Syftet med examensarbetet är att öka kunskapen om det förebyggande sociala arbetet med ungdomar i en mellanstor kommun i Dalarna samt se om samverkan i det förebyggande arbetet har betydelse för ungdomars närvaro i skolan. En kvalitativ ansats har tillämpats där intervjuer med sex företrädare från socialtjänsten och skolan utförts. Studiens resultat visar att det bedrivs ett förebyggande socialt arbete med att öka ungdomars närvaro i skolan. Dock framkommer det att brist på resurser så som tid och personal gör att förebyggande arbete inte bedrivs i den utsträckning som företrädarna önskar. De är eniga om att ett förebyggande arbete är av betydelse i arbetet med att öka ungdomars närvaro i skolan. Resultatet visar också att samverkan har stor betydelse för det förebyggande sociala arbetet, då det gynnar ungdomarna om olika samhällsorgan samverkar. Samverkan bidrar till att en helhetsbild av ungdomen uppnås och att de ungdomar som riskerar att utveckla skolfrånvaro kan fångas upp i tid. / The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of the preventive social work with adolescents and examine if cooperation in the preventive work contributes to increase attendance at school among adolescents. A qualitative approach has been used, where interviews with six representatives from school and social services has been done. The result shows that a preventive social work by increase attendance at school among adolescents is performed. Though it appears that lack of time and personal resources contributes to the preventive social work is not made in the extent as the representatives would wish. They agree that preventive work is important in the work with increase attendance at school among adolescents. The result also shows that cooperation is of great importance on the preventive social work as it benefits the adolescents if different social authorities cooperative. Cooperation contribute to achieved a comprehensive view of the adolescent and that the adolescents who risk to develop absenteeism can be intercepted in time.

Involuntary celibacy, or incel, as a phenomenon is steadily growing. Previous studies show that this group suffers from severe mental illness, which potentially could develop into something dangerous for both themselves and society. Research regarding early interventions and methods which are specifically aimed at and designed for incels and their problems are currently almost non-existing. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate whether incels seek support from the social work interventions to get help with mental illness and their destructive thoughts and feelings. Thus, we want to gain a deeper understanding of incels’ attitude towards seeking help.  This qualitative study is based on concealed netnographic observations on two open incel-forums. Furthermore, this study uses a thematic analysis method, which was used to analyze our empirical material. During our observations we have identified repetitions, local expressions and similarities and differences, which have been developed into different main themes and subthemes. Additionally, our empirical material was analyzed by using theories of social identity, group polarization, and the concept of preventive social work.  The results of the present study demonstrate that the majority of incels have a negative attitude towards seeking help. Moreover, some incels believe that it is possible to improve themselves. The main opinion, however, is that it is not possible to improve, and thus, incels are doomed to live a life in solitude where the only way out is suicide. Several incels have ideas and thoughts about how the help should be designed, but these thoughts are often very extreme and often contain a negative view of women and sexually successful men. In the end, it is incels’ reluctance that weighs the heaviest, where society, women and sexually successful men are considered evil and incels are considered good.

Juvenile delinquency is a topic that has been up for political debate during the election year in Sweden. As people tend to commit crimes at younger ages, we have concidered the schools’ role being a central part of the preventive work against juvenile delinquency. This since young people spend a large part of their time in school. The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of the preventive work against juvenile delinquency in middle schools in Växjö municipality. The purpose was also to understand the importance of the theory of social control to prevent young people from developing criminal behaviour. This study was based on a qualitative method which included nine semi-structured interviews with middle school principals in Växjö municipality. The results showed that the majority of the schools work preventively against juvenile delinquency in terms of specific routines and models. However, this work was not always defined as prevention work by the schools themselves. This study showed that bullying and exclusion in school is not always detected by school staff. Based on the theory of social control, this is an issue that needs to be improved in order to strengthen young people’s social ties in school. This could contribute to fewer young people choosing to commit crimes due to better social control.

Victims of domestic violence (DV) are growing, still the number of cases reported isn't. In Rättvik only half the amount of cases are reported compared to two years ago. Rättvik is working to reduce DV by starting the project "Våga Hjälpa!". The purpose of this study was to use a quantitative approach to examine if the project is known in Rättvik. The study's based on a survey with a 27% response rate. The analysis was made by SPSS and interpreted on the basis of conformity, the bystander effect and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Results show that the majority haven't been in contact with DV and that the knowledge of how to act is evenly spread. The study concludes with an objective evalution of "Våga Hjälpa!" where our study results are related to the project objectives. The evaluation partly shows a fullfilled result but also some improvement opportunities. / Allt fler blir offer för våld i nära relationer, trots detta ökar inte anmälda relationsvåldsbrott. I Rättviks kommun ser man idag en halvering av anmälda våldsbrott i jämförelse med två år tillbaka. Kommunen arbetar aktivt för att minska relationsvåldsbrott och har startat projektet "Våga hjälpa!". Syftet med denna studie var att med en kvantitativ ansats undersöka i vilken utsträckning projektet "Våga Hjälpa!" är känt bland Rättviks invånare. Studien bygger på en enkätundersökning med en svarsfrekvens på 27%. Analysen av materialet har gjorts genom SPSS för att sedan tolkas utifrån konformitet, åskådareffekten samt Theory of Planned Behaviour. Resultatet av studien visar att majoriteten av respondenterna inte kommit i kontakt med relationsvåld samt en jämn spridning avseende kunskap om hur man ska agera. Studien avslutas med en målutvärdering av "Våga Hjälpa!" där resultatet av vår studie relateras till projektets mål. Denna utvärdering påvisar delvis ett uppfyllt resultat men även vissa förbättringsmöjligheter.

Mental illness among parents may lead to negative consequences for the unborn child and its future. Pregnant women who experience mental illness are not typically one of Sweden's social service's focus groups, although voluntary preventive social work is an exception. The aim of this qualitative interview study was to investigate social workers' experiences of working with this preventive approach toward this specific group of women. The objectives in the study were what obstructive and facilitating factors social workers encounter, how their work with clients enable a social worker-client relationship, and lastly what results this preventive social work may have. Obstructive and facilitating circumstances were found on both an organizational and an interpersonal level. Social workers' possibilities of using their wide room for action were shown to be of importance to create and build a relationship with the pregnant woman. It was also discovered that preventive social work may lead to a number of positive consequences for both the mother-to-be and the coming child. Attachment between the two and the woman's belief in herself as a competent parent may develop, and the abilty to reach out and ask for help if there is a need in the future was thought to increase. Based on this study, it is possible to distinguish a number of conclusions: the first one being preventive social work results in beneficial consequences for both woman and child. Secondly, social workers' wide framework allows them to build a relationship with the pregnant woman, and this relationship based practice is crucial for preventive social work to take place.

Abstract The study aimed at describing and investigating the quality and dynamics of the problem of exclusion among children and young people in the light of social care documents. The sample consisted of the documents on 990 customers of child welfare and income support services aged below 25 in 1992–1997 as descriptions of the children’s and young persons’ situations and courses of life in Finland after the depression of the early 1990’s. The attention focused especially on the various problems in the children’s and young people’s welfare as a basis for social services customership and as descriptors of their exclusion. The life situations of social services customers were generally determined by their unstable position in the labour market and the limitations of their financial resources, in addition to which various subgroups in the sample had their own problems. In child welfare, customership was often based on the mother’s alcohol/drug use or mental problems and neglect of child care or the young person’s problems with school and alcohol or drugs. In terms of income support, the need for support was most often based on the young person’s exclusion from working life and on the related financial difficulties. Important forms of support in both child welfare and income support included customer counselling and financial support. Although social services customership was related particularly to accumulated problems, the customers did not form a uniform group. The documents revealed nine types of customership based on their life control and dimensions of exclusion: life control, integration, minor customership, elimination, danger of exclusion, serious danger of exclusion, marginalisation, segregation and exclusion. The differences between them were connected with differences in the quality and degree of the customers’ welfare problems and in the customers’ power of influence and possibilities for social support. The closer to life control a person’s type of customership was situated, the more she or he could exert an influence using his/her own resources or the support of his/her close community. Moving towards exclusion, the network of control around the customer tightened and the situation was determined ever more clearly by problems, obligations and control. The various types of customership described the customers’ life situations at certain moments, but also at the various stages of the exclusion or survival process and when the life situations were viewed from different perspectives. The exclusion of children and young people was manifested in the current study above all as danger of exclusion. It was about a nightmare scenario of the postmodern society following the both/and logic which was connected not only with the various problems of the social services customers but also with the exclusion of children and adolescents from what we see as normal growth and development. Children who were customers of the social services did not necessarily have the opportunity to be children, and young people did not necessarily grow into adults. The threats of exclusion and possibilities of survival had an impact on the children’s and adolescents’ lives on a situation-by-situation basis and also simultaneously depending on which and whose viewpoint the situation was viewed from. Light and shadow penetrated each other in their life as their life situations took shape in the dimensions of life control and exclusion. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata ja selvittää lasten ja nuorten syrjäytymisongelman laatua ja dynamiikkaa sosiaalihuollon asiakirjojen valossa. Tutkimusaineistona olivat 990 alle 25-vuotiaan sosiaalihuollon lastensuojelun tai toimeentulotuen asiakkaan asiakirjat vuosilta 1992–1997 kuvauksina lasten ja nuorten elämäntilanteista ja elämänkulusta 1990-luvun alun laman jälkeisessä Suomessa. Huomion kohteina olivat erityisesti lasten ja nuorten erilaiset hyvinvoinnin ongelmat sosiaalihuollon asiakkuuden perusteina ja lasten ja nuorten syrjäytymisen kuvaajina. Sosiaalihuollon asiakkaiden elämäntilanteita määrittivät yleisesti epävakaa työmarkkina-asema ja taloudellisten resurssien rajallisuus, joiden lisäksi kohdejoukon eri osaryhmillä oli omia ongelmiaan. Lastensuojelussa asiakkuutta perusteltiin usein äidin päihde- ja mielenterveysongelmilla ja lapsenhoidon laiminlyönnillä tai nuoren koulu- ja päihdeongelmilla. Toimeentulotuessa nuorten tuen tarpeen perusteena olivat puolestaan useimmiten nuorten työelämän ulkopuolelle jääminen ja siihen liittyvät taloudelliset vaikeudet. Keskeisiä tukimuotoja sekä lastensuojelussa että toimeentulotuessa olivat asiakkaan neuvonta ja taloudellinen tuki. Vaikka sosiaalihuollon asiakkuus liittyi erityisesti kasautuneisiin ongelmiin, eivät asiakkaat olleet yhtenäinen ryhmä. Asiakirja-aineistosta löytyi yhdeksän elämänhallinnan ja syrjäytymisen ulottuvuudella jäsentyvää asiakkuustyyppiä: elämänhallinta, integraatio, pikkuasiakkuus, karsiutuminen, syrjäytymisvaara, vakava syrjäytymisvaara, marginalisaatio, segregaatio ja syrjäytyminen. Niiden väliset erot liittyivät eroihin asiakkaiden hyvinvoinnin ongelmien laadussa ja asteessa sekä asiakkaiden vaikutusmahdollisuuksissa ja mahdollisuuksissa sosiaaliseen tukeen. Mitä lähemmäksi elämänhallintaa asiakkuustyyppi sijoittui, sitä enemmän asiakas pystyi vaikuttamaan asioihin joko omien voimavarojensa tai lähiyhteisön tuen turvin. Kohti syrjäytymistä siirryttäessä kontrollin verkko asiakkaan ympärillä kiristyi ja tilannetta määrittivät yhä selvemmin ongelmat, pakot ja kontrolli. Eri asiakkuustyypit kuvasivat asiakkaiden elämäntilanteita tiettynä hetkenä, mutta myös syrjäytymis- ja selviytymisprosessin eri vaiheissa ja elämäntilanteita eri näkökulmista tarkasteltaessa. Lasten ja nuorten syrjäytyminen näyttäytyi tutkimuksessa ennen muuta syrjäytymisvaarana. Siinä oli kyse myöhäismodernin yhteiskunnan sekä–että logiikkaa noudattavasta uhkakuvasta, joka liittyi paitsi sosiaalihuollon asiakkaiden erilaisiin ongelmiin, myös lasten ja nuorten syrjäytymiseen normaalina pidettävästä kasvusta ja kehityksestä. Sosiaalihuollon asiakkaina olevat lapset eivät välttämättä saaneet olla lapsia ja nuoret eivät välttämättä kasvaneet aikuisiksi. Syrjäytymisen uhat ja selviytymisen mahdollisuudet vaikuttivat lasten ja nuorten elämään tilanteittain ja myös samanaikaisesti riippuen siitä, mistä ja kenen näkökulmasta tilannetta tarkasteltiin. Valo ja varjo läpäisivät lasten ja nuorten elämässä toisiaan heidän elämäntilanteidensa jäsentyessä elämänhallinnan ja syrjäytymisen ulottuvuudella.