To use standardized questionnaires for questions about domestic violence within the social services' elderly units Intimate partner violence (IPV)and the way women are  exposed to violence in close relationships has been recognized in recent decades as a problem at a societal level, both nationally and globally. As a result, work on IPV has  received new laws and regulations to strengthen women's right to protection in society, which has also led to work with these issues is being developed and prioritized at a  municipal level. While IPV has gained more visibility, IPV that affect older women also has received greater attention. IPV and aging can mean a special vulnerability as aging  can mean more isolation, greater need for care by or for a violent partner and that the violence may have lasted for a longer period of time. Research on the subject also shows that there is a knowledge gap about the elderly's exposure to violence and the work to discover it, and that there are no specific figures that show how widespread the problem is. Despite the increased focus on older women's exposure to IPV, interest in skills development regarding elderly is lower in comparison with other categories within the group  of women exposed to violence in Sweden's municipalities. At the same time, the development of welfare has moved in a direction towards an evidence-based practice and  developed standardized assessment instruments. Based on an attempt to combine work against violence in close relationships with evidence-based practice, the assessment  instrument FREDA was developed, which social workers and social service agents can use to detect and identify violence and make protection assessments, which is considered  an important part of violence prevention and violence protection work. Nevertheless, several studies and evaluations show that there are several obstacles to asking questions  about violence, such as insecurity and lack of knowledge. The purpose of our study has been to investigate how social workers at social agencies that works with elders ask  questions about violence in IPV and whether underlying factors such as knowledge, experience and supervision affect the tendency for social service agents to ask the question  about violence. The purpose is also to investigate the extent to which social service workers use standardized assessment instruments in matters of violence and whether  standardized assessment instruments is experienced as a support in their work. With a quantitative method and with a survey design to collect data, we have created a web survey with 49 statements and questions that we have sent via link to social service agents who work with development assistance and the elderly. The survey received a total of 79 respondents and the results have been processed in SPSS and to some extent in Excel. To present the results we have used SPSS to create graphs and crosstabs and through using Cramres V we report the strength of the relationships between the  variables. We have also developed a significance measure based on Cramers V. The results of the study shows that a significant proportion of the respondents do not agree that they ask questions about domestic violence to their clients and that there is a connection between not asking questions about domestic violence and not feeling that you have  enough knowledge of the subject. The results of the study cannot show where the knowledge about violence comes from, but it shows that within our sample there is a slight  tendency for the use of FREDA-short questions to have a positive impact on the experience of knowledge about IPV. The results of the study show that approximately one third  of the study respondents use FREDA-short questions at their workplace. The study also shows that of the respondents who stated that they fully or partially agree that they ask questions about violence in close proximity to a greater extent use FREDA-shortquestions. In conclusion, our study shows that there was a tendency for respondents who  stated that they did not agree that they ask questions about domestic violence also had the opinion that older people find it more intrusive to talk about IPV.

Several quantitative studies show a significant association between the experience of childhood maltreatment and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Some researchers argue for the need of a more psychosocial approach in ADHD assessment of children partly because of the relationship between these variables. The purpose of the present study was to focus on psychologists working with ADHD assessment of children in Sweden and to examine their psychosocial approach and discretion.This study was based on six qualitative interviews which were analysed through thematic analysis. The theoretical framework used were Lipskys theory of street-level-bureaucracy as well as the Power Threat Meaning Framework. The results show that a psychosocial perspective is present during the assessment for instance when looking at the child’s history and when the ADHD-symptoms arose. However, the psychosocial focus is dictated by the amount of time and discretion the psychologist’s experience that they possess. The assessment is further affected by the psychologists characteristics such as knowledge and experiences. One of the main conclusions is that factors such as time, personal characteristics and a flexible discretion influence whether a more medical or psychosocial focus dominate the ADHD assessment.

This paper aims to investigate how needs assessors in the municipality experience their work with elderly people who experience loneliness, and what different types of support measures they can offer. In addition the paper looks into the discretion which the needs assessors use to provide the elderly people with care that is adapted to individual needs. This qualitative study has been carried out conducting semi-structured interviews with seven needs assessors from five different municipalities. The findings indicate that the work with elderly people experiencing loneliness is very much a question of interpretation. Loneliness can manifest itself in different ways and is not always easy to talk about, nor to interpret. The study also shows that individual assessments can be difficult to implement due to strict guidelines and a tight budget. However, the work towards helping-and supporting elder people and acknowledging the issue of loneliness in later life is an important matter for both older people and needs assessors.

Sexual and reproductive rights, like other human rights, are to be respected, protected and fulfilled by the state. Public authorities and welfare organizations thus have an obligation to conduct a work practice accordingly. Social services' supportive and promotive mission for individuals' living conditions should include SRHR in general, not least in the work with children and youths. Yet previous research points out many obstacles that obstruct a practice grounded in sexual and reproductive rights within different social work environments. This in turn makes it difficult to achieve better sexual and reproductive health. The aim of this study is to obtain a deeper understanding of how professional​​s at residential care centers within Malmö Stad experience the work related to youths sexual and reproductive health. Additionally the aim is to highlight the challenges involved in incorporating sexual and reproductive rights of placed youths. In order to achieve the purpose, a qualitative method was applied. Semi structured interviews have been conducted with six employees within said organizations. These objects of study all had professional experience in working close to the clients on behalf of social service's assignments. The empirics has been analyzed and interpreted based on theoretical concepts such as street-level bureaucracy and discretion. The findings are also related to previous research and state of knowledge presented in the study. The result indicates that all of the informants experience difficulties in executing a social work practice grounded in SRHR. These difficulties are experienced at different levels such as in relation to clients, colleagues, management and the mission itself. Unclear or lacking of priorities, different normative attitudes among staff, deficient or various knowledge and ambiguity seem to be prevalent factors. These results suggest that discretion plays a substantial role in regards to the SRHR grounded practice within residential care.

This essay will address the topic of child abuse through healthcare interventions, ormore precisely medical child abuse - which is also called Münchausen syndrome byproxy. A social problem that is quite unusual, and therefore creates complexity. Witha quantitative method, the essay is based on a web-based survey, which social workerson the Swedish social services at the children- and family units in Småland haveresponded to. The questions in the survey processes the social workers' knowledgeand preparedness which will be analyzed by their discretionary space and reasoning.These themes are also linked to Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy which isused to analyze the empirical data of the study. The results from the essay are analyzedand tested through the statistics program SPSS. The results and analysis show forinstance that the longer the social workers have been working at their units and insocial work in general, the more knowledge they considered themselves to have. Theyalso possessed a higher readiness the longer they worked at the unit. They are morerecon with the term “Münchausen by proxy” than “Medical child abuse”. Regarding guidelines and legislation, they feel uncertain, which we connect to the knowledge-gaps that comes with the social problem. Medical child abuse in the Swedish social services is quite unexplored and with this essay we want to contribute to a betterresearch, to help the children who are victims of medical child abuse.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka vilka faktorer som styr socialsekreterares arbete med barns rätt och delaktighet samt vilken betydelse barnkonventionen har i socialsekreterarens arbete och om det har skett någon förändring sedan barnkonventionen inkorporerades som lag.  Studien baserades på fem kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Tre av intervjuerna genomfördes med personer som arbetar som socialsekreterare och två intervjuer med personer som i dagsläget arbetar som biträdande enhetschefer på en familjeenhet. Resultatet av studien har bearbetats utifrån en tematisk analys, för att sedan analyseras utifrån de teoretiska perspektiven systemteori, ekologisk systemteori och gräsrotsbyråkrati samt de teoretiska begreppen barnperspektiv och barns perspektiv. Det som framkommit av studien gällande våra frågeställningar om faktorer som möjliggör och hindrar socialsekreteraren i arbetet för barnets rätt och barnets bästa, har summerats i två huvudteman med tillhörande subteman. Resultatet av studien har visat att barnkonventionen länge varit en självklar del i socialsekreterarens arbetssätt, både praktiskt och teoretiskt. Därför har lagförandet av barnkonventionen inte gjort någon större skillnad hos socialsekreterarna på familjeenheten. Däremot visar studien att de större förändringarna som skett efter att barnkonventionen blivit lag snarare handlar om andra aktörers arbete, vilket i sin tur har medfört en betydande skillnad i socialsekreterarnas arbete för barnets rättigheter och bästa. Studiens övergripande slutsatser kan sammanfattas i följande punkter; Samhällssystemen styr socialsekreterarens förutsättningar att utföra sitt arbete, Barnkonventionen har gett verktyg för andra aktörer att inta ett barnrättsperspektiv, De organisatoriska förutsättningarna på varje enhet spel en stor roll samt Politikens prioriteringar påverkar socialsekreterarens förutsättningar i stor utsträckning. Avslutningsvis visar resultatet av vår studie att det är många andra faktorer än bara lagar som påverkar förutsättningarna för att socialsekreteraren ska kunna utföra sitt arbete på ett adekvat sätt och att det i nuläget finns fler hinder än möjligheter för en socialsekreterare att arbeta för barnets rättigheter och bästa. / The purpose of this thesis has been to investigate the factors that are influencing govern social workers' work with children's rights and participation and the importance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the work of social workers and whether any changes has occurred since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into law. The study was based on five qualitative semi-structured interviews, three of which were conducted with social workers and two with current assistant unit managers in a family unit. The empirical data was analysed using thematic analysis, and the analysis was guided by the theoretical perspectives of systems theory and street level bureaucracy, as well as the theoretical concepts of child perspective and children's perspective. The study has shown that the Convention on the Rights of the Child has always played a natural part in the social workers' working methods, both practically and theoretically. However, the study also reveals that the major changes that have occurred since the Convention on the Rights of the Child became law are more related to the work of other actors rather than the social workers encountered in this study.  The overall conclusions of the study can be summarized in the following points; Social systems determine the social worker's ability to perform their work, Political priorities affect the social worker's conditions to a great extent, The Convention on the Rights of the Child has provided tools for other actors to adopt a child rights perspective, The organizational conditions in each unit play a major role. In conclusion, the results of our study show that there are many factors other than just laws that affect the conditions for the social worker to be able to perform their work adequately, therefore there are currently more obstacles than opportunities for a social worker to work for the rights and best interests of the child.

The aim of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers experiences internal collaboration within child and welfare social services and how social workers describe the forms of internal collaboration in their practical work. The study is based on seven semi-structured interviews in seven municipalities with social workers, from three units within child and welfare social services. The collected empirical material were analyzed with theoretical concept discretion, cooperation theory and former research. The results of the study shows that social workers primarily have a positive attitude towards internal collaboration, due to the fact that clients with complex problems are in need of support from various social workers from different units. Furthermore the study found that social workers ordinarily use two different methods when collaborating: informal collaboration and formalized collaboration. Moreover social workers express a variety of obstacles in collabortation with other untis, such as lack of knowledge about each other´s duties, confidentiality and lack of time. It also shows that geographical nearness, good relationships and knowledge are important components for serviceable collaboration. Finally, the study results shows that internal cooperation in child and welfare social services is a necessary working method in order for social workers to be able to meet the needs of clients with complex problems.

The purpose of this literature study is to gain a deeper understanding of what the public authorities' attitudes towards parents with intellectual disabilities look like, how these parents experience these attitudes and how these attitudes exist. The study will be based on a qualitative literature study based on articles which presents interviews with people with intellectual disabilities and social workers at social services. This study is also based on articles made of quantative surveys. This strategy is done to get answers to the questions in a way where no socially vulnerable group is violated or exposed to a stressful situation. Because this group of people is considered socially, culturally and economically voulnerable. The result of this study is shown that the attitudes from public authorities towards parents with intellectual disabilities can vary. There are social workers that have stereotypical, judgemental thoughts and negative ways of speaking to these parents but there are also professionals that behave with tolerance and acceptance and with believing that these parents can be good parents with the help and service from the authorities that have the duty to help these families. This study has also shown that these attitudes sometimes come from the socio political view that these organizations are built by. For example the time limit, the policies and the organization's goals that the social workers have to follow. These factors have an effect in the investigation process and have also an effect in the assessment and decision making because it can make a life changing determination for parents with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Bakgrunden till detta examensarbete tar avstamp i automatiseringens utbredning inom välfärdssektorn. En aktiv digitaliseringspolitik bedrivs på nationell nivå där argument som effektivitet och rättssäkerhet motiverar implementeringen av ADM, eller automatiserat beslutsfattande. Dock har denna politik en inverkan på det sociala arbetets handlingsutrymme och hur det bedrivs. Syftet med studien är därmed att undersöka hur automatiserat beslutsfattande påverkar biståndshandläggares handlingsutrymme. Metodansatsen i examensarbetet är en litteraturstudie av kvalitativ karaktär vars empiri utgörs av vetenskapliga artiklar. Dessa artiklar har sedan studeras med hjälp av tematisk analys, där vi utifrån extrakt i datamaterialet ringat in återkommande mönster och generella temana. Resultaten analyseras och diskuteras utifrån nyinstitutionell teori och Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrati. Våra fynd pekar på att automatiserat beslutsfattande ökar såväl som minskar handlingsutrymmet samt i de flesta fall medfört en organisatorisk uppdelning av försörjningsstödet, där handläggare får antingen mer klienttid eller fler ärenden att övervaka. Vidare visar resultaten att arbetsmarknadsåtgärder i många fall förflyttats från handläggare till jobbcoacher. Utifrån vår teoretiska analys drar vi slutsatsen att automatiserat beslutsfattande utesluter och/eller omdefinierar Lipskys handlingsutrymme. Vi kommer även fram till att det höjer rättssäkerheten samt både kan öka och inskränka möjligheten till relationsskapande. Avslutningsvis kan automatiserat beslutsfattande förstås som en nödvändighet utifrån ett organisationsteoretiskt perspektiv.

Denna studies huvudsakliga syfte är att undersöka om och hur socialarbetare som arbetar inom ramen för socialtjänstens arbete med familjer, påverkas i praktiken av desinformationskampanjen och hur detta tar sig i uttryck. Utgångspunkten är vilka eventuella konsekvenser kampanjen haft för socialarbetarnas möjligheter till relationsskapande, att skapa allians och bygga tillit utifrån deras handlingsutrymme i mötet med barn, unga och deras familjer. I den tidigare forskningen inom områdena tillit, allians och socialt arbete inom socialtjänsten, framgår det att tilliten är låg bland vissa grupper, att allians kan bidra till förändring, men att det inom myndighetsutövning är svårt att upprätta allians med klienter. Slutligen framkommer det i den tidigare forskningen att yrkesverksamma inom socialtjänsten är högt arbetsbelastade och behöver förhålla sig till klienter, rädda barn från missförhållanden och leva upp till organisationens förväntningar, vilket inte alltid går i linje med deras ambitioner. Kunskapsluckan jag avser att fylla med uppsatsen är framförallt forskning om desinformationskampanjens eventuella konsekvenser för det sociala arbetet inom socialtjänstens arbete med familjer och hur detta manifesteras i praktiken mellan klienter och yrkesverksamma. Empirin för denna studie har samlats in genom fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med yrkesverksamma socialsekreterare och familjebehandlare i olika stadsdelsförvaltningar i Stockholm. Resultatet för denna undersökning pekar på att det är svårt att bygga tillit, allians och relation till klienter som påverkats av ryktesspridningens budskap, inom ramen för socialtjänstens arbete med familjer. Konsekvenser blir att personer som potentiellt är i behov av stödinsatser, undviker socialtjänsten, där en ytterligare konsekvens är att barn i familjer med låg tillit, riskerar växa upp under sämre förhållanden än andra. Tillit och allians beskrivs som viktigt för att kunna samarbeta med familjer och bidra till förändring. I vissa ärenden har möjligheten att bygga tillitsfulla relationer och allians varit obefintligt, och ärenden avslutas på grund av låg tillit till socialtjänsten på grund av spridningen av desinformation. Samtidigt är handlingsutrymmet för socialsekreterare är begränsat, bland annat genom hög arbetsbelastning med många ärenden och brist på tid, vilket i sin tur försvårar möjligheten att bygga tillitsfulla relationer och allians. / The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how social workers who work within the swedish social service's work with families are affected in practice by the disinformation campaign and how this manifests itself. With a focus on its consequences on building relations based on trust and alliance and social workers' room for action when working with families. In the previous research on trust, alliance and social workers in social services, it appears that trust is low among certain groups, that alliance can contribute to change, but that in the exercise of authority it is difficult to establish alliance with clients. Finally, it appears in previous research that professionals in social services are burdened with high workload. Also, they need to live up to the client’s and the organization’s expectations, while also working to prevent children from growing up under bad living conditions. The social workers’ ambitions are not always in line with the organizations. The knowledge gap is primarily research into the possible consequences of the disinformation campaign on the social work within social services' work with families and how this is manifested in practice between client and professional. The empirical data for this study has been collected through four semi-structured interviews with professional social workers and family therapists in various district administrations in Stockholm. The results of this study indicate that it is difficult to build trust, alliance and relationship with clients who have been affected by the spread of rumors, within the social services' work with families. The consequences are that individuals, who potentially require support services, avoid social services, leading to another consequence: children in families with low trust risk growing up in worse conditions than others do. Trust and alliance are described as crucial for collaborating with families and facilitating change. In certain cases, the possibility of building trusting relationships and alliances has been non-existent, and cases are closed due to low trust in social services caused by the spread of misinformation. Simultaneously, the discretion for social workers, is limited, partly due to high workloads with numerous cases and a lack of time, which in turn hinders their ability to build trusting relationships and alliances.