The aim of the study is to examine and analyze social workers’ perceptions of law practice of supportive regulations for abused, undocumented women who are in need of protection, in order to problematize the connection between norm and practice in social service case management. In a qualitative approach, the study is conducted through eight interviews, based on two vignettes, with representatives from the public sector in Gothenburg. The vignettes were based on two fictive narratives that both include women who are victims of abuse, but have different ethnicity and legal status. By using vignettes it was anticipated to find whether there are different perceptions among the social workers in terms of considering the residents’ ethnicity and legal status in relation to the possibilities of receiving support. According to Swedish law the social services have responsibility to assist all residents within the country. Since the undocumented migrants have difficulties claiming their rights in the public sector, many stay in destructive relationships. The focal point of this study is the uncertainties and inconsistencies among social service staff regarding offering support to these women, especially after acute situations. The UN’s Declaration of Human Rights expresses that all humans are equal, regardless of ethnicity, gender, etc. (see declaration). Thus, rejecting a woman her right to claim social service contradicts these regulations. The results of the study relates to T.H Marshall´s, Lister´s and Fernández´s discussion about citizenship, de los Reyes theory about postcolonialism, Mattson´s intersectionality, Hasenfeld´s Human Service Organizations, Libsky´s Street-level Bureaucrat and Johansson’s Freedom of Action. Further, different concepts on new institutional theory from Johansson and Svensson, Johnsson and Laanemets, are used to analyze our data. Our selected theories, concepts and reasoning can be used to understand our empirical data in different levels in society.   The study shows that the juridical fate of undocumented women who have been subject to violence is not only determined by laws and regulations, but also on individual attitudes of social workers as well as cultural interests within an organization. These results indicate that the widely accepted notion of Sweden being an equal society, does not comply with practice. In conclusion, this study shows that social workers have an important role in the development of a women-friendly, gender inclusive theory and praxis of citizenship.

<p>The aim of this study was to enlighten social workers experiences of social networks direct influence in Swedish social services, and in which ways those influences are manifested. Some of the issues that are being explored in this study are: The separation of the private sphere and professional duties; boundaries and dual relationships that occurs inside social networks; the use of social networks as a control-instrument in authority exercise towards clients; and social networks arising impact on social work. The empirical material was collected with nine qualitative interviews with social workers stationed at different social service departments in a Swedish municipality. Also one qualitative e-survey was sent out to, and answered by four social workers with a managerial position in the same municipality.</p><p>The results reveal that several informants have experienced different problematic situations involving clients within the social networks. This study shows that the informants are very restrictive with what information (text and pictures) they publish on their facebook-profiles, because of their position of authority and the awareness of the possibility of always being watched. Several informants reveal a strong attitude against the use of social networks in social work and argue that information about clients fetched at social networks cannot be used. Yet some social workers use social networks at work to search information about clients and verify suspicions, for example in decision-making of governmental economical support. The power that the social workers hold against their clients is being exterritorialised inside the social networks and makes further way for an expanding control-society.</p>

Många ungdomars vardag präglas av hedersvåld och förtryck (HVF) och problematiken anses svår och komplex att arbeta med. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur skolkuratorer på högstadieskolor och socialsekreterare på socialtjänsten beskriver sitt stöd till och skydd av ungdomar som utsätts för HVF samt samverkan dem emellan. Metoden som används för att besvara studiens syfte är kvalitativa intervjuer med fem skolkuratorer, tre socialsekreterare och en samordnare för en samverkansgrupp kring HVF. Studiens insamlade material analyseras genom tidigare forskning om myndigheternas arbete med HVF samt samverkan. Kulturellt och feministiskt perspektiv samt teori om riskbedömning och samverkan används även för att analysera materialet. Resultatet visar att det finns en samsyn mellan professionerna gällande att stödbehovet hos HVF-utsatta ungdomar är stort. Vidare delar professionerna uppfattningen att inte agera mot ungdomens vilja samt att ett skyddstänk är viktigt. Den form av riskbedömningsverktyg som vanligen används är handlingsplaner, som finns på respektive arbetsplats. Vidare visar resultatet att det saknas strukturerad samverkan mellan professionerna. Viss samverkan föreligger men en svårighet beskrivs vara att arbetet är beroende av personbundna kontakter. Resultatet visar även att samverkan skulle gynnas av ökad kommunikation samt insyn i varandras arbete.

The Swedish community and social services face major challenges regarding the management of honor-related violence and oppression. Lack of knowledge and an ambiguous understanding of violence affect the work of social services and may complicate the situation of vulnerable individuals. The main purpose of this study was to investigate social workers, within the section of children and family in a Swedish municipality, perceived knowledge and confidence in honor-related cases and the need for support in their work. The social workers’ views on honor-related violence and oppression were also investigated. The survey was based on a quantitative approach and questionnaires were used for data collection. The main results demonstrate that the social workers to some extent perceive themselves as having expertise in the field of honor. Nevertheless, they feel insecure in the work with honor-related cases. Furthermore, it appears that social workers are in need of specific support from the organization such as education and case supervision. Regarding the view of honor violence, a majority indicated that a gender perspective and a cultural perspective were important to understand the problem. / Samhället och socialtjänsten står inför stora utmaningar gällande hanteringen av hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Bristande kunskap och en tvetydig förståelse för våldet påverkar socialtjänstens arbete och kan komma att försvåra situationen för utsatta individer. Det huvudsakliga syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka hur socialarbetare, inom sektionen barn och familj i Falu Kommun, upplever sin kunskap och trygghet i hedersrelaterade ärenden samt behovet av stöd i arbetet. Vidare kartlades socialarbetarnas syn på hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Undersökningen utgick ifrån en kvantitativ ansats, där enkäter användes som datainsamlingsmetod. Resultatet påvisar att socialarbetarna i viss mån upplever sig ha kunskap inom området hedersvåld. Dock känner de sig otrygga i arbetet med hedersrelaterade ärenden. Vidare framkom det att socialarbetarna är i behov av specifikt stöd från verksamheten såsom utbildning och ärendehandledning. Gällande synen på hedersvåld angav majoriteten ett könsmaktsperspektiv och ett kulturellt perspektiv som viktiga för att förstå problemet.

In the society of today there is a gender power order where men are parent of women. This superiority tends to permeate and affect institutions and organizations of the society. The responsibility of abused women in Sweden lies with the social services and is controlled by the social services act. Together with the national guidelines and common advice of the social board the idea is for the business to form strategies and actions to provide help and support for abused women. The purpose of our investigation is to see how social workers are working to reintegrate women who live with protected personal data in the society based on the right to be self sufficient and independent. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews were conducted. The empirical data, based on six social secretary experience, evaluated through a thematic analysis and linked to previous research and theoretical perspectives SOC and gender power. The conclusions we have reached are that the work is affected by both experience, way of work, as well as guidelines and limitations in the legislation. The activities offered are helping women in the acute phase but the long termed work have several limitations mainly for protected women. / I dagens samhälle råder en könsmaktsordning där män är överordnade kvinnor. Överordningen tenderar även att genomsyra samhällets institutioner och organisationer. Ansvaret för våldsutsatta kvinnor i Sverige ligger på socialtjänsten och regleras i socialtjänstlagen. Tillsammans med Socialstyrelsens nationella riktlinjer och allmänna råd utformas strategier och insatser för att ge hjälp och stöd till våldsutsatta kvinnor. Syftet med undersökning var att titta på hur socialsekreterare arbetar för att återintegrera kvinnor med skyddade uppgifter i samhället, utifrån rätten att vara självförsörjande och självständig. En kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes. Det empiriska materialet, baserat på sex socialsekreterares erfarenheter, utvärderades genom en tematiskanalys och kopplades till tidigare forskning och de teoretiska perspektiven KASAM och könsmaktsordningen. Våra slutsatser är att socialsekreterarnas arbete påverkas av såväl erfarenhet, arbetsformer, riktlinjer samt begränsningar i lagstiftningen. Erbjudna insatser hjälper de våldsutsatta kvinnorna i den akuta fasen men i det långsiktiga arbetet återfinns åtskilliga begränsningar främst för skyddade kvinnor.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur nyutexaminerade och erfarna socialsekreterare upplever sin nuvarande arbetsroll inom socialtjänsten. Tidigare forskning visar att stöd från arbetsgivaren och erfarenhet är två viktiga aspekter för hur socialsekreterare hanterar sitt arbete. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna för studien är ”krav- och kontrollmodellen” samt ”coping”. Med dessa teorier kan vi få en större förståelse för strukturer och individens egna strategier för att hantera krävande arbetssituationer. Studien utgörs av en kvalitativ ansats med sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som arbetar inom socialtjänsten. Resultatet visade att erfarenhet inte behöver betyda att man har den bästa copingstrategin eller förmågan att hantera pressade arbetssituationer. Hantering av krav var det som var viktigast för att klara av att arbeta under pressade arbetsförhållanden. Slutligen konstaterar vi att både de nyutexaminerade och erfarna socialsekreterarna använder sig av känslomässig- och problemfokuserad coping. De som använde sig av problemfokuserad coping var de som kunde lämna arbetet utan att tänka på sina klienter under sin fritid. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how graduates and practiced social workers experience their current job in social services. Previous research shows that support from the employer and previous job experience are two important aspects of how social workers deal with their work. The theoretical basis for the study is ”demand- control model” and  ”coping ". With these theories, we can gain a greater understanding of the structures and the individual's own strategies for dealing with demanding work situations. The study consists of a qualitative approach with six semi-structured interviews with people working in the social service sector. The result showed that the experience does not necessarily mean that you have the best coping strategy or the ability to handle stressful work situations. Being able to manage set standards and demands was of most importance when working under stressful conditions. Finally, we noticed that both the newly graduated and the experienced social workers use emotional- and problem focused coping. Those who used problem focused coping were those who could be off work and not think about their clients.

The purpose of the study was through qualitative interviews get a greater understanding of potential difficulties that unit managers perceive in the working situation within the unit children and family, examine the unit managers work with their staff, and what conditions the unit managers feel are necessary for a sustainable working environment for social workers, within the unit children and family. We chose to use a semi structured interview manual during our interviews. The result showed that the work situation within the unit children and family was highly loaded and complex, a major difficulty to recruit staff and for low wages for work performed. The result showed that the unit managers who felt that they had a well-functioning working situation had less staff groups, tutoring each week and were close to its staff. The result also showed that the unit managers advocated the importance of leadership to create and maintain a sustainable work situation for their staff.

Care transition, the process of moving from community care to residential care, is one of the biggest changes that older people can experience in their later life. Evidence from the literature suggests that older people's experiences of care transition tend to be negative and traumatic, with most of them being little involved in the process of care transition. How older people exercise choice during the period of care transition is important for understanding their experiences of care transition for the following two reasons: first, choice has been referred to in the literature as the key to less stressful care transition experiences, which can subsequently lead to a better quality of life in residential homes; second, the introduction of choice in public services has been the key plank of British social policy in recent decades and there has been a movement towards extending choice in residential care. This research aims to study older people's care transition experiences and their exercise of choice during the process of care transition, to explore the meaning and the perceived effects of choice and to identify the role of choice in promoting a positive care transition. This thesis presents findings from 48 in-depth interviews with older people who became new residents in one of the ten participating residential homes in London and had their care paid for by the local authority. This research identified four groups of older people who showed marked differences in terms of their needs, their exercise of choice during the care transition process and their adaptation to residential care: Active Planners, Conformists, the Unsettled and Shelter-Seekers. The findings from this research suggest that the older people's care transition experiences varied and that they stretch beyond the prevailing evidence emphasising the stressfulness of the care transition. The cases of Active Planners and Shelter-Seekers show the potential for positive roles for care homes in the case of users with genuine needs for residential care. An overwhelming majority of the older people who were interviewed were great proponents of choice and many of them actively exercised choice in the course of their care transition. This challenges the claim of the passivity of older people which has been argued in the literature. However, the cases of some Conformists who did not want to exercise choice also highlight that having no choice can be a choice for some older people. On the whole, older people’s exercise of choice played an important role in facilitating a positive transition, despite it not being a precondition for such a transition. However, there were administrative issues limiting the level and the extent of choice that were available to the older people and the Unsettled experienced an undesired move into a care home, having their choices denied or rejected. This thesis also questions the working of choice and competition in residential care, as the older people did not seem to enjoy the expected benefits of choice relating to service improvements which have been argued for in the literature.

Locational decisions based on stigma and low funding have handicapped the efficiency of community based mental healthcare in the United States since 1963. However, the pattern of services in the 21st century American South remains largely unknown. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge by using a mixed methodology including location allocation, descriptive statistics, and qualitative site visits to explore the geography of community clinics offering both physical and mental health services. The City of Houston has proposed using these facilities to anchor new supportive housing, but introducing more fixed costs to a mismatched system could create more problems than solutions. The findings of this study suggest the presence of an unnecessary concentration of services in the central city and a spatial mismatch between accessible clinics and the poor, sick people in need. Furthermore, this research reveals a new suburban pattern of vulnerability, calling into question long-held assumptions about the vulnerability of the inner city. Building supportive housing around existing community clinics, especially in the central city, may further concentrate vulnerable people thereby contributing to intensifying patterns of service-seeking drift and the continued traumatization of mentally ill homeless persons in Houston.

The personal social services in Sweden have undergone major changes during recent decades, partly due to the reforms caused by the influence of New Public Management (NPM) and partly due to the trend towards greater specialisation. These changes have had consequences for both social work management and for social work practice. The consequences for practice have gained attention both from research and from the field, but the consequences for managers have rarely been discussed. In this thesis therefore, the attention is directed towards the managers. Inspired by a mixed methods approach, this thesis aims to explore the personal social service managers’ perceptions of their organisational conditions and the content of their everyday work, as well as to interpret the managers’ experiences against the background of NPM influence, increasing specialisation and the specific circumstances that come with managing politically governed organisations. The results show that the personal social service managers in general were former professionals with extensive social work experience. The managerial work was to a great extent perceived as reactive, entailing constant interruptions and acute situations. The managers experienced a heavy workload that appeared to prevent them from engaging in strategic work and leadership to the extent that they would have liked. Substantial proportions of managers were dissatisfied with their own levels of influence compared to that of politicians and, in general, the managers perceived themselves to have more influence regarding aspects that were operational (such as methods and working procedures) compared to aspects related to organisational structure. Through the managers’ descriptions of their relations with politicians, it was revealed that the roles could be muddled, and that both managers and politicians could have difficulties in distinguishing between politics and administration, or politics and profession. Several changes that could be attributed to the influence of NPM were described by the managers. Some changes had consequences for the more technical side of management, e.g. decentralised budget responsibility, increased focus on cost effectiveness and downsizing of support functions. Other changes were more related to the overarching concept of management, which had consequences for the choice of managerial training, the expectations placed on the managers, and to some extent the managers’ own views on what good management should be. Despite the many indications of changes that may be attributed to NPM, an important result in this thesis is that NPM does not appear to have permeated social work to the degree that might have been expected. Rather, there are clear indications of a remaining professional identity among managers on all managerial levels, as well a continuing bureau-professional regime within the personal social services.