The aim of the essay has been to investigate how therapists explain the causes for the occurrence of men's violence against women in intimate relations, and the opportunities and difficulties they experience during the treatment of these men. The study is based on qualitative interviews with four therapists who work with violent men. We analyzed the interviews with the help of thematic analysis which resulted in the sub-themes masculinity norms, violent experiences and powerlessness, which further created the main theme: causes of the violence. The sub-themes alliance building, motivated client, responsibility insight and gender norms in treatment created the main theme: opportunity for change. The sub-themes addiction, lack of mentalizing ability and shaming created the main theme: difficulties in treatment. The results indicate that the therapist agrees that there is no simple explanation for the occurrence of violence by men against women in intimate relations and neither a way of working against it. The results also indicate that the explanation for the occurrence of violence differs between therapists and they have some different opinions about how one should work to fight men's violence against women. / Uppsatsens syfte har varit att undersöka hur behandlare beskriver orsaker till uppkomsten av mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer samt vilka förutsättningar och svårigheter de upplever i behandlingen. Studien baseras på kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra behandlare som arbetar med våldsutövande män. Vi har analyserat intervjumaterialet med hjälp av tematisk analys som resulterade i subtemana maskulinitetsnormer, våldserfarenheter och vanmakt som utgjorde huvudtemat orsaker till våldet. Alliansbyggande, motiverad klient, ansvarsinsikt, könsnormer i behandling utgjorde huvudtemat förutsättningar för förändring. Missbruk, bristande mentaliseringsförmåga och skambeläggande utgjorde huvudtemat svårigheter i behandlingen. Resultaten tyder på att behandlarna är överens om att det inte finns någon enkel förklaring till våldets uppkomst eller ett sätt att arbeta mot det. Resultaten tyder också på att förklaringen till våldets uppkomst skiljer sig åt mellan behandlarna och de har en del skilda meningar kring hur man bör arbeta för att bekämpa mäns våld mot kvinnor.

The aim of this study was to examine how women subjected to men’s violence in close relationships are presented from an intersectional perspective in two selected policy documents. To analyse the policy documents Carol Bacchi´s discourse analysis approach What´s the problem represented to be? was used to detect important patterns in the material. The study showed that the construction of women subjected to violence covers a series of conceptions regarding how women should act and a framing of the abused woman as the problem carrier. Results from the study showed a gender neutral discourse and that a part of the problem representation contains framings of the ideal violence. The study also showed that categories of women are presented in terms of particularly vulnerable groups which is mainly done in exclusionary ways. Depending on how social workers comprehend these guidelines women subjected to violence might be affected differently. The findings suggest that an awareness of social discourses is of importance because it may affect how violence against women is understood and how women subjected to violence is treated.

From an intersectional perspective, we examine how the vulnerability of older women to intimate partner violence is adressed in the social service´s governing documents and in professional´s description of their work. To fulfill this objective and best formulate our study, we have chosen to combine two qualitative methods, document analysis with an interview study. Older women and their vulnerability to intimate partner violence are largely invisible in both research, policy documents and in the descriptions of the professional social work with intimate partner violence in older women. The lack of standard definitions and unifromity in research makes it difficult to get a comprehensive picture of the problem´s prevalence and its meaning. It also means that the professionals can not acquire sufficient knowledge, feeling thet they have lack of knowledge on the subject. Overall, our conclusion is that the social work with older women´s vulnerability to initmate partner violence is almost invisible. Which means that there is probably a large unknown number of older women who are exposed to violence in a close relationship.