<p>The purpose of this study was to get a better understanding of how newly graduated social workers within the elderly care and the need assessment sector forms a professional identity through a focus on their experience of the socialization process.</p><p>The main questions concerned how work place culture socialized the newly graduated social worker in respect of her or his professional identity.</p><p>The study’s theoretical underpinning lies in Symbolic Interactionism. We have combined focus group interviews with follow-up personal interviews with the aim of deepening to our understanding of the socialization process of social workers and what it means for their professional identities.</p><p>Three main results were generated. First, that a well planned introduction and the teams’ significance to the formation of professional identity were shown to be important. Second that a needs assessment organization with a controlled and standardized professional role were noted to be too restrictive as they allowed little possibility for the new social worker to shape their own ways of working. This was particularly the case where new social workers were unclear about how to go about their work assignment. These results also showed that relation building and dialogue with clients was underemphasised and taken for granted.</p>

The purpose of this study was to get a better understanding of how newly graduated social workers within the elderly care and the need assessment sector forms a professional identity through a focus on their experience of the socialization process. The main questions concerned how work place culture socialized the newly graduated social worker in respect of her or his professional identity. The study’s theoretical underpinning lies in Symbolic Interactionism. We have combined focus group interviews with follow-up personal interviews with the aim of deepening to our understanding of the socialization process of social workers and what it means for their professional identities. Three main results were generated. First, that a well planned introduction and the teams’ significance to the formation of professional identity were shown to be important. Second that a needs assessment organization with a controlled and standardized professional role were noted to be too restrictive as they allowed little possibility for the new social worker to shape their own ways of working. This was particularly the case where new social workers were unclear about how to go about their work assignment. These results also showed that relation building and dialogue with clients was underemphasised and taken for granted.

Sammanfattning/Abstract Bakgrund: Många patienter väljer i dag att vårdas hemma under sin sista tid i livet istället för som tidigare på sjukhus eller ett boende. Den palliativa hemsjukvården blir därför alltmer utbredd vilket samtidigt innebär att allt större krav ställs på de närstående som då ofta intar en vårdande roll.  Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva hur närstående upplever sin vårdande roll i den palliativa hemsjukvården. Metod: En litteraturstudie baserad på tio resultatartiklar som består av både kvalitativa och kvantitativa studier där vi kom fram till tre teman som handlade om den närståendes upplevelser av den vårdande rollen, närståendes vårdande roll och den sjuke och närståendes vårdande  roll och sjuksköterskan.  Resultat: Många närstående fann både fördelar och nackdelar med den vårdande rollen och att den innebär en stor omställning. Många närstående kände sig mer eller mindre tvingade att ta över den vårdande rollen.Tillräcklig information och en god kommunikation ansågs av de närstående som en mycket viktig faktor.   Diskussion: Att vårda en svårt sjuk anhörig är ofta en belastning. Detta kräver att vårdpersonalen är medvetna om de närståendes svåra situation och upplevelsen av denna. Det är även viktigt att uppmärksamma närståendes behov av information och att ha en bra kommunikation för att vi som sjuksköterskor ska kunna stödja de närstående i deras vårdande roll. Nyckelord: Anhörig vårdare, vårdande roll, palliativ vård, döende patienter, vård i livets slut Keywords: Family caregivers, caring role, palliative care, terminally ill, end of life care