Motivational interviewing is a widely used psychosocial intervention, both in general and more specifically in Swedish social services. It was developed within the substance abuse field and has later been adapted to many other fields, for example domestic violence. Up to this point there has been some research about MI in this context, but there is a lack of knowledge about how social workers working with domestic violence use and perceive the method in their practical work. This qualitative interview study explores seven Swedish social workers’ perception of this within the theory of affordances. The results have been thematically analyzed and shows that MI is viewed as a flexible, versatile and useful method within domestic violence. The results also show three themes which are called The learning process of MI as an affordance in itself, MI as a useful method in the work with domestic violence and MI applied partially in relation to contextual circumstances. The results further implicate more extensive future studies with a quantitative approach.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers experience their cooperation in childcare investigations, how they experience their discretion and what happens emotionally with social workers in relationship with child care investigations. The study is based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The interviews have been analyzed via a thematic analysis and have been interpreted with the theoretical frameworks, human service organizations, street level bureaucracy and power. The results show that work linked to childcare investigations arouses feelings of the social secretary. Feelings like hopefulness, fear, stress and powerlessness. Further results show that the social secretary prefers parents to accept voluntary efforts compared with imperativ efforts and cooperation is of the greatest importance to bring child care investigations forward. The study shows that the social secretaries consider themselves to have discretion in their work but their work is also controlled by the organization. Especially when it comes to imperative care, something that the law also prescribes.

För ungefär två år sedan fick hela världen och därmed vi i Sverige förändra våra livsstilar markant från vad vi var vana vid. Coronapandemin och sjukdomen covid-19 spred sig snabbt och allt för många omkom till följd av smittan. För att bromsa och försöka stoppa smittan ställde vi om, där det var möjligt, till distansarbete. Skolor fick på rekordkort tid ställa om till distans och lärare fick hålla undervisningen genom digitala program som Zoom och Microsoft teams.   Övergången från undervisning samt arbete på distans påverkade, och påverkar fortfarande, både barn och vuxna runtom i världen. Att studera hemifrån för barn innebär en markant ökning av eget ansvar vilket kan vara påfrestande. Att studera hemifrån innebär vidare att den miljön många barn är vana att arbeta i förändrats. Alla barn blir på ett eller annat sätt påverkade av att arbetsmiljön rör sig från skolan till hemmet. Det kan vara både i positiv och negativ riktning. Det som dock händer är att barn som lever i osäkra och olämpliga hemmamiljöer blir påverkade i större utsträckning av digitaliseringen än andra barn med trygga hemmiljöer. Det är därför viktigt att ta hänsyn i dessa tider till principen om barnets bästa.   Med hänsyn till den snabba digitaliseringen som skett är det viktigt att hänsyn tas till SoL, LVU och principen om barnets bästa. Till följd av digitaliseringen förlorar barn skolan som sin fristad och hälsan hos utsatta barn riskerar därmed att påverkas i negativ riktning. Till följd av en ökande psykisk och fysisk ohälsa är det viktigt att bland annat socialtjänsten vet i vilken utsträckning de kan använda sig utav digitala medel för att intervjua barn. Detta då både SoL, LVU och barnkonventionen är omfattande regleringar. Det är, som en lärare på universitet påpekade under en föreläsning, att vi måste se utöver lagen. Med detta menade han att det är riktiga personer bakom besluten och inte enbart något teoretiskt i text.   I praktiken har det visat sig att det föreligger osäkerheter när barn blir intervjuade eller samtalar med vuxna på distans. I ett fall använde sig mamman av en radiointervju för att samtala med ett barn. I ett annat fall försökte mamman vid samtal över telefon övertala sitt barn att det inte trivdes i familjehemmet och att det ville komma hem till mamman. Det finns därmed osäkerheter när socialtjänsten inte fysiskt på plats kan samtala med barnet. Det är därför viktigt att veta när och om det överhuvudtaget är lämpligt att intervjua barn på distans.   Det finns idag inget som hindrar socialarbetare från att intervjua och samtala med barn på distans. Det är därmed viktigt att reda ut hur dessa former av samtal med barn borde ske. Vid e-mailkonversationer med kommuner framkom det att de varken hade riktlinjer eller handböcker. När jag mejlade Socialstyrelsen fick jag till en början inget svar. Efter att ha vidarebefordrat samma mejl till dem fick jag som svar att jag skulle vända mig till landets kommuner för riktlinjer.   För att sammanfatta det hela behöver en utarbetning av riktlinjer och handböcker ske så att myndigheter och kommuner har samma utgångspunkt i frågan. Barn ska inte få olika möjligheter på grund av digitaliseringen och att olika aktörer arbetar på olika sätt. / About two years ago the whole world and therefore Sweden had to change it’s lifestyles remarkably from what we were used to. The corona pandemic and the disease covid-19 was spreading at a rapid pace and too many people died because of the virus. Countries had to change to remote work where it was possible. This also applied to schools which had to, at a record speed, change to distance learning through digital programs like Zoom and Microsoft teams.   The transition to remote work and distance learning affected, and still does, both children and adults around the world. For a child to study from home means a significant increase of self responsibility which for some can be stressful. To study from home also means that their usual work enviroment for studying changes. Every child is affected in one way or another when the work enviroment changes from school to home. This can be in both a negative and positive direction. The digitlisation and corona pandemic affected children with worse home enviroments to a greater extent than those with safe ones. Therefore it is important that we take the principle of the best interests of the child into consideration.   In light of the rapid digitalisation that has happened it is important to take the Social Services Act (SoL), the Care of Young Person (Special Provisions) act (LVU) and the principle of the best interests of the child into consideration. Children lose the school as their sanctuary due to the digitalisation and corona pandemic which risks to impact on them negatively. Due to an increased psychological and physical ill health, it is important that the social services know to which extend they can use digital means to interview children. A teacher at the university once told me that we have to look beyond the law. He meant that there are actual people behind the decisions we make and not just something theoretical.   It has shown in practice that there are uncertainties revolving around remote interviews between children and adults. There is one case where the mother used radiointerviews to interview her child. In another case the mother tried, over the phone, to convince her child that it wanted to come back home to her instead of staying in its current family home. Therefore, uncertainties exist when the social services can’t interview children in person. It is for these reasons important to know when and if it is appropriate to conduct remote interviews with children.   There is nothing today that restrains social workers from conducting remote interviews with children. For this reason it is important that we sort out how these forms of interviews should take place. When I emailed different municipalties it turned out that they did not have guidelines or handbooks on how to conduct remote interviews with children. When I emailed the National Board of Health and Welfare they told me to reach out to the municipalties in Sweden for guidelines.   To summarise, we need to formulate guidelines and handbooks for the authorities and municipalties so they have the same starting point. Children should not get different opportunites because of the digitalisation or that the authorities have different work procedures.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how social workers experience and understand threats and violence aimed towards them in their profession as well as what factors increase and decrease their motivation to report threats and violence from clients in order to conspire to a better work environment for social workers.   Method: The empirical material of this study was collected through semi-structured interviews  with six social workers within child protective service in Sweden.   Theory: The theories used to analyze the empirical material has been Berger and Luckmanns theory about social construction and Lundgrens theory about the normalization process.   Results: The results showed that all six social workers had experienced threats or violence from clients at some point. Our results also indicate that social workers normalize threats and violence from their clients. The normalization may be a result of the mentality that threats and violence is a part of the job which is present among social workers. Another finding was that the social workers propensity to report threats or violence depended on the relationship to the client. If they had a long and good relationship the propensity to report decreased.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how the Swedish Migration Board and the Social Services interpret the principle of "the best interests ofthe child" based on the specific conditions and tasks of the authorities. The essay strives to deepen the understanding of the street-level bureaucrats'room for action when they interpret and apply the principle of the child'sbest interests, as well as the impact these interpretations can have on thechildren. Scientific research shows that street-level bureaucrats may havelimited room for action when they have to investigate “the best interests of the child”, due to the existing legal framework, which leads to physical orpsychological consequences for the children. This paper will focus on howstreet-level bureaucrats interpret the principle of “the best interests of thechild” and how various legal frameworks of the authorities affect the scopeof action for the social workers. This study is based on nine interviews (fivefrom the Social Services and four from the Swedish Migration Board). It shows the experiences of how these street-level bureaucrats can accommodate the child's best interests in their daily work.

The purpose of this study was to, through qualitative interviews, create anunderstanding of social workers' experiences of interventions aimed at children whohave witnessed violence between relatives. Understanding should therefore becreated about the implementation of interventions from the perspective of socialworkers'. Therefore, we wanted to create an understanding about what opportunitiesand difficulties social workers experience with the interventions to meet thechildren's needs, as well as which approaches social workers think are important inthe interventions. To find answers to these questions, we interviewed nine socialworkers who currently works or have worked with interventions for children whohave witnessed violence between relatives. In analyses of the interviews, we appliedtheories about discretion and evidence-based practice, along with previous research.From the results, we could see that there are both difficulties and opportunities inthe interventions. Discretion can be used in the interventions to be more flexible andfollow the individual child, while manuals help professionals so that they don´tforget important parts of the intervention. The social workers also expressed thechallenges with knowing how to act in certain situations, and therefore stated theneed for guidance. The result further showed that the interventions createopportunities for children to express their experiences and put to words what theyhave been trough. The social workers though experienced difficulties when thechildren don´t talk in the interventions. The result therefore showed how the socialworkers can use their discretion and professional expertise to handle thesechallenges and facilitate the children’s narrative. This could be done throughworking alongside the manuals and follow the needs of the individual child.Important approaches in the interventions that were expressed by the social workers,were for example the use of tools, relationship building and to relief the children’sfeelings of guilt and shame.

Var 8e sekund könsstympas en flicka någonstans i världen och idag uppskattas 38’000 flickor och kvinnor som lever i Sverige ha utsatts för ingreppet. I Sverige är socialtjänsten en av de instanser som ansvarar för att möta, skydda och hjälpa dessa flickor och kvinnor - men arbetet med kvinnlig könsstympning har visat sig vara allt annat än lätt. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka socialsekreterares upplevelser av förutsättningarna för att arbeta med frågor som rör kvinnlig könsstympning inom ramen för socialt arbete. Detta genom att ställa frågor som om och hur socialsekreterarna arbetar med kvinnlig könsstympning, vad som anses påverka förutsättningarna med arbetet samt vilka hämmande respektive främjande faktorer socialsekreterarna upplever förekommer i arbetet med dessa frågor. Studien intar en induktiv, kvalitativ ansats och empirin består av intervjuer med socialsekreterare från olika enheter inom socialtjänsten. Empirin analyseras med hjälp av tematisk analys och studiens teoretiska ramverk består av systemteori, organisationsteori samt Foucaults teori om sexualitet. Studien resulterar i tre huvudteman och ett bi-tema vilka bedöms utgöra de mest betydelsefulla förutsättningarna för socialsekreterarna i arbetet med kvinnlig könsstympning. Dessa är kontextuella förutsättningar, kunskap som förutsättning, organisatoriska förutsättningar och det faktum att det rör det kvinnliga könet. / Every 8 seconds, a girl is genitally mutilated somewhere in the world - and today it is estimated that 38,000 girls or women living in Sweden have been subjected to the procedure. In Sweden, the Social Services are one of the agencies responsible for meeting, protecting, and helping these girls and women - but the work with female genital mutilation has proven to be anything but easy. This study aims to examine social workers' experiences of the conditions for working with issues related to female genital mutilation within social work. This is done by asking questions such as whether and how the social secretaries work with female genital mutilation, what is considered to affect the conditions of the work and what inhibiting and promoting factors the social secretaries experience occur in the work with these questions. The study takes an inductive, qualitative approach and the empirical data consists of interviews with social secretaries from various units within the Social Services. The data is analyzed with thematic analysis and the study's theoretical framework consists of systems theory, organizational theory and Foucault's theory of sexuality. The study results in three main themes and one secondary theme, which are perceived to be the most important prerequisites for the social secretaries in the work with female genital mutilation. These are contextual preconditions, knowledge as a precondition, organizational preconditions, and the fact that it regards the female gender.

Finns det några skillnader mellan kön? Mellan det manliga och kvinnliga, att vara en mamma eller pappa? Finns det även skillnader i att vara en kvinnlig eller manlig socialarbetare? Svaret på dessa frågor enligt en del forskning är att, ja, det finns skillnader. Den här studiens resultat tyder på att de finns skillnader i både samhället och inom socialtjänsten. Dessa skillnader kan ta sig i uttryck hur handläggare inom socialtjänsten tänker kring könsroller i hemmet, vilka förväntningar som finns på ensamstående pappor respektive mammor eller hur den enskilde individen inte passar in i den förväntade rollen eller den mall som är satt för dem. Handläggare inom socialtjänsten behöver ha organisatoriska förutsättningarna för att lägga vikt vid ett genustänk. Handläggare behöver ha tid för reflektion samt synliggöra arbetet av genusmedvetenhet i sitt arbete. Den aktuella forskningen inom området behöver lyftas än mer för att verkligen skapa förändring och medvetenhet inom socialtjänsten. För att enskilda individer som söker stöd inte ska komma att feltolkas eller bemötas på felaktiga grunder när det kommer till att bevilja bästa möjliga insatser eller bistånd för den enskilde. Vår studie syftar till att fördjupa kunskapen om hur socialtjänsten arbetar med genusfrågor i relation till att säkerställa att den sökandes behov ligger i fokus, med stöd av arbetssätt som hjälper handläggaren att inte präglas av könsstereotypiska föreställningar i bedömningen. Uppsatsen stödjer sig i kvalitativa intervjuer och vi har använt oss av grundad teori som metodval utifrån studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Resultaten som sedan blev grund till den genomförda analysen, blev kategorierna 1) faktorer som kan påverkar en jämställd bedömning 2) upplevda fördelar med könsneutrala ärendedragningar 3) svårigheter med könsneutrala ärendedragningar, 4) könets betydelse och 5) organisatoriska hinder. De slutsatser som har dragits är att det kan finnas skillnader i bedömningarna i ärendedragningar där handläggare berättar kön kontra där kön inte nämns. Det kan ses som viktigt att inte nämna kön för att arbete mer rättssäkert. Handläggare som arbetar med genustänk ger effekter och har betydelse i handläggningen. Därutöver så dras slutsatsen att det krävs organisatoriska förutsättningar för att använda sig av detta arbetssätt. / This paper aims to examine the use of gender-neutral case- and errand managements in different units of the social services. The results of this study indicate that there are differences in both society and the social services. These differences can be expressed in how social service administrators think about gender roles in the home, what expectations there are of single fathers and mothers or how the individual does not fit into the expected role, or the template set for them. Administrators in the social services need to have the organizational conditions to emphasize gender thinking and they also need the time for reflection and to make the work of gender awareness visible in their work. Current research in the field needs to be highlighted more to really create change and awareness in the social services, so that individuals seeking support will not be misinterpreted or treated on incorrect grounds when it comes to granting the best possible efforts for the individual.Our study aims to deepen the knowledge of how the social services work with gender issues in relation to ensuring that the applicant's needs are in focus, with the support of working methods that help the administrator not to be characterized by gender stereotypical notions in the assessment. The results then became the basis for the analysis, became the categories 1) Factors that can influence the administrator's assessment, 2) Perceived benefits of gender-neutral case-drawing, 3) Difficulties with gender-neutral case-drawing, 4) Gender significance and 5) Organizational barriers.The conclusions that's been drawn is that there may be differences in the assessments in case cases where one tells gender versus where one does not tell gender. It can be seen as important not to mention gender in order to work with legal certainty. The administrators in the social services who work with gender-thinking, have noticeable effects and are important in case management. In addition, it is concluded that organizational conditions are required to use this way of working.

Lindestrand Gaki, C & Malmqvist, M-L Får de vara med? En kvantitativ studie om barns delaktighet i utredningar. Examensarbete i socialt arbete 15/30 högskolepoäng. Malmö högskola: Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle, institutionen för socialt arbete, 2016.Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka i hur hög utsträckning socialsekreterare gör barn och ungdomar delaktiga i BBIC-utredningar. Undersökningen avgränsas till Malmö stad och omfattar de socialsekreterare som arbetar med grundutredningar på Barn och Familj. Våra frågeställningar är: Till hur stor del är barn och ungdomar delaktiga i utredningar som rör dem själva i kontakten med socialtjänsten i Malmö Stad? Hur ser socialsekreterarnas kontakt med barnen ut under utredningsprocessen? Vilka faktorer minskar respektive ökar barns delaktighet? Hur implementerar socialsekreterarna barns delaktighet i utredningsarbetet? Och i vilken utsträckning görs det? De teoretiska perspektiv som används i denna studie är Shiers delaktighetsmodell och handlingsutrymme.Studiens resultat visar att delaktigheten överlag är relativt god i jämförelse med vad man har kunnat se i tidigare studier. Däremot anser socialsekreterarna att de skulle vilja träffa barnen mer under utredningen och få möjlighet att lägga mer tid på varje utredning. I vår undersökning ser vi att vårdnadshavarna är mer delaktiga när det gäller de yngre barnen men att delaktigheten blir mer jämlikt fördelad mellan barn och vårdnadshavare ju äldre barnen blir. Ett tydligt mönster är att delaktigheten överlag ökar med barnets ålder, vilket går helt i linje med SoL 11:10.Vår studie visar att socialsekreterarnas handlingsutrymme begränsas av såväl individuella som organisatoriska faktorer, exempelvis personalomsättning och kompetens. Nyckelord: barn, barnavårdsutredningar, BBIC, delaktighet, samarbetsallians, socialsekreterare, socialtjänsten. / Lindestrand Gaki, C & Malmqvist, M-L Can they be involved? A quantitative study of children's involvement in investigations. Degree project in social work 15/30 credit points. Malmö University: Faculty of health and society, Department of social work, 2016The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent social workers makes and let children and youths be a part in BBIC-investigations. The study is limited to Malmö stad and comprises social workers who works with standard investigations at the compartment for children and families. Our questions are: To what extent are children and youths involved in investigations which concern the contact between themselves and social services in Malmö stad? How is the contact between the social worker and the children during the investigation? Which factors might decrease or increase the part played by the child? In what way does the social worker implement the child’s involvement in the investigation? And to what extent is this done? The theoretic perspectives used in this study are Shier’s pathway to participation and room to maneuver. The result of this study shows that the participation is over all good in comparison to earlier studies. However, the social workers would want to meet the children more during the investigation and to get the opportunity to put more time into every investigation. In our investigation it is clear that the legal guardian is more involved when it is cases with younger children, whilst the level of involvement becomes more equal when the children become older. A clear pattern is however that the involvement increases with the age of the child, which goes in line with SoL 11:10. Our study shows that the social worker’s room to maneuver is limited by individual and organizational factors, e.g. employee turnover and competence. Keywords: BBIC, children, child welfare investigation, cooperative alliance, involvement, social workers, social services.

Women suffering from domestic violence and substance abuse are described as a public health problem with an increased risk of poor health, unemployment and social exclusion. While several initiatives have been implemented at a national level to address men's violence against women, especially for women with co-occurring substance abuse, social services at the municipal level are criticized for their inadequate work with this client group. Thus, this study examines how social services’ work with women who are victims of domestic violence and substance abuse, can be understood from a health, work life and equality perspective. The analysis, made through a narrative synthesis of the articles (n=25) in the review, revealed five issues which were central to the work of social services (RQ1): organization, role of politics, lack of knowledge, relationships and trust between social workers and clients and lastly committed social workers. One conclusion drawn, related to health, work life and equality (RQ2), is that social workers and policymakers need to increase their understanding of how global inequalities form the basis for problems such as women as victims of domestic violence with co-occurring substance abuse. This recognition is a prerequisite for reducing gaps between people, improving women's lives, and promoting their integration into society.