningar av att arbeta med föräldrar och barn i frågor kring vårdnad, boende och umgänge. Dessutom avser studien att belysa de aktiviteter som familjerätten arbetar med samt undersöka familjerättssekreterarnas beskrivningar av det mellanmänskliga mötet mellan klient och myndighetsperson. Studien bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju familjerättssekreterare i södra Sverige. De insamlade data har analyserats med hjälp av en tematisk analys. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter bygger på Yeheskel Hasenfelds människobehandlande organisationer, Michael Lipskys gräsrotsbyråkrater, makt enligt Michel Foucault samt begreppet empowerment. Genom att undersöka familjerättssekreterarnas beskrivningar av syftet med aktiviteterna informationssamtal, samarbetssamtal och avtal framkommer att familjerättens ambition är att så långt det är möjligt förhindra att föräldrars konflikter leder till tvister i domstol. Genomgående belyser familjerättssekreterarna vikten av ett barnrättsperspektiv där barnets bästa bör beaktas utifrån den enskilde individen och dennes situation. Vidare förekommer en gemensam uppfattning bland samtliga familjerättssekreterare kring det dilemma de står i som organisationsrepresentant samt medmänniska. De beskriver hur de har lite och mycket makt på samma gång, något som får en inverkan på familjerättssekreterarnas handlingsutrymme. I studiens diskussion förs ett resonemang med hjälp av tidigare forskning och studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter. Det diskuteras bland annat hur familjerättssekreterarna behöver ta hänsyn till faktorer på både individ-, grupp- och samhällsnivå när det kommer till arbetet med familjerna.