Income support is often described as the community’s farthest protection, as a last economic way out. From the clients perspective it´s very important to get possibility to an equivalent and correct assessment. Even if it´s an individual assessment the individual social worker´s assessment should not be different than other social worker´s, this from two aspects – quality and the rule of law. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze social worker´s assessments relate to gender. The central questions is what it is for likeness and differences in the social worker´s assessments and decisions and if the social worker´s assessments is based in their ideas of the clients gender. To achieve the purpose a quality method with interviews and cases has been used. The social worker´s has after the interview got two cases and has given an assessment. Half of the social worker´s got the case with a female client and half of the social worker´s with a male client. The result is based on six different social worker´s answers in three different municipalities in the same county. Symbolic interactionism and socialization has been used as theoretical framework and gender role and legal security as relevant concepts. The result shows that it is certain differences in the social worker´s assessments of clients who applying for incoming support. In some cases the differences can deduce to the clients gender. Men and women get different help depending on different needs.

Income support is granted to those who are not by themselves or in any other way able toachieve a decent standard of living. Assessment of entitlement to income support is based onan individual evaluation and equal treatment (Kjellbom, 2009). Administrators of economicaid should therefore not judge clients differently depending on, for example, gender. The aimof this study was to commence from a gender perspective in understanding howadministrators of economic aid think of equality and inequality between the sexes whenheterosexual couples apply for income support. Based on this objective we arrived at twomain formulations of questions; how administrators of economic aid deliberate aroundequality and inequality between sexes in connection to applications for financial support, aswell as which variables in organisations sustain or discourage inequalities between genders inaid management. Previous research demonstrates that gender inequalities have been sustainedwithin organisations and that has been the basis for our study. The method used is qualitativeinterviews. The study's result is based on eight interviews with administrators at centres foreconomic aid at two medium-sized municipalities in Sweden. Our theoretical starting positionhas been power relations and gender perspective. Our result demonstrates that theadministrators’ perception of a lack of guidelines regarding the pay-out of income supportcontributes to retaining power relations between genders when heterosexual couples apply forincome support.

A Social Services Act was introduced in 2016 to avoid differences concerning assessments between municipalities and to improve legal certainty and equal treatment among applicants. This study is aiming at investigating social security officers’ assessment of applications for income support in order to fulfill the legislator’s aim of the actual act. In more details, the study uncovers criteria for how the social security officers assess whether clients are actively seeking employment or not.   A qualitative approach based on individual semi-structured interviews is conducted with six social security officers from three Swedish municipalities. Interviews are based on a fictional case. Lipsky’s theory of Street-level bureaucrats and Hasenfeld’s Human service organizations theory are applied to analyze collected interviews. The result shows that the amendment in the Social Service Act does not induce major changes in social security officers’ routines. There are various factors influencing these officers’ decision making regarding the clients’ activities to search for jobs. Decision-making is contextually dependent and there is room for discretion concerning the interpretation of the actual Social Service Act. Therefore this act might be improved in order to achieve equal treatment and legal certainty.

During 2010, 1446 people committed suicide in Sweden. Research shows that groups that are less favored in society have an increased risk of suicide. Social services often encounter groups of people that have a high risk of suicide, for instance welfare recipients or substance abusers. The purpose of this study was to shed light on how social workers talk about suicide and how this might affect interactions with suicidal clients. The study is based on qualitative interviews with five social workers in Stockholm. The results were analyzed using the theory of professional discretion and the perspective of existentialism. The most important results were that social workers do not think that they can help suicidal clients on their own, instead they need psychiatric help. Meeting with suicidal clients raises a lot of feelings and one way to cope with this is by distancing oneself from the client. The study also showed that suicide is a complex issue and it can be hard to find a position between the human right of autonomy and the will to help people. Continuity was viewed as an important factor, but due to the work load it can be hard to follow up these clients.

Ungdomsarbetslösheten är ett problem i Sverige och det finns flera unga som uppbär försörjningsstöd. Det har visat sig vara svårt för en del ungdomar att etablera sig på arbetsmarknaden och kommunerna har ett ansvar för skapa arbetsmarknadsåtgärder som kan hjälpa personer att komma ut i arbetslivet. En del unga är mer utsatta än andra vilket gör att de kan vara i behov av ett intensivare stöd. Denna studies syfte är att undersöka vilka komponenter eller händelser i Case management-projektet som haft inverkan för de unga vuxnas livssituation. Projektet som är en arbetsmarknadsåtgärd syftar till att hjälpa ungdomar som har svårigheter med att strukturera upp sin vardag. En kvalitativ studie har gjorts för att undersöka vilka erfarenheter både klienter och professionella har av projektet. Detta skedde med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer där fyra klienter och tre professionella deltog. Tidigare forskning visar att en god relation mellan klient och hjälpare är en väsentlig komponent och att ett tätt samarbete mellan myndigheter samt klient är en avgörande faktor för om insatsen ska ha någon effekt. Samtidigt är övrigt stöd från nätverket en hjälpande faktor samt att klienten är motiverad till att förändra sin livssituation. Undersökningens resultat visar att alla respondenter är positivt inställda till projektet och att klienterna anser case managern har varit det stöd som de har saknat. / Youth unemployment is a problem in Sweden and there are several young people who receive income support. It has proven difficult for some young people to establish themselves in the labor market and local governments have a responsibility to create labor market policies which help people to establish themselves on the labor market. Some young people are more vulnerable than others so they may be in need of more intensive support. The aim of this study is to examine which components or events in the case management project that has impacted the young adults' lives. The project is a labor market program aimed at helping young people that find it difficult to structure their daily lives. A study has been done to examine both clients and professionals experience of the project. This was done by semi-structured interviews with four clients and three professionals participated. Previous research shows that a good relationship between client and helper is an essential component and that a close cooperation between agencies and clients is a crucial factor if the effort will have any effect. Additional network is also a helping factor and that the client is motivated to change their lives. The results of the study shows that all respondents are in favor of the project and the clients consider that the case manager has been the support that they have been missing.

This study aimed to investigate how newly graduated social workers, in the social services' income support, experience their work in the first time after graduation, and what factors affect their experiences. This is based on requirements-, control and the support model. Data collection took place through six semi-structured interviews with newly graduated social workers who work on the social services' income support. Collected data were analyzed with thematic analysis. The results showed that newly graduated social workers experience feelings of insecurity, unpreparedness, and stress. The results also showed that quantitative workload is high, but support plays an important role in ensuring that newly graduated social workers thrive in the workplace. / Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur nyutexaminerade socionomer inom socialtjänstens försörjningsstöd upplever sitt arbete den första tiden efter examen, samt vilka faktorer som påverkar deras upplevelser. Detta utifrån krav-, kontroll- och stödmodellen. Datainsamling skedde genom sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer med nyutexaminerade socionomer som jobbar på socialtjänstens försörjningsstöd. Insamlade data analyserades med tematisk analys. Resultaten visade att nyutexaminerade socionomer upplever känsla av osäkerhet, oförberedd och stress. Resultaten visade också att kvantitativ arbetsbelastning är hög, men stöd har en viktigaste roll för att nyutexaminerade socionomer trivs på arbetsplats.

Uppsatsen syftade till att undersöka hur olika socialsekreterare resonerade i sina bedömningar inom ekonomiskt bistånd samt hur socialsekreterarna uppfattade och tillämpade sitt handlingsutrymme. Fem socialsekreterare intervjuades i en kvalitativ intervjustudie där även två vinjettfall ingick. Resultatet påvisade viss variation i resonemang och bedömningar samt att tid, ärendebelastning och samverkan med andra myndigheter enligt socialsekreterarna hade störst inverkan på deras handlingsutrymme. Resultatet motsade en del tidigare forskning, genom att organisatoriska kontrollmekanismer inom socialt arbete även kan upplevas som positivt för socialarbetarnas handlingsutrymme. Generellt sett kände sig majoriteten av socialsekreterare tämligen fria i sin yrkesutövning. Skillnader i socialsekreterarnas resonemang analyserades samt diskuterades. Vissa socialsekreterare tillämpade ett tämligen byråkratiskt förhållningssätt gentemot klienter och deras ansökningar, medan andra socialsekreterare fokuserade på alliansbyggande i sina bedömningar och resonemang. Utrymmet för socialsekreterarna att själva välja vilket förhållningssätt de önskade inta föreföll vara stort. / The aim of the study was to examine how social workers working with income support reasoned in their assessments and to examine how they perceived and applied their discretion. Five social workers were interviewed in a qualitative study, which also included two vignettes. Results showed that reasoning and assessments varied to some extent. The social workers described time, caseload and collaboration with other authorities as challenges, limiting their discretion. The results contradicted some previous research, as the social workers described positive aspects of organisational control mechanisms in relation to discretion. Generally they all felt rather free in the exercise of their profession. Differences in social workers reasoning were analysed and discussed. Some social workers applied a rather bureaucratic approach regarding clients, whilst others focused more on alliance building in their assessments. There seemed to be room to choose which approach to take depending on the social worker’s perception of the situation.

Research object – the support measures for small farms. Research aim – to identify the support measures for small farms and to suggest their possible ways of improvement. Objectives: 1) To propose the criterions of size of farm and the conception of small farm at policy; 2) To explore the estimations of national economic and social support at economic literature; 3) To explore the national measures for small farms and to deduce the possibility of small farms to use them; 4) To explore the measures of Europe Union for small farms and to deduce the possibility of small farms to use them; 5) To identify the support measures for small farms; 6) To give suggestions for improvement of support measures for small farms. Research methods. To propose the mostly used criterions of size of farms, the conception of small farm at policy and the national economic and social support measures at economic literature were used the analysis and synthesis methods of scientific and juristically literature. To explore the measures of national and of Europe Union supports were used analysis and synthesis methods of juristically literature, programs. To identify the support measures for small farms and to give suggestions were used statistical, comparative analysis and graphic figure methods.

We have chosen to focus on the meaning of long-term income support dependency regarding health, goal setting and motivation for the recipient of economical aid. We have chosen to use semi structurized interviews to achieve our goal of reaching the clients experience of long-term income support dependency. The study consists of interviews of six clients whose answers have been analyzed through appliance of Kielhofner´s Model of human occupation, Scheff´s Shame in self and society.    Our results show regarding, 1) the factor health that long-term income support dependency may elevate the risk of illness and less experienced options of possibilities to act. 2) regarding the factor goal setting, that goals may be inefficiently used during social work with long-term income support dependent clients and may result in a disorganized relationship between client and social worker in the sense of making the parties pull in opposite direction. 3) regarding the factor motivation, that long-term income support dependency and the living with the emotion of shame elevates the risk of maintaining a negative image of oneself that limits the willpower to assimilate new knowledge and/or skills. This also effects the clients belief in their own capacity to change their current negative situation. Which may impact the rate of success in motivational social work and the individuals own possibilities to live an independent life, free of income support. Throughout the study we have encountered the traces of shame as a social emotion and emphasize on the environments pressure for change and socialization.

Syftet med denna studie var att genom en enkät kartlägga socialsekreterares upplevelse av beredskap och förekomst av möten med självmordsnära klienter inom socialtjänsten. I Sverige dör cirka 1100 människor årligen genom suicid och det klassas idag som ett folkhälsoproblem. Enligt forskning, kommer socialsekreterare inom socialtjänsten ofta i kontakt med suicidala klienter men hur dessa möten hanteras har inte studerats i någon större utsträckning. Studiens urval har avgränsats till Stockholm samt tre andra län och enheterna försörjningsstöd och vuxen/beroende valdes ut för närmare granskning. Forskning pekar på olika riskfaktorer för självmord, som exempelvis psykisk ohälsa, socioekonomisk utsatthet eller missbruk, därav valet av dessa enheter. Empirin bearbetades med hjälp av programmet SPSS, genom vilket bi- och univariata analyser utfördes. Resultatet analyserades sedan med hjälp av tidigare forskning, samt med teori om suicidprevention. Ett av studiens huvudresultat var att många socialsekreterare stöter på självmordsnära klienter. En majoritet av dessa socialsekreterare har träffat en eller flera självmordsnära klienter det senaste året. Vidare visade resultatet att de medverkande i viss utsträckning upplever sig beredda i möten med dessa klienter. En femtedel av de medverkande uppgav att de genomgått utbildning i suicidprevention och resultatet visade att sådan utbildning har positiv påverkan på deras upplevelse av beredskap. / The purpose of this study was to map out social workers’ preparedness and the occurrence of encounters with suicidal clients within the social services, through a survey. Nearly 1100 people in Sweden dies because of suicide every year and suicide is classified as a public health problem. According to research social workers often encounter suicidal clients, but how these encounters are handled have not been studied in any greater degree. The study’s selection was defined to Stockholm and three other counties. The units within the social services that were chosen for further examination were income support and adult/addiction. Research revolving suicide indicate that socioeconomic vulnerability, addiction and mental illness are risk factors connected to suicide, hence the choice of these units. The collected data material was processed by means of SPSS, through which univariate and bivariate analyses have been executed. The results were interpreted by means of earlier scientific findings, as well as theories concerning suicide prevention. One of the main findings that could be extracted from this study was that many social workers encounter suicidal clients. Most of the social workers have met one or several suicidal clients during the past year. The results also implies that the participants believe that they have preparedness to some extent in encounters with these clients. One fifth of the participants state that they have passed training in suicide prevention and the results show that training of such has a positive impact on their experience of preparedness.