Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur socialsekreterare arbetar med delaktighet i barnutredningar, syftet besvaras utifrån två frågeställningar: Hur arbetar socialsekreterare för att göra barn delaktiga i sina utredningar och vad uttrycker socialsekreterare för förbättringsområden inom barns delaktighet? Enligt socialtjänstlagen och barnkonventionen har alla barn rätt till delaktighet i alla de frågor som rör dem men i tidigare forskning framgår det att barns rätt till delaktighet inte alltid uppfylls. Studien är genomfört med kvalitativ metod där sex semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredning av barn och unga. För att tolka den tidigare forskningen och studiens resultat tillämpades systemteori, anknytningsteori och begreppet mentalisering. I resultatet framgår socialsekreterarnas bild av delaktighet och hur de arbetar med barns delaktighet. De teman som kunde utvinns ur resultatet var definition av delaktighet, aktörskap och relationer. Studiens slutsats är att synen på barns delaktighet varierar och därmed också barns rätt till delaktighet. / The purpose of this study’s to investigate how socialworker work with participation within child investigations and will be answered through two queries: How do social secretaries work to make children participate in their own investigations and how do social secretaries express their views on how they could improve children’s participation? According to the Social Service Law and the Children’s Rights Convention every child has a right to be actively involved in all matters affecting their own wellbeing. However, according to previous research, children’s right are not always met. The study has a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews carried out with six social secretaries working with child investigations. Previous research and the study’s results were interpret via the theoretical framework of systems theory, attachment theory and the concept of mentalization. The results shows the view that the socialworkers have on childrens participation and how they work to make children participants. The results also show themes that emerged from a thematic analysis were the definition of participation, agency and relationships. The conclusion of this study is that the view on the participation for children varies between different social secretaries and therefore can children’s right to participation differ.

The aim of our thesis has been to examine and establish an understanding for the working method that professional social workers have in the meeting with suicidal adolescents in regard to discovery and treatment. Further we were also interested in whether differences in the working methods exist depending on the sexes of the adolescents. The method has been qualitative in the form of semi-structured interviews conducted with seven professional social workers in Sweden and analyzed with help of two theories, empowerment and gender-theory. Results have shed light on the importance of relationship building that takes place in conversational context. Social workers rely highly on empathy and respect during supportive treatment sessions as well as having an eye out for detecting initial signals of suicidality, which require sensitivity and attention. In regard to adapting the working methods to youth gender, results have shown that the social workers rather adapt to the individual than the specific gender, hence providing a question whether further research in terms of help seeking abilities between the different sexes is needed in social work.

Syftet med studien var att identifiera bakomliggande faktorer till sammanbrott i placeringar utanför hemmet. Studien syftade även till att undersöka hur socialsekreterare inom familjehemsvård upplevde sina arbetsvillkor. Empirin samlades in genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med sammanlagt sex yrkesverksamma socialsekreterare inom familjehemsvård. Den insamlade empirin analyserades utifrån tre perspektiv inom organisationsteori: strukturella perspektivet, human resource perspektivet och politiska perspektivet, samt begreppet människobehandlande organisationer. Resultatet visade att socialsekreterarna upplevde hög arbetsbelastning och tidsbrist vilket genomgående påverkade förutsättningarna för utförandet av arbetet. Resultatet visade att det förelåg brist på familjehem, att konkurrensen mellan konsulentverksamheter och kommuner var hög samt att användningen av konsulentstödda familjehem hade ökat, vilket påverkade förutsättningarna för utredning av familjehem och matchning. Det framkom av resultatet att majoriteten av socialsekreterarna hade en delad tjänst, som innefattade flera arbetsuppgifter samt att personalomsättningen på arbetsplatserna var hög vilket framförallt påverkade förutsättningarna för uppföljning. Sammanfattningsvis visade resultatet att förutsättningarna för socialsekreterare inom familjehemsvård att bedriva sitt arbete och utföra utredningar, matchningar och uppföljningar var ofördelaktiga vilket på sikt ökade risken för sammanbrott. / The purpose of this paper was to identify underlying factors to collapsesin out-of-home placement. The study also aimed to examine how social secreteraries within foster home care experienced their working conditions. The empirical information was retrieved from five different semistructured interviews with in total six professionals within the area of foster home care. The collected empirical information was analyzed in three different perspectives within organizational theory. First from the structural perspective, secondly the human resoruce perspective and finally the political perspective, together with the term human service organizations. The paper showed that the social secretaries experienced high workload and a lack of time, which subsequently impacted their working conditions and the ability to perform their duties. Moreover, there was a lack of foster homes and high competition between municipalities and consulting. This, in conjunction with the increase of consultant-supported family homes resulted in a decline in the conditions to perform both investigations and matching. The paper showed that the majority of social secretaries had a divided employment that included several duties and that the staff turnover was high, which most of all impacted the conditions for follow-up. In conclusion, the paper showed that the conditions for the social secretaries within the area of foster-home care to manage their work and perform their investigations, matchings and follow-ups were disadvantageous which in the long run increased the risk for collapse

Sekundär traumatisering är ett tillstånd som kan drabba yrkesverksamma som arbetar i människobehandlande yrken med traumautsatta klienter. Att bli sekundärt traumatiserad innebär att socialarbetaren blir traumatiserad av klientens berättelser. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka socialarbetarens förståelse och upplevelser av fenomenet sekundär traumatisering samt om och hur hälsan påverkas hos socialarbetare till följd av emotionellt påfrestande arbetsuppgifter. Studien ska även undersöka vilka strategier socialarbetare tillämpar för att minimera risken att utsättas för sekundär traumatisering. Genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod har fem intervjuer ägt rum med socialsekreterare som arbetar inom socialtjänsten. Resultatet visar på att socialarbetare är en utsatt yrkesgrupp där arbetsuppgifterna ökar risken att utsättas för sekundär traumatisering. Genom intervjusvaren visar samtliga respondenter på symptom på sekundär traumatisering. Resultaten har analyserats utifrån Lazarus (1999) copingteori samt Antonovskys (2005) KASAM, känsla av sammanhang. Den sekundära traumatiseringens omfattning regleras utifrån arbetsmiljö, tidigare erfarenheter av trauma, egna strategier och egenvård. Resultatet visar även på att socialarbetare som tillämpar egna strategier för att uppnå välbefinnande löper lägre risk att utsättas för sekundär traumatisering. De copingstrategier som används som skyddsfaktorer är ventilering med kollegor, känslan av meningsfullhet kopplat till arbetet samt återhämtning. Studien visar även på att socialarbetarnas privatliv påverkas av deras yrkesroll. / Secondary traumatization is a condition that can affect professionals who work in human treatment professions with trauma-exposed clients. Secondarily traumatized means that the social worker is traumatized by the client's stories. This study aims to investigate the social worker's understanding and experiences of the phenomenon of secondary traumatization and if and how the health of social workers is affected as a result of emotionally stressful tasks. The study will also examine what strategies social workers apply to minimize the risk of being exposed to secondary traumatization. Through a qualitative research method, five interviews have taken place with social workers who work in the social services. The results show that social workers are a vulnerable professional group where the tasks increase the risk of being exposed to secondary traumatization. Through the interview responses, all respondents show symptoms of secondary traumatization. The results have been analyzed based on Lazarus' (1999) coping theory and Antonovskys (2005) SOC, sense of coherence. The extent of secondary traumatization is regulated based on the work environment, previous experiences of trauma, own strategies and self-care. The results also show that social workers who apply their own strategies to achieve well-being are at lower risk of being exposed to secondary traumatization. The coping strategies used as protective factors are venting with colleagues, the feeling of meaningfulness linked to work and recovery. The study also shows that the social workers' private life is affected by their professional role.

The purpose of the study was through qualitative interviews get a greater understanding of potential difficulties that unit managers perceive in the working situation within the unit children and family, examine the unit managers work with their staff, and what conditions the unit managers feel are necessary for a sustainable working environment for social workers, within the unit children and family. We chose to use a semi structured interview manual during our interviews. The result showed that the work situation within the unit children and family was highly loaded and complex, a major difficulty to recruit staff and for low wages for work performed. The result showed that the unit managers who felt that they had a well-functioning working situation had less staff groups, tutoring each week and were close to its staff. The result also showed that the unit managers advocated the importance of leadership to create and maintain a sustainable work situation for their staff.

The purpose of this study was to investigate social workers' impact of emotional work with their clients and what strategies they use to deal with it. Swedish research in this area is very limited. International research shows that both social workers and (primarily) healthcare professionals are emotionally affected. The importance of awareness was emphasized and the requirement for more knowledge. This study was based on seven qualitative interviews conducted with social workers. The theoretical approach included the concepts of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction and the theory of coping-strategies. We analyzed the material thematically which resulted in the conclusion that social workers are both positively and negatively affected emotionally by their work. The impact has been shown primarily through evidence of exhaustion. Each social worker interviewed managed the negative impact of their work with individual strategies. The general strategy was to prioritize their health and create time for recovery. The results illustrated  the need for an increase in understanding of the importance of valuing the well-being of social workers. This would benefit not just social workers, but also the clients they serve.

The aim of this study was to reach an understanding of social workers experiences of creating relationships with clients through the meeting as a method in an institutional context. It is a professional dilemma for social workers to build relationships with clients in a professional role with inevitible elements of control. At the same time, previous research shows that professionalism in social workers relational work with clients is about balancing between two aspects; professional and personal. The study was qualitative, conducted with semi-structured interviews with 8 social workers, within three different professional roles, in the social service in Sweden. Thematic analysis was used when processing the material. The study was analyzed through a theoretical framework based on the concepts of symbolic power and doxa and a model and components; participation, facilitating service environments and compassion. In summary, our study points to the fact that there are several ways for socialworkers to create relationships in an institutional context. Social workers have different ways of doing this work because it’s largely done with the social worker's personality. The social workers create participation to varying degrees and try to facilitate the psychosocial environment for the client in the meeting in different ways. However, it seems like the work is often related to the field's doxa.

This study aims to show how socialworkers in financial assistance experience that clients react to rejection decitions, how these reactions affect them mentally and how they cope with it. Four semi-structured interviews with socialworkers were conducted to collect material for the study, who have varying work experiences in the field. The theories used for analyses of the material are Resilience and Coping, which have been chosen do to relevance and can enable understanding of the phenomenon. The results of the study show that socialworkers experience that angry clients had bigger effect on their mental health at the beginning of their employment. The socialworkers have, according to the studys results, developed high resilience in work and a numerous of coping-strategies. The most common strategies used were self-controlling, seeking social support and planful problem solving. Previous research has shown that the workenvironment is crucial for socialworkers wellbeing, which the material of the study strenghtens. The studys main result and analysis is an importance of resilience and coping-ability for socialworkers to avoid mental illness.