One in two home care workers in Sweden express a desire to leave their jobs. Home care provision and needs assessment increasingly work according to an assembly line logic, depriving care assistants and assistance officers of discretion, and putting care recipients at risk for social exclusion and neglectance. A field study of Moldovan home care indicates, in comparison, that admitting care workers a higher level of autonomy and self-determination contributes to the attractivity of social work and higher quality for beneficiaries, but the dominant care logic in Sweden is instead one of proletarianization: both needs assessment and home care interventions are organised according to manuals, forms, guidelines, and digital recording and scheduling logics. Drawing on findings in Moldova, further research into the role of discretion in social work with elderly is suggested. Findings also indicate that manual-based needs assessment risks resulting in people-production as formulated by Holstein.

The point of departure for this study is Michael Lipsky’s description and problematization of street-level bureaucrats’ discretion. Street-level bureaucrats, such as teachers, have a possibility to influence the implementation of policy at the point of delivery to citizens.This can create a problem within the democratic policy process as policy does not materialize in the way that politicians intended. I used a qualitative research design and interviewed ten teachers in upper secondary schools about their exercise of authority, in order to investigate a factor that may lead to policy-making: logics of action. I claim that logics of action are suitable tools for analyzing and discussing the policy-making that street-level bureaucrats perform in the democratic policy process. The main purpose of this study is to contribute to such a discussion. A second purpose is to elucidate logics of action as a type of factors that guides teachers’ exercise of authority, but which has not been noticed to any great extent in previous research. I investigated which logics of action are mainly present in teachers’ exercise of authority concerning assessment and grading: a logic of consequences or a logic of appropriateness; a manufacturing logic or a service logic; and an instrumental logic or alternative logics. The relationship between logics of consequences and appropriateness is complex. It is difficult to say that one logic is the dominant force behind teachers’ exercise of authority. This is because of the constantly changing circumstances in the school environment. As for the manufacturing and service logics, the latter is dominant in assessment and grading. This does not influence decision-making as such, but enriches policy with a certain value production. Lastly, teachers claim that they instrumentally follow the guidelines in their exercise of authority. But at the same time alternative logics, such as gaming and cheating with the rules, are very much present in assessment and grading. Alternative logics distort teachers’ decision-making in several ways. These results show that logics of action are indeed tools that can help us to better understand what influences street-level bureaucrats’ exercise of authority, and how this contributes to policy-making. I conclude by suggesting how the use of logics of action as analytical tools can enhance our knowledge of street-level bureaucrats’ discretion in future research.

A recurring concept for social workers to relate to in child protection investigations and assessments of parenting capacity is the concept of good enough. There is no clear definition about the concept in research or literature. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to investigate how social workers in child protection relate to the concept of good enough and how their understanding might affect the assessments and investigations. To fulfill the purpose, semi- structured interviews have been held with four social workers. The results have been analyzed while relating them to scientific research and theories about discretion in human service organizations, Banks' (2012) thoughts about values in social work and Thompson's (2016) Personal, Cultural and Structural (PCS) analysis model.  The results show that social workers in Child Protection have room for discretion. This space is affected by the organization's framework. If the room for discretion is being restricted because of lacking resources, the concept of good enough may look different as it relates to the current situation of the social worker. Good enough is also affected by the social worker's subjective knowledge, intuition, and experience. Normative values on family situations may influence what is considered acceptable in parenting and children's living conditions. Factors such as culture, ethnicity, religion, disability, and gender identity could, therefore, impact on the assessments and decisions. If the social worker is not aware of these normative values and factors, they could have a discriminatory effect on the families who are being investigated.

The lack of knowledge and an inexplicit definition of honor related violence complicates school counselors' work against the phenomen. Current discourse tends to focus on young girls' exposure to oppression and violence. This may cause a position for victimized young boys where they won't be noticed. This study therefore aims to examine school counselors' approach to honor related violence as a phenomen and what experience they have of working with victimized boys and girls. The study is based on a qualitative method where six school counselors have been interviewed. The main questions to be answered were how school counselors describe honor related violence as a phenomen, which experience they have of working against it and what they see as their responsibility in the work against the phenomen. To answer these questions the interviews were analysed through a theme analysis and the theory of discretion. The result of the study was that all school counselors have their point of the meaning of the phenomen. Despite this it was a difference between if they included different countries and religions in the description and if they include hbtq-persons as victims for the violence and oppression. All of the interviewed school counselors had experience of meeting victimized children. The main responsibility that was expressed was to create trustful relationships with the children, be there for them as a support during the process and decide when the situation requires to involve social services. Words like complicated, complexity and foreign were repidently involved in the school counselors statements. Which shows the importance of more knowledge and comprehension of the phenomen.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka LSS-handläggarens upplevelser av effekter kring implementeringen av IBIC, sett till möjligheten att nå måluppfyllelse för individen. Tidigare forskning samt rapporter från Socialstyrelsen har visat på viss problematik kring implementeringen brister i hantering av riktlinjer kopplat till rådande rättspraxis och de lagar som berörs. För att uppnå mitt syfte genomfördes sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med LSS-handläggare verksamma i samma kommun. Analysen genomfördes i form av en tematisk analys utifrån ”framework” metoden kopplat till Michael Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater.Resultatet visar en komplex bild av IBIC som arbetsmetod inom socialtjänsten, då syftet bakom framtagandet av metoden skulle bidra till bland annat en ökad jämlikhet i besluten samt en ökad jämförbarhet kommuner emellan samt att IBIC skulle bidra till en mer kunskapsbaserad socialtjänst. Det studien visar är att det med IBIC följde ett större handlingsutrymme för LSS-handläggare att individanpassa utredningar och matcha behov. Som slutsats menar jag att det på ett sätt är gynnande för individen som får fler behov tillgodosedda men inte för målgruppen i sig då besluten beror på vilken handläggare som utreder. Det innebär att huvudmålet för införandet av IBIC i nuläget har fallerat då det inte finns jämförbarhet mellan kommunerna och att de i sin tur inte bidrar till en mer kunskapsbaserad socialtjänst. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the LSS case manager's experiences of effects around the implementation of IBIC, in terms of the possibility of achieving goal fulfillment for the individual. Previous research and reports from the National Board of Health and Welfare have shown certain problems with the implementation as there are often shortcomings in the management of guidelines linked to prevailing legal practice and the laws that are affected.In order to achieve my purpose, six semi-structured interviews were conducted with LSS officers active in the same municipality. The analysis was carried out in the form of a thematic analysis based on the "framework" method linked to Michael Lipsky's theory of Street-level bureaucrats. The result shows a complex picture of IBIC as a working method within social services, as the purpose behind the development of the method would contribute to, among other things, greater equality in decisions as well as increased comparability between municipalities and that IBIC would contribute to a more knowledge-based social service.What the study shows is that with IBIC there was greater room for discretion for LSS officers to individually adapt investigations and match needs. As a conclusion, I mean that in a way it is beneficial for the individual who gets more needs met, but not for the target group itself as the decisions depend on which case officer is investigating. This means that the main goal for the introduction of IBIC has currently failed as there is no comparability between the municipalities and that they in turn do not contribute to a more knowledge-based social service.

The aim of the study is to describe and analyze how LSS-administrators talkabout user involvement in investigations based on their profession in anorganizational context. Eight LSS administrators have been interviewed.LSS-administrators work in a paradox where they are supposed to be theextended arm of the welfare state, at the same time as they are supposed togive voice to vulnerable individuals and their needs and wishes. The resultsof this study show that five administrators use the word participation whentalking about user involvement. All of them also talk about image support ininvestigations, but in varying degrees. There are also signs in the interviewsthat adaptation and focusing on the best interests of the user are ways ofdoing user involvement. Similar signs can also be seen in that theadministrators may experience difficulties communicating with users andthat it is not always possible to rely on what the representative says withoutchecking with the user. The results also show that there is a varyingperception of how much can be done as an LSS-administrator in relation tohow controlled the work is.

The purpose with this study is to examine how social workers collaborate with clients that have both financial aid and substance abuse problems. The study aimed to examine if the social workers experienced that there were limits in their work when collaboration takes place. The study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with social workers from four different municipalities in Sweden. Criteria for the social workers were whether they should work with financial aid or addiction treatment. The interviews were analyzed with former research and theoretical concept discretion. The results of the study show that collaboration in social service is different depending on errand. Often it happens with information exchange. The result of the study also shows that social workers' work is affected by collaboration. Sometimes it supports their own work and sometimes it can create obstacles in their own work. One part of the result is that the nearness is an important component for functioning collaboration and the geographical nearness and distance affects the social worker’s work. That creates questions if the digital world can be helpful for collaboration in social service.

In January 2020, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law, whichled to a number of questions about whether the children's rights are affected within socialservices. The purpose of the study was to create an understanding of how social workersconsider the child's perspective in the handling of matters relating to financial assistance. Weused a qualitative method choice, where we collected empirical evidence with the help of sixinterviews with social workers in four different municipalities. An analysis was made using thetheoretical concept of discretion. The result showed that children in financial assistance werepaid attention to through their guardians and the child's perspective was presented only in urgentsituations, for example eviction prevention work. The results also showed that the socialworker's discretion is limited by the company's laws, rules and guidelines. On the other hand,the child's perspective is mentioned in the municipality's guidelines, but in an unclear way. Theconclusion of this study raised further questions about how children's participation and how achild's perspective can be integrated into the practical work within financial assistance. / Januari 2020 blev FN:s barnkonvention svensk lag, vilket föranledde ett antal frågor kringhuruvida barnets rättigheter påverkas inom socialtjänsten. Syftet med studien var att skapa enförståelse om hur socialsekreterare beaktar barnperspektivet i handläggningen av ärenden somrör ekonomiskt bistånd. Vi använde oss utav en kvalitativ metod där samlade vi in empiri medhjälp av sex intervjuer med socialsekreterare i fyra olika kommuner. En analys gjordes medhjälp av det teoretiska begreppet handlingsutrymme. Resultatet visade att barn inomekonomiskt bistånd uppmärksammades genom sina vårdnadshavare och barnperspektivetframfördes endast vid akuta situationer, exempelvis vräkningsförebyggande arbete. Resultatetvisade också att socialsekreterares handlingsutrymme är begränsad av verksamhets lagar, regleroch riktlinjer. Däremot omnämns barnperspektivet i kommunens riktlinjer men på ett otydligtsätt. Slutsatsen av denna studie väckte ytterligare fråga kring hur barns delaktighet och hur ettbarnperspektiv kan integreras i det praktiska arbetet inom ekonomiskt bistånd.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceived freedom of discretion and emotional labour of travel service officers in relation to the austerity in political decisions. The study aims to raise the importance of travel service officers' role in people with reduced mobility lives and ability to move freely and without obstacles in society. The study uses Lipsky’s theory of Street-level bureaucracy to highlight what kind of work travel service officers do, and to analyse their perceived freedom of discretion. Together with Hochschild’s thoughts on emotional labour, which aims to point this study in the right direction when it comes to travel service officers' outlook on emotional labour in their work. The study’s empirical data consists of 10 qualitative interviews lasting approximately 45-60 minutes each. Since the aim is to gain an understanding of how the travel service officers experience their discretion and emotional labour, a phenomenological approach is utilized. The justification for the qualitative approaches is that the focus of the study is on the lived experiences of the travel service officers; human behaviour. The analysis of the collected material of the interviews resulted in 3 themes, The relationship in conversation with customers, the importance of work experience and different roles in the work of travel service officers. The study shows how work experience at the travel service government as an officer affects which role an officer takes on, and how that role affects how they view their discretion and essentially how they perceive their emotional labour as well. The study finds that officers with longer experience tend to have a more personal role with the customers, and the officers with shorter experience tend to take an approach of more authority.

Denna studie undersökte 33 socialsekreterares självskattade tillämpning av evidensbaserad praktik i arbetet med unga lagöverträdare och dess samband med deras självskattade handlingsutrymme och arbetslivserfarenhet. Vidare undersökte studien i vilken utsträckning socialsekreterarna ansåg att deras utbildningsbakgrund försett dem med kunskap kring evidensbaserad praktik. Studien genomfördes som en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie genom en webbenkät. Teoretiska utgångspunkter i studien var gräsrotbyråkrati och isomorfism. Genom en korrelationsanalys påvisade resultatet att det inte fanns något samband mellan evidensbaserad praktik och professionellt handlingsutrymme samt mellan evidensbaserad praktik och arbetslivserfarenhet. Socialsekreterarna arbetade enligt en evidensbaserad praktik med unga lagöverträdare i viss utsträckning men skattade något lägre när det gäller huruvida insatserna tillgodosåg målgruppens behov. Resultatet påvisade att socialsekreterarna inte fått med sig tillräcklig kunskap gällande evidensbaserad praktik från sin socionomutbildning. / This study investigated 33 social workers' self-accessed application of evidence-based practice in combination with young offenders and it’s connection to their self-assessed professional discretion and length of work experience. Furthermore, the study investigated to which extent social workers regard that their educational background has provided them with knowledge about evidence-based practice. The study was carried out as a quantitative cross-sectional study through a websurvey. Theoretical points of departure included the street-level bureaucracy and isomorfism. Through a correlation analysis the result showed that there is no connection between evidence-based practice and work experience, as well as no connection between evidence-based practice and professional discretion. Social workers worked in an evidence-based manner with young offenders to some extent but scored somewhat lower in regards to whether their aids were satisfactory to the needs of the target audience. The result showed that the social workers didn’t acquire sufficient knowledge regarding evidence-based practice from their bachelor degree in social work.