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.

Crime is a social problem and leads to many negative consequences, and it is therefore of interest to analyze how officials in The Prison and Probation Service implement the principles risk, need and responsivity, (RNR-model) in crime prevention measures to reduce the risk among incarcerated prisoners to relapse into crime based on the informants’ perceptions. Furthermore, differences in the official’s autonomy regarding the implementation of crime prevention measures will be analyzed based on the RNR-model and what consequences these differences have according to the officials. The RNR-model is an innovation that has been spread in The Prison and Probation service and will be analyzed by Rogers (2003) Diffusion of innovation theory. The officials' autonomy to implement the RNR-model will be analyzed by Lipsky's (1990) theory of street-level bureaucracy. In this case study, I have conducted eight individual semi-structured interviews and the sample consists of officials who have many years of experience working with treatment in The Prison and Probation Service. The results show that the informants take a similar approach to the RNR-model and that the RNR-model pervades the entire crime prevention measures. The conclusion is that the prevention measures consist of treatment programs combined with work management, adult education, and other structured activities and that these parts are interconnected. The crime prevention measures are characterized by helping the prisoners develop necessary skills to be able to get out of crime and get the best possible conditions to reduce the risk of relapsing into crime. The results also show that there are differences between the officials' autonomy regarding the implementation of the RNR-model in the crime prevention measures and that the officials' do not act from a common approach. The officials have, based on their autonomy, the opportunity to create their own interpretations of the RNR-model that can affect the outcome of the work, which can mean that the prisoners are treated differently depending on how the officials have chosen to implement the RNR-model. The conclusion is that the RNR-model contributed to clear structures and guidelines, but that there is a certain problem with implementing the receptivity principle in a similar way because of the officials' having difficulty understanding the meaning of the principle.

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.

[pt] A dissertação apresentada leva em consideração o papel de protagonismo que os burocratas de nível de rua assumem no processo de implementação de programas federais de educação, em um estudo de caso em uma escola da rede municipal de São Luís no Maranhão. Olhando especificamente para o Programa Mais Educação e para a implementação do seu substituto, o Programa Novo Mais Educação. Apesar de situados em momentos políticos diferentes, ambos têm como objetivo o cumprimento de uma das metas do Plano Nacional de Educação, que vigora até 2024, usando estratégias distintas. Este estudo surge na perspectiva de contribuir para a análise da atuação dos atores que são responsáveis pela implementação do programa na ponta, os burocratas de nível de rua, o que os motiva, que valores os cercam e em quais condições de trabalho e atuação certas escolhas e deliberações são feitas. Ao longo da investigação foi possível constatar que a discricionariedade, neste caso, não só ocorre como assume papel protagonista para que a implementação do programa federal de fato aconteça. Seja pela falta de manuais orientadores que apoiem os burocratas de nível de rua, ou pelo entendimento que estes atores têm do conceito de educação integral e como ele se integra ao objetivo do programa em suas duas versões. / [en] The dissertation presented considers the leading role that street-level bureaucrats assume in the process of implementing federal education programs, in a case study at a school in the municipal network of São Luís in Maranhão. Looking specifically at the Mais Educação Program and the implementation of its replacement, the Novo Mais Educação Program. Although located at different political moments, both aim to fulfill one of the goals of the National Education Plan, which runs until 2024, using different strategies. This study arises from the perspective of contributing to the analysis of the performance of these actors, what motivates them, what values surround them and in what conditions of work and performance certain choices and deliberations are made. Throughout the investigation it was possible to verify that the discretion, in this case, not only occurs but assumes a protagonist role for the implementation of the federal program to happen. Whether due to the lack of guiding manuals that support streetlevel bureaucrats, or due to the understanding that these actors have of the concept of comprehensive education and how it fits into the program s objective in its two versions.

The aim of this study was to receive a rapt understanding of how child-welfare officer’s reasons about the meaning of attachment theory, from the child´s best, in placements of a child. The aim was also to examine the possibilities child-welfare officer´s feel they have to work with the child´s best and attachment in focus. The study has a qualitative approach and the empirical material is collected thru semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework used is attachment theory, the child´s best and street-level bureaucracy. The result of the study shows that child-welfare officers have equivalent knowledge, experiences and thoughts about the meaning of attachment theory for a favorable development in foster children. The study concludes is that more knowledge about attachment theory is necessary and child-welfare officers demands methods to better assess attachment patterns in children. The child-welfare officers express frustration when they talk about matters in the "grey area" and situations where different perspectives clashes and the child´s best end up in the background. / Studiens syfte var att erhålla en fördjupad förståelse för hur socialsekreterare i den sociala barnavården resonerar om anknytningens betydelse, utifrån barnets bästa, vid familjehemsplacering av ett barn. Syftet var också att ta reda på vilka möjligheter socialsekreterare upplever sig ha att arbeta med barnets bästa och anknytning i fokus. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och materialet är insamlat genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Den teoretiska tolkningsram som används är anknytningsteori, barnets bästa samt gräsrotsbyråkrati. Studiens resultat visar att socialsekreterare har likvärdiga kunskaper, erfarenheter och tankar om anknytningens betydelse för en gynnsam utveckling hos familjehemsplacerade barn. Studiens slutsats är att mer kunskap om anknytningsteori är nödvändig och socialsekreterare efterfrågar metoder för att bättre kunna bedöma anknytningsmönster hos barn. Socialsekreterarna ger uttryck för frustration när de berättar om så kallade gråzonsärenden och situationer där olika perspektiv är i konflikt och barnets bästa hamnar i skymundan.

In this essay the aim is to analyse the Social orientation course as a part of the Establishment program of newly arrived immigrants in Sweden. The questions I intend to answer through qualitative interviews and analysis of policy documents are: What factors limit the local work with refugees and immigrants within the framework of the Social orientation course as an establishment effort? How is the Social orientation course as a part of the Establishment Reform implemented in Växjö Municipality? And, how can the result of the Social orientation course in the local context be explained by the theory of street-level bureaucracy? In the light of Michael Lipsky’s theory about street-level bureaucracies the study contributes to a better understanding of the factors that limit the work with Social orientation as an establishment effort. The result shows that the local work with newly arrived immigrants in Sweden is much influenced and limited by the features of street-level bureaucracies: the resources are inadequate to the task, goal expectations are vague and conflicting, goal achievement is difficult to measure, and the clients do not serve as bureaucratic reference groups. The limitations result in an introduction program which is an inadequate basis for successful integration of immigrants. This knowledge of the outcomes of the Establishment Reform is of great importance for the newly arrived immigrants in Sweden to whom the reform is directed, as well as for the policy makers.

I denna kvalitativa studie har åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med yrkesverksamma undersköterskor inom hemtjänst. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hemtjänstpersonalens erfarenheter av äldres psykiska ohälsa inom ramen av sitt arbete. Genom en tematisk analys identifierades två huvudteman. I det första temat Människan som projekt framkommer att intervjupersonerna ser på mötet med äldre med psykisk ohälsa som komplext och lyfter vikten av ett gott bemötande och regelbunden kontakt som viktiga faktorer för att hantera mötet på bästa sätt. Detta presenteras vidare genom två underteman – Bemötande och Kontinuitet. I det andra temat Människan i verksamheten framkommer utmaningarna i mötet med äldre personer med psykisk ohälsa som samtliga ligger i verksamheten. Utmaningarna består enligt intervjupersonerna av tidsramar som är svåra att förhålla sig till, samt en kompetensbrist hos både de själva och i samhället när det kommer till äldre med psykisk ohälsa. Även detta presenteras vidare genom underteman – Tidsramen och Kompetensbrist. Avslutningsvis kopplas resultatet till tidigare forskning. Där framkommer likheter mellan forskning och studiens resultat avseende mötet med äldre personer med psykisk ohälsa som komplext och utmanande utifrån brist på tid, kunskap och kompetens. Komplexiteten och utmaningarna problematiseras vidare utifrån Lipskys teori om gräsrotbyråkrati och visar på balansgången i hemtjänstpersonalens arbete mellan individens behov och arbetets struktur. / In this qualitative study, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with educated home care employees within the home care workforce. The aim of this study is to investigate home care employees’ experiences of elderly people with mental illness within the frame of their work. Through a thematic analysis two main themes where identified. The first theme, The individual as a project, presents how the home care employees perceive the meeting with elderly’s mental illness as complex, and experience that a good reception and regular contact are two important factors for being able to handle mental illness in the best way. This is further presented in two subthemes – Reception and Continuity. The second theme, The individual within the organization, presents the challenges that the home care employees encounter with working with elderly people with mental illness. These challenges consist of timeframes that the employees perceive as hard to work within but also a lack of competence, both within themselves and in the society when it comes to elderly’s mental illness. Furthermore, this is also presented in two subthemes – The timeframe and Lack of competence. Finally, the result is connected to previous research where similarities between the previous research and the result is revealed regarding the meeting with mental illness as complex and comprised of challenges, including lack of time, knowledge and competence. The complexity and challenges are further problematised from Lipsky’s theory of street level bureaucracy and emphasises the balance in home care employees’ work between the individual needs and the structure of the work.

This study aimed to examine the reasoning among first line managers concerning the law from 2012 which gives older couples the right to continue living together even when only one of them needs special housing for service and care. We used a qualitative method with data collected through individual semi-structured interviews with six care managers in different municipalities in Sweden. The theoretical approach and interpretative framework for the analysis consisted of Michael Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy, Roine Johansson’s swedish adaption of this theory and Max Weber’s theory about social actions. We found that there was little variation in how the interviewed care managers used the law and the guidelines to support the work in the organisation rather than seeking individually based solutions for the elderly. The main conclusion of our study was that the law concerning the cohabitation guarantee for elderly has made little difference.

The purpose of this study is to examine the management of Karlskrona municipality's elderly care. The aim is to examine how the management is related to the theory of New Public Management. In addition, the study will investigate how the administration's employees, in this case the caregiver, respond to the management. In order to investigate this, the steering characteristics that are described by Lennart Lundquist in his theory of implementation, can, wants and understand will play a central part in the study. The essay is a case study based on a qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were made with employees in Karlskrona municipality's home care. The analysis reveals that there were several ideas in the management of the municipality's elderly care that can be seen in relation to the theory of New public management. In addition, the analysis reveals that the caregivers to a certain extent can and wants to comply with the current management, but lacks regarding their understanding of the steering can be identified, which can be seen as a negative effect to the steering overall.

The aim of this study is to enhance the understanding of the possibilities and limitations of using the swedish law; SoL 5 kap. 2 §, among child- welfare workers and social workers within foster- care. The purpose of this law is to be able to prohibid or limitate inadequate foster-homes from taking care of foster-children. Qualitative interviews were conducted with three child-welfare workers and three social workers within foster-care, from three different municipalities. We have used hermeneutic interpretation to look at the empirical material and the theoretical framework of the study consists of Michael Lipskys theory about street-level bureaucracy. We also took part of previous research and other relevant literature in the field of foster-care to analyze the material. The result we found was that the knowledge and use of the law; SoL 5 kap. 2§ was limited. Some of our respondents had never heard about the law and none of our respondents had experience of using the law in their cases. Our respondents then, started to resonate about why they think that they have little knowledge about the law, and connected it to that there are deficiencies within the organization that create limitations in the social secretary's work in foster-home care. This limitations results in the social-workers having little knowledge about the law and not using it, even though they have high discretion in their everyday- job. To limitate inadequate foster-homes from having- and receiving placements, the social workers moved the child from the foster-home, and later gave negative references if other municipalities called, when they were thinking of placing a child in that specific foster-home. Our results show that this was not an optimal way of trying to limitate inadequate fosterhomes. Our respondents had experiences of other municipalities placing children in fosterhomes that they had given bad references about.