The aim of this study was to explore how social workers interpret the part of the Swedish social services act that regulates each municipality’s responsibility of the people staying in it. The study’s general methodological approach connects to sociology of law. The research questions were: (1) What factors are considered important by the social workers in assessments of responsible municipality? (2) Are there variations in the assessments of responsible municipality and in that case; how can the variations be explained? (3) What discretion do the social workers consider that they have in assessments of responsible municipality? Previous studies have found considerable differences in professional social work assessments in Sweden. 69 social workers completed a questionnaire which included two vignettes. The selection maintained the emergency social services for well above 4 million citizens. Many factors were considered important in assessments of responsible municipality; the most prominent of those was the physical presence in the municipality. Variations appeared especially regarding long-term decisions and could partially be explained by which factors were considered important. The law that regulates the area of interest is a detailed legislation. However, some explanation could be found in Lipskys (2010) theory of Street-level bureaucracy.

Much literature has documented the high levels of burnout, stress, and grief in HIV physicians and nurses due to the challenging nature of the chronic, fatal disease with which they deal on a daily basis. Providers of social and HIV prevention services face similar challenges while working with stigmatized, terminally ill clients. However, since these latter occupations deal with social, rather than clinical interventions, their experiences may differ from those of medical personnel. Through open-ended interviews with HIV counselors, educators, case managers, and outreach workers, this exploratory study assesses the occupational stressors of providers of social and HIV prevention services in the Tampa Bay area. By addressing the factors that contribute to stress in HIV prevention work, coping strategies and structural interventions are recommended to an AIDS service organization to combat the ill effects of these problems.

Disertacijoje tyrinėjama asmeninių socialinių paslaugų institucinė ir organizacinė struktūra Lietuvoje. Pagrindinis darbo tikslas – ištirti Vakarų šalių asmeninių socialinių paslaugų institucinės ir organizacinės struktūros pagrindinių bruožų raišką Lietuvoje. Disertacijos struktūrą lėmė išsikeltas tyrimo tikslas. Pirmoje darbo dalyje siekiama pateikti asmeninių socialinių paslaugų sampratą, išskiriant ją sudarančius elementus, kurių transformacijos analizuojamos kitose darbo dalyse. Antroje darbo dalyje pristatomi tyrimo objektai, duomenų šaltiniai ir duomenų rinkimo metodai, duomenų analizės metodai ir procesas. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje analizuojama Lietuvos asmeninių socialinių paslaugų institucinė ir organizacinė struktūra, siekiant identifikuoti Vakarų šalių asmeninių socialinių paslaugų institucinės ir organizacinės struktūros bruožus, bei atskleisti atitinkamo bruožo raišką sąlygojančius mechanizmus. Disertacijoje konstatuojama, kad Lietuvos asmeninių socialinių paslaugų institucinėje ir organizacinėje struktūroje galima identifikuoti tam tikrus Vakarų šalių bruožus, tačiau jų raiška yra veikiama iki nepriklausomybės atkūrimo buvusios institucinės ir organizacinės struktūros. / He objective of the dissertation is to identify the main features of Western personal social services in institutional and organizational structure of post-communist Lithuania. The first part of the dissertation is devoted to get analytical frame of personal social services. Part two presents the research strategy used to analyze the institutional and organizations structure of personal social services in post-communist Lithuania: object of research, data sources and data gathering techniques, data analysis process and techniques. The analysis of institutional and organizational structure of personal social services in post-communist Lithuania is conducted in the third part of dissertation. Findings: the institutional and organizational structure of personal social services in post-communist Lithuania corresponds to Western structures, but the development was influenced by the legacy of communist period.

Tyrimo objektas: Bendrosios ir specialiosios socialinės bei kitos paslaugos ir šias paslaugas teikiančių specialistų kontingentas neįgaliųjų reabilitacijos, priežiūros, dienos centrų institucijose bei kitose įstaigose, teikiančiose paslaugas žmonėms su negalia. Tikslas: Išanalizuoti paslaugų žmonėms su negalia teikimą, jų struktūrą, jas teikiančių specialistų kontingentą įstaigose, teikiančiose paslaugas negalią turintiems asmenims. Uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti, kokias negalias turintiems asmenims yra teikiamos paslaugos socialinių paslaugų įstaigose. 2. Įvertinti, kokio negalios sunkumo lygmens asmenims yra teikiamos paslaugos. 3. Išsiaiškinti įstaigose teikiamų paslaugų rūšis bei darbuotojų kontingentą. 4. Įvertinti neįgaliesiems socialines paslaugas teikiančių įstaigų problemas ir neįgaliųjų reabilitologų poreikį. 5. Informacijos, gautos per internetą ir per anonimines anketines apklausas, negalių tipų, darbuotojų kontingento, bendrųjų bei specialiųjų socialinių paslaugų palyginimas. Problema: Įvairių negalių tipų nevyriausybinėse neįgaliųjų organizacijose ir centruose teikiamos paslaugos neužtikrina neįgaliųjų fizinės, psichologinės ir socialinės reabilitacijos, galinčios sąlygoti neįgaliųjų geresnę gyvenimo kokybę. Išvados: 1. Socialines paslaugas teikiančiose įstaigose yra teikiamos paslaugos žmonėms, turintiems regos, klausos, intelekto ir judėjimo (motorikos) sutrikimų bei kitų negalių tipų asmenims. 2. Daugiausiai įstaigų teikia paslaugas vidutinę ir sunkią negalią... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object: General and special social services and contingent of specialists providing these services in rehabilitation, care, day centers and other institutions for people with disabilities. The aim: To analyze the provision of services for people with disabilities, their structure and it’s providing specialists contingent in institutions for people with disabilities. Objectives: 1. To determine for what kind of disabilities social services are provided in institutions. 2. To evaluate for what level of disability service are provided. 3. To find out the type of provided services and specialist’s contingent in institutions. 4. To evaluate problems in social services institutions and the need of disabled rehabilitations. 5. To compare the information, as disability types, contingent workers, general and special social services, obtained through the Internet and an anonymous questionnaire. Problem: The social services provided in non-governmental disabled people organizations and centers cannot ensure physical, psychological and social rehabilitation for people with disabilities, which could lead to better quality of life. Conclusions: 1. The social services in institutions are provided to people with visual, hearing, intellectual, physical (movement) or other types of disabilities. 2. The most institutions provide services for persons with medium or severe disability level, at least – with low level of disability. 3.1. Most institutions provide general and special social... [to full text]

<p>Although many organizations aspire to be diverse, both in their internal composition and external collaborations, diversity's consequences for organizational outcomes remain unclear. This project uses three separate studies to examine how diversity within and across organizations influences organizational outcomes. The first study uses original data from a national study of organizations to analyze how an organization's internal social composition is associated with its performance. It advances diversity-performance research by demonstrating how the mechanisms of social bridging and social bonding can work together within a diverse organization to improve its performance. The findings suggests that an organization can improve its performance by having socially diverse members who interact often and in ways that engage their social differences. The second study integrates social capital theory and network analysis to explore the relationship between interorganizational networks and organizational action. It uses cross-sectional and panel data from a national study of congregations to analyze the collaborative partnerships congregations form to provide social services. This study demonstrates that a congregation's network ties, net of the effects of its internal characteristics, are significantly associated with the number and types of social service programs it offers. The third study illustrates how an organization's external ties can shape its action by examining black churches and their responses to people living with HIV/AIDS. It uses data from a nationally representative sample of black congregations and draws on institutional theory to analyze congregations as open systems that can be influenced by their surrounding environment. This study indicates that black churches that are engaging their external environment are significantly more likely to have an HIV/AIDS program. Overall, by analyzing how individuals interact within organizations and how organizations interact with one another, these three studies demonstrate how diverse networks influence organizational outcomes.</p> / Dissertation

This study is qualitative and aims to describe and analyze how senior citizens with alcohol- related problems are recognized by social workers within local care for the elderly. The empirical material consists of eleven semi-structured interviews which was completed with the help of social workers within local elderly care. The findings of the study shows that the processing of the senior citizens alcohol related problem can be explained as an identified “awareness process.” Further, the findings of the study shows that awareness is often made by others than the social workers themselves. The study has also showed that known versus unknown information about present alcohol-related problems, tends to be crucial for when and how awareness is made in the “awareness process”. / Studien är kvalitativ och syftar till att beskriva och analysera hur äldre personer med problematiskt förhållande till alkohol uppmärksammas av biståndshandläggare inom kommunal äldreomsorg. Det empiriska materialet består av elva halvstrukturerade intervjuer och genomfördes med biståndshandläggare inom den kommunala äldreomsorgen. Studiens resultat visar att handläggningen av den äldre personens alkoholproblematik kan förklaras som en identifierad uppmärksammandeprocess. Vidare visar resultatet att uppmärksammandet oftast sker via andra personer än biståndshandläggaren själv. Studien har även visat att känd respektive okänd information om föreliggande alkoholproblematik, tenderar att vara avgörande för när och hur uppmärksammandet sker i uppmärksammandeprocessen.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att belysa hur brukare som har kontakt med socialtjänsten på grund av missbruksproblematik upplever och beskriver sitt inflytande över den egna behandlingen. Studien utgår från den hermeneutiska forskningstraditionen och har en kvalitativ ansats - sex semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med brukare som har kontakt med socialtjänsten på grund av missbruksproblematik. Resultatet tolkades utifrån den nyinstitutionella teorin och visade att brukarna upplever att de har inflytande i sin kontakt med socialtjänsten, men på vilket sätt och i vilken omfattning varierar och påverkas till stor del av vilken socialsekreterare brukaren träffar. När vård enligt LVM ligger nära till hands upplever brukarna att kommunikation och information brister från socialsekreterarens sida. Samtliga brukare framhåller att kommunikation och delaktighet underlättar behandlingsarbetet och ökar den egna motivationen. En god relation till socialsekreteraren innebär ett fungerande inflytande, även om några brukare upplever att de inte alltid vågar vara helt ärliga med sina tankar på grund av oro för inskränkningar i inflytandet. Brukarens underläge i en ojämlik relation är närvarande, om än inte uttalat.

Synen på föräldrar med lindrig utvecklingsstörning har förändrats över tid. Den utveckling som skett har lett till att normaliseringsprincipen förutsätts gälla när människor med lindrig utvecklingsstörning blir föräldrar. Syftet med vår uppsats var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare förstår och arbetar med föräldrar som har en lindrig utvecklingsstörning där de misstänker att deras barn far illa. Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ studie i form av en fokusgruppsintervju med fem socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredning av barn. Resultatet visade på att socialsekreterarna upplever att föräldrar med lindrig utvecklingsstörning har vissa svårigheter i sin föräldraförmåga - som vilka föräldrar som helst. Samtidigt konstaterar socialsekreterarna att barnen till dessa föräldrar ofta är utsatta för ett flertal riskfaktorer. En av studiens viktigaste slutsatser är att det är känsligt och tabubelagt att ifrågasätta föräldraförmågan hos föräldrar med lindrig utvecklingsstörning. Detta medför ett hinder för socialsekreterarnas arbete med dessa familjer. / The perception of individuals with a mild intellectual disability as parents has changed over time. The devolpment has resulted in that the normalization principle is considered to be valid when these individuals become parents. This group of individuals has gone from being considered as incapable parents to being considered parents like anybody else. The purpose of this study was to examine the way social workers understand and work with this group of parents and their children if they suspect that the children is being maltreated. We conducted a qualitative study using a focusgroupinterview with five participants in whom all of them are social workers working with children and families that need support. The results show that social workers experience that parents with a mild intellectual disability have some problems in their parenting - like any other parent. They also experience that the children of these parents are exposed to several risk factors. An important conclusion of this essay is that it seems to be taboo to question parents with a mild intellectual disability's parenting skills. This makes it difficult for the social workers in their work with these families.

According to the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to make their voices heard and express their opinion in situations concerning them. With this paper the authors have chosen to explore social worker’s view’s on children’s participation and influence, and how these are manifested through the entire case process. The focus in this study has also been the positive and negative effects the children’s influence may have. To investigate this, a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews has been conducted. The interviews of social workers has shown that children have influence, but the extent may vary due to various factors. There are different perceptions of what participation and influence really relate, something that both the interviewed social workers and previous research has pointed out. In doing so, it may be of great importance that social workers continue to talk about children's influence, as well as developing new and more effective methods to make children more involved and give them more influence. This is especially important because of the devastating effects it can have when children are excluded from the decision-making.

This thesis aim was to investigate how social workers reflect around their communication with children who live with parents or guardians who have addiction problems. How the social workers manage to enable the child’s legally right to be heard in a decision-making process. What methods the social workers are using and what that is perceived as limitations and capabilities in the communication with children who live with parents with addiction problems. The method used in the study is qualitative with interviews. There were five interviews conducted with social workers within the same municipality. Theories for analysing were Family System theory and Attachment theory. Primarily the study has called for a deeper understanding of how complex social work and authority assessing is when related to children. This study reveals how difficult it is for social workers to enable for children to be heard about their situation without their parent’s permission and approval to communicate with the social worker. Importance was also emphasised and expressed on building and maintaining a trusting relationship with the child and stakeholders involved. In the municipality where the study took place they all stated that they are working according Swedish legislation and got training in and used the method Signs of Safety, which enables to get an image over the children's situation. Other methods for communicating with children were used different by different social worker due to different trainings, abilities and depending on the needs from the individual child.