The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of how social workers in their work with vulnerable children are related to the work situation and how the work situations affect client work. To conduct the study a qualitative method was used. In total five professional social workers who works with vulnerable children was interviewed. The analyze method in this study was content analysis. The theoretical perspective in this study is human service organizations and the demand and control model. The result in this study shows that it is high strain work situations that have an impact on client work. Social workers are heavily loaded in their work, there are gaps in support from managers and its hard keep experience staff and recruiting new staff with sufficient experience. The result shows lack of resources which leads to at risk that it is not enough staff to take care of serious notifications. The results shows that social workers work situation leads to difficulty in performing work of a high quality and those children are at risk of suffering during the waiting period. / Uppsatsens syfte var att öka förståelsen kring hur socialsekreterare i arbetet med barn och unga förhåller sig till arbetssituationen och hur de anser att den påverkar klientarbetet. I studien användes en kvalitativ metod och sammanlagt genomfördes fem intervjuer med yrkesverksamma socialsekreterare inom socialtjänstens område barn och unga. Innehållsanalys användes som analysmetod. De teoretiska perspektiven i studien är människobehandlande organisationer och krav- och kontrollmodellen. Studiens huvudresultat visar att arbetssituationen har en påverkan på klientarbetet på grund av att det är en påfrestande arbetssituation. Socialsekreterarna är tungt belastade, det finns brister i stöd från chefer samt att det finns svårigheter att behålla erfaren personal och rekrytera ny personal med tillräcklig kompetens. Resultatet visar avsaknad av resurser där det finns en risk att det inte finns tillräckligt med personal för att kunna hantera allvarliga anmälningar. Resultatet visar att socialsekreterarnas arbetssituation leder till svårigheter att utföra arbetet med en hög kvalitet och barn riskerar att fara illa under väntetiden.

Arbetstidsförkortning har på senare år provats inom socialtjänsten i ett flertal kommuner i syfte att motverka hög personalomsättning och stress. Uppsatsens syfte var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare reflekterar kring betydelsen av arbetstidsförkortning för deras upplevelse av arbetsmiljö och kvaliteten i klientarbetet. En fokusgruppsintervju genomfördes med fyra socialsekreterare. Av intervjun framgick att socialsekreterarna upplevde att arbetstidsförkortningen innebar att förutsättningarna för återhämtning ökade samtidigt som man mer sällan upplevde konflikter mellan familjeliv och arbetsliv. Socialsekreterarna beskrev också att de upplevde sig mer fysiskt och psykiskt närvarande samt att de hade mer ork för arbetet samtidigt som detta utfördes mer effektivt och flexibelt. Vidare upplevdes arbetsplatsen som tryggare eftersom personalomsättningen minskade. De nackdelar som beskrevs var att motsättningarna mellan enheterna inom socialtjänsten ökade samt att tillgängligheten för klienterna blev sämre. Avslutningsvis diskuteras frågan om arbetet som socialsekreterare i socialtjänsten är ett yrke där arbetstidsförkortning krävs för att personalen ska orka med en arbetsdag. / Working time reduction has in recent years been tested within the social services to counteract high staff turnover and stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate social workers’ reflections on the importance of working time reduction for their experience of the working environment and the client work. A focus group-interview was conducted with four social workers. The social workers expressed that the conditions for recovery increased, while at the same time experiencing less conflict between family and working life. The social workers also described that they felt more physically and mentally present, with more energy for their work. Furthermore, the workplace was perceived as safer as staff turnover decreased. The disadvantages described were that the contradictions between the units within the social services increased and that the accessibility for the clients decreased. Whether social workers is a profession where working hour’s reduction is required is discussed.

Inom socialtjänsten används allt mer standardiseringsmanualer och bedömningsmodeller i socialt arbete samtidigt som forskning visar att relationen är en grund och en förutsättning för allt klientarbete. Det finns antydan till att relationen mellan klient och socialarbetare blivit mer administrativ och juridisk till följd av strukturella krav. Det finns därför ett behov av att undersöka hur kraven på standardiseringsmanualer påverkar klienterna och relationen mellan klient och socialsekreterare. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka socialsekreterarens uppfattningar om relationens betydelse i det sociala arbetet samt om standardiseringsmanualer har en påverkan på relationen mellan socialsekreterare och klient. Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ ansats och som datainsamlingsmetod använt semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visar bland annat att en god relation mellan socialsekreterare och klient är betydelsefull för socialt arbete. I resultatet framkommer också att standardiseringsmanualer, trots att de är viktiga, påverkar möjligheterna att skapa en god relation. / The social services use of standardization manuals and assessment models are increasing at the same time as research shows that the relationship is the foundation and a prerequisite for all client work. There is a hint that the relationship between client and social worker has become more administrative and legal as a result of structural requirements. Therefore there is a need to study how the requirements for standardization manuals affect clients and the relationship between client and social worker. The purpose of this study is to examine the social secretary's perceptions of the relationship's importance in social work and whether standardization manuals have an impact on the relationship between social worker and client. The study was based on a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews was used as data collection method. The results show, among other things, that a good relationship between social workers and client is significant for social work. The results also show that standardization manuals, despite being important, affect the opportunities to create a good relationship.

Summary: This study aims to describe how social workers experience media and its significance in relation to the professional role and the professional status. The media holds a position of power since they choose what is published and thus have a significant influence on the public’s thoughts and opinions. Previous research shows that media reporting about the social service often consists of criticism of their work and actions. It also shows that negative coverage from media may have a negative impact on the status of social workers. The method in this study is qualitative and based on interviews from nine social workers, all of whom are active within the children and family-unit. The collected material is analyzed from the theoretical framework: profession theory and emotion sociology. Findings: The result given from the interviews shows that media coverage about the social services and social workers is predominantly negative. The social workers experience that the media coverage does not affect how they perceive their own professional status, but they feel that it affects how the public and clients view the status of social workers. The social workers also experience that the media coverage affects the client work since the social workers receives additional work and higher workload due to the preconceptions that clients bring into the meeting.

The general objective of this dissertation is to describe and analyse how specialised respective integrated forms of organisation in the Swedish Personal Social Services (PSS) condition social workers’ interventions and client effects (outcomes). The three specific questions are: 1) How are structural conditions for social work with clients created in specialised versus integrated (generic) forms of organising PSS? 2) How do social workers carry out their work with clients in specialised versus integrated (generic) PSS-organisations? 3) How do different organisational models of PSS  influence the results for clients? The research was conducted in three Swedish municipalities with different organisational models within the personal social services: 1) specialised organisation, 2) integrated organisation, and 3) a “combined” organisation with a mix between integration and specialisation. The research had a complex design. It was carried on as comparative case study. Data was collected in several different ways: 1) by means of survey among social workers, 2) by interviewing politicians, mangers and social workers, 3) focus groups consisting of social workers, 4) by collecting official documents, guidelines etc. 5) by mapping of the organisation of social services in the municipalities by means of analyse of their homepages and additional interviews by telephone.  The data were analysed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The main results in this dissertation are: 1) In the majority of Swedish municipalities the PSS are nowadays specialized. 2) The formal organizational structure of PSS is always challenged by the employees’ spontaneous organising process that goes in an opposite direction. 3) Only the integrated (generic) organisation emphasizes social workers professional competence and knowledge. 4) Social workers, as a professional group, have the collective power to (to a certain degree) influence political decisions on what kind of PSS organisation is chosen in their municipality. 5) Regardless of organisation model, social workers’ method use is more unspecific than specific. 6) Social workers, in general, place significantly more weight on working with clients’ relationships and aspects of trust than on (specific or unspecific) working methods. 7) A holistic (generic) view of a client can only exist in a direct relationship between social worker and the individual and a unique client. It seems difficult to build in holism into primarily specialised organisations. 8) One may question whether a specialised organisation leads to specialisation of its employees in a way that they become experts on specific problems. The three organisational models are not equally good. Neither the specialised organisation nor the combined organisation is able to create economic or organisational conditions for working with clients that are clearly experienced as good. This also holds true for assessment of need, possibilities to make relevant interventions, such as building relationships. Those two organisations show several deficits regarding work with clients. / Specialisering eller integration av socialtjänstens individ- och familjeomsorg. Effekter på insatser och resultat.

Klientkontakt utgör en central del i handläggares arbete. Denna studie undersöker och belyser handläggares upplevelser, känslor och inställning vid utebliven klientkontakt och hur detta påverkar handläggares arbetstillfredsställelse, arbetsmotivation och arbetseffektivitet. När en klient inte kommer till ett bokat besök eller missköter sin avtalade kontaktfrekvens med sin handläggare, kan “en lucka” uppstå i arbetet där handläggarens tillfredsställelse, motivation och effektivitet i arbetet tenderar att förändras. Denna studie är kvantitativ och lägger vikt vid handläggares perspektiv på utebliven klientkontakt. För att få svar på frågeställningarna samlades data in genom en webbenkät. Enkäten skickades ut till sammanlagt 284 handläggare som är verksamma i Jönköpings län, varav 115 handläggare besvarade enkäten. Resultatet visar att handläggares känsla av stöd vid utebliven klientkontakt och möjligheten att lägga ner så mycket tid på klienten som handläggare anser nödvändigt, är av betydelse för handläggarnas arbetstillfredsställelse och arbetsmotivation. För de handläggare som upplever utebliven klientkontakt som ett hinder, tar det också längre tid för att påbörja en ny arbetsuppgift efter insikt om att en klient uteblir från avtalad kontakt. Handläggares möjlighet att utföra sitt arbete, vilket inbegriper upplevelsen att göra ett meningsfullt arbete som klienten har nytta/glädje av, förhindras då klientkontakt uteblir från handläggares vardagliga arbete. / Client contact is a central part of social worker’s work environment. This study examines and highlights social worker’s experiences, feelings and attitude in case of no client contact, and how this affects social worker’s job satisfaction, work motivation and work efficiency. When a client does not come to a booked visit or mismanage his/hers agreed contact frequency with his/hers social worker, "a gap" occur in the work where the social worker’s satisfaction, motivation and efficiency at work tend to change. This study is quantitative and highlights the importance of social worker’s perspective on client contact that fails to appear. To get answers to the questions data were collected through a web survey. The questionnaire was sent out to 284 social workers that are active in Jönköping County, of which 115 social workers responded to the survey. Data were collected from the municipalities of Jönköping County through an online survey. The result shows that the social worker’s sense of support in case of no client contact and the opportunity to spend so much time on the client as the social worker deems necessary, is important for the social workers job satisfaction and motivation. For those social workers that experience client contact that fails to appear as a barrier, it also takes longer to start a new task after the realization that a client fails to appear at the agreed contact. When the client contact fail to appear from social worker’s daily work, it prevents social worker’s opportunity to do their work, which includes to do a meaningful work that the client benefit of and enjoy.