Abstract Therefore, we remain, despite everything Factors affecting social workers to remain in the workplace       In studies conducted in the social welfare a complex picture regarding the social workers' job situation. The work of the public authority is complex and place high demands on the individual social worker. Social workers has a complex worksituation at the same time as many of the social offices has a high staff turnover and many teams go understaffed. Both in Sweden and internationally, many social workers choose to change jobs or to completely leave the social services because of the tough work situation. However, there are the social workers who choose to remain in their jobs despite a heavy workload and staff turnover. In the light of the social service current work situation, the question which factors make the social worker chooses to remain in the workplace. In this qualitative study, 12 social workers who have choosed to remain in their workplace been interviewed and the answers were then interpreted from a hermeneutic approach. The result shows that the work situation is tough as a social worker and that there are several factors that individually and together have an influence on choosing to remain in the workplace. The work- and work groups importance in combination with good management within organizations and a clear, empathetic and competent leadership and support in various forms are factors that are crucial to remain in the workplace.       Keywords: turnover, intention to quit, retention, social services, social workers, work conditions, satisfaction

Magister Artium - MA / Ethiopia is a country well endowed with a number of development related NGOs who have been involved in socio-economic development at national, regional and grassroots level. In a country like Ethiopia, where natural and man-made hazards persist, NGOs play a crucial role in terms of reducing poverty and other human sufferings. As one of the non-governmental organizations, the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church Development Program (EKHCDP) has played an important role in supporting and encouraging the development aspirations of local communities in the areas of environmental rehabilitation, water and sanitation, agriculture, health, education, credit and saving schemes.The study focused on the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church community development program in five selected project areas, namely Lambuda, Durame, Shashamane, Debraziet and Nazret. The analysis subsequently examined the nature and extent of community participation in the project planning, implementation and decision-making phases. Thereafter, the study brought into focus general observations gleaned from the investigation and provides recommendation to the EKHC and other stakeholders that have been involved in development activities. Quantitative and qualitative methods of research have been applied throughout the investigation. Accordingly, observation, in depth interviews, focus group discussions and structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used to gather information. The qualitative mode was employed to gather socially dynamic information on issues relating to beneficiaries’ perceptions of processes in order to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play. On the other hand, the quantitative mode was used to test variables related to the research problem. The findings indicate that the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church development program has played a significant role in terms of community development. Moreover, its development approach is responsive to local needs and able to mobilize local and external resources to support the poor, so that through empowerment and participation they will be released from the deprivation trap that they find themselves in. The study also indicates that the EKHCDP has good linkages and networks with other communities and partners. However, the study indicated that the intensity of community participation in decision-making is still low in certain cases. Meanwhile, the beneficiaries did not show a clear understanding of aspects such as project ownership. Finally, this study recommends that genuine community participation should be maintained because it is the core activity contributing to beneficiary empowerment and grassroots institutional capacity building and an essential ingredient for self-reliance and project sustainability. / South Africa

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This study explores attitudes of the professions that are involved in the process when children in primary school are reported to the police. The empirical material is based on interviews performed with police officers, social workers, a school counselor and a teacher. We applied two theories in our result and analysis. One sociological theory concerning the occurrence of deviant behaviour, and another one regarding collaboration between different professions. Our result and analysis indicates that one of the main reasons for a flawed collaboration relates to an imbalance in the power relations of the involved collaborateurs, where some of them become more dominant than others. A well functioning interprofessional collaboration seems to be characterized by the achievement of balance in these power relations, with well established channels of communication. There also appears to be a lack of knowledge of what the long term effects of reporting children to the police potentially can be. Another observation is that these police reports frequently seem to be based on people's personal feelings and convictions in the absence of sufficient guidelines being available to schools.In our discussion we raise, among other things, the question of how the increase of children's legal rights seems to correlate with an increased expectation of obligations. This way of thinking makes it possible for children to be considered solely responsible for their actions, as opposed to being victims of their social circumstances.

The number of homeless people in Malmö has increased in recent years, which makes it a relevant subject to study. Structural homelessness has grown to be the most common reason to homelessness. Earlier social homelessness was the most common reason. How does that effect the work with the clients in social homelessness and how is the support designed. The reasons above makes it an interesting subject to study.This study mainly focuses on similarities and differences in the view of the support between professionals at Social Services and Housing First for people in social homelessness.The study has been conducted with a qualitative approach in which six semi structured interviews have been carried out with social workers at the Social Services and at Housing First.The results from the interviews were then analyzed through a thematic analysis using organizational theory.The main differences that were shown in the results were differences in support between Social Services and Housing First in the way they work with clients in social homelessness. The result also shows a common view of the need for more support efforts.

Apart from the significant amount of research based in the perspective of social service workers, parents’ viewpoints of their experiences with children in long-term foster care is notably underrepresented within social science literature. To address this lack in coverage this paper discusses parents’ experiences of compulsory care (LVU) using content analysis drawing on selected comment sections from two internet-based discussion forums, Flashback and Familjeliv. Our main objective was to analyse parents’ descriptions of their relations with the social services and changes in the perceptions of the role of parenting after the emergency removal. Applying the theoretical framework of social trust we sought to achieve a deeper understanding for the parents’ situation. The social trust theory aims at analysing individuals’ trust for the state and state institutions, especially in relation to different social groups. The study shows that the high levels of trust between citizen and authorities, one of the Swedish society’s central trademarks, was not reflected in the material collected concerning parents’ experiences of the so-called social safety net. In line with previous research, parents’ narratives demonstrated a significant distrust for the social services and their descriptions indicated a sense of neglect. Parents’ comments also suggested a lack of understanding for the judgements made by social service workers and the resulting compulsory care.

Domestic violence does not disappear with age. In Sweden, domestic violence is as common in relationships between elderly as it is younger people, however, statistically elderly are underrepresented. Cases of domestic violence in elderly couples are more rarely reported and one reason is that elderly themselves do not report being victims of abuse. Another is a lack of legislation such as mandated reporting for professionals working with elderly. Sweden has an aging population and the fact that the amount of elderly is increasing may lead to new challenges for professions specialized in elderly care and for society at large. Two professions that work with the care and health of the elderly is care managers and homecare staff and have been chosen to study, and how these two identify domestic abuse involving elderly. The purpose of this research has been to study what efforts are made by the care managers and homecare staff at the management of health and care in Sweden, to help the elderly who are victims of domestic violence. Earlier research shows a lack of knowledge by professionals and staff on how to address the elderly's needs. One reason for this is because of ageism where it is presumed that the elderly are not in need of help or involved in, or victims of, domestic violence. Studies show how the elderly might feel ashamed talking about their experience of violence as the subject is more considered taboo for persons of their generation. Research also shows how Sweden lacks laws to deal with violence at the elderly’s homes.A qualitative research method was used when writing this study and three care managers and three home care staff have been interviewed. The results of our study conclude a strong need for better knowledge of how to identify signs of domestic violence within elderly couples, especially regarding staff working as homecare staff. The results also show that no specific measures are made to meet the elderly's needs and this study concludes that more measures need to be enforced, focusing on elderly victims of physical violence.

I denna studie har sambandet mellan en individ dömd till rättspsykiatrisk vård och dennes kontakt med den psykiatriska vården och socialtjänst innan tiden för gärningen undersökts. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka relationen mellan individer som lider av psykisk ohälsa och socialtjänsten samt den psykiatriska vården. I studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod applicerats där en tematisk analys varit huvudsaklig analysmetod. Det huvudsakliga material som undersöktes var förundersökningsprotokoll. De teman som bestämdes inför analysen var kontakt med den psykiatriska vården innan gärningen begåtts, kontakt med socialtjänsten innan gärningen begåtts och svårare form av psykisk ohälsa innan gärningen begåtts. Resultatet visade bland annat på att det genomgående har funnits kontakt med socialtjänsten och den psykiatriska vården men att de här kontakterna har varit bristfällig på grund av flera faktorer. En av studiens slutsatser är att många av de individer i fallen som undersöktes skulle ha kunnat undvika rättspsykiatrisk vård om en adekvat och meningsfull relation med inblandade verksamheter hade prioriterats. / In this study the aim was to research how mental illness correlates to the acts of crime and how social services and psychiatric care collaboration works in order to prevent clients from committing crime because of mental illness. The aim was also to find understanding in why collaboration does not always work and why clients get sentenced to treatment in forensic psychiatry due to a crime they committed while under the influence of severe mental illness. In this study a qualitative research method was applied where seven preliminary investigation protocols where the main source of material. Three main themes were conducted from the materials and the themes were Contact with psychiatric care before the crime, Contact with social services before the crime and Severe mental illness before the crime. The results show that in the majority of cases,  contact was established with both social services and psychiatric care but the contact was sporadic. The results also show a general distrust for organisations that have a determining role in decisions from the clients perspective. One of the conclusions of this study is that if clients got adequate help from social services and psychiatric care they wouldn’t commit crime with mental illness as the reason why.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att utifrån socialsekreterares perspektiv undersöka hur de arbetar för att uppnå barns delaktighet i barnavårdsutredningar. Sex intervjuer har hållits med utredande socialsekreterare inom barnavården. Det framgår av resultatet att socialsekreterare anpassar sig efter barnet för att skapa trygghet i mötet. Därutöver framkommer att socialsekreterarna använder olika samtalsverktyg, vid behov i mötet med barnet. Resultatet belyser också betydelsen av att väga in det barnet har sagt när ett beslut ska fattas i utredningen. Det framgår även att barn inte bjuds in att närvara under de beslutsfattande mötena. Därmed att de inte heller tilldelas någon direkt makt eller ansvar över det beslut som ska fattas. Resultatet klargör försvårande faktorer i arbetet med barns delaktighet i form av tidsbrist, hög arbetsbelastning och föräldrars inställning till utredningen. Slutsatser dras härav att socialsekreterare under utredningen lyssnar på barnet, hjälper barnet att komma till uttryck och beaktar barnets åsikter inför ett beslut. En ytterligare slutsats som dras är att barn inte görs delaktiga vid själva beslutsfattandet samt att de inte heller tilldelas någon faktisk makt. Vad gäller de försvårande faktorerna konkluderas att förändringar behöver ske för att underlätta arbetet med barns delaktighet. / The purpose of this study has been to, from the perspective of social secretaries, examine how they work to achieve children's participation in child care investigations. Six interviews have been held with the investigative social secretary in child care. It is clear from the results that the social secretary adapts to the child to create security in the meeting. In addition, it appears that the social secretaries use various conversation tools, if necessary in the meeting with the child. The result also highlights the importance of considering what the child has said when a decision is to be made in the investigation. It also appears that children are not invited to attend at the decision-making. Thus, they are also not assigned any direct power or responsibility over the decision to be made. The results clarify aggravating factors in the work with children's participation in the form of lack of time, high workload and parents' attitude to the investigation. Conclusions are drawn from this that during the investigation, the social secretary listens to the child, helps the child to express himself or herself and takes the child's opinions into account before making a decision. Another conclusion that is drawn is that children are not involved in the actual decision-making and that they are not assigned any actual power either. With regard to the aggravating factors, it is concluded that changes need to be made to facilitate the work with children's participation.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Parenting children with a hearing loss presents hearing parents with unique parenting challenges. Adapting to and managing these challenges is dependent on parents’ personal and social support as well as the resources available to them. There is limited research regarding hearing parents’ personal and social support and access to appropriate resources. In order to bridge this gap, the aim of the study was to develop guidelines for hearing parents parenting children with a hearing loss. A mixed methods approach with a sequential explanatory design using a two-phased approach was employed in this study. Phase 1 endeavoured to identify the problem and explore the needs of parents by using a staged approach. The sample in this phase included 103 participants in the quantitative study and 13 participants in the qualitative study. Phase 2 applied a consensus workshop made up of two rounds: Round 1 comprised a panel of experts, namely, academics in the field of child, family, and disability studies, and Round 2 included a panel of stakeholders comprised of hearing parents, professionals, Deaf mentors, and leaders working within the field of hearing loss. The purpose of the workshop was to reach consensus on the development of guidelines. From this research, a number of guidelines emerged for parents, focusing on:1) early intervention programmes for hearing parents and children diagnosed with a hearing loss, highlighting guidance and counselling for parents on early identification and screening programmes; 2) the need for social and emotional support to deal with the emotional impact of the diagnosis on the family, the parents, as well as the child with a hearing loss; 3) access to resources and information which is comprehensive and unbiased, allowing parents to make informed choices; and 4) support for communication intervention whereby parents are offered unbiased support in terms of communication options for their children. This study has important implications for the collaboration and partnerships between parents, social services (social workers), and health and family practitioners for the provision of family-centred practices.