This paper aims to describe the social workers relationship / contact to the foster parents' own children in a foster home. The aim is also to understand a social workers perspective on foster parents' own children in the foster home. We wanted to find out how social workers relationship/contact to the foster parents own children looks like, which has shown to differ between municipality to municipality. The study has shown that the perspective on the own children in the family, differs from municipality to municipality and that the own children’s meaning for the foster home as a social contribution, has a varied meaning amongst social workers. Based on several theories and concepts we have analyzed our result we got from the interviews, we found out that social workers looks at and works differently with foster parents own children. We found out that social workers perspective on foster parent’s own children is, that they are a very important resource and they participate in the fostering of the foster child. It also became clear in our result that a paradox appears in social workers work when although they don’t have any regulated documents on how to work with the foster parent’s own children, they still experience that they are restricted in their work by the organization they work under.

The purpose of this study is to, from a perspective of power, understand and interpret Swedish social workers experiences and comprehension of their clients trust in them. The study is based on interviews with eight social workers from two municipalities in the south of Sweden. Five themes were identified that represents the five different forms of power which the social workers used on a daily basis. The themes were: normalization, demands and control, the social worker as an expert, the conflict between bio power and disciplinary power and the transparency of power. The analyzis of this study is based on the comprehension of hermeneutics as well as previous research on trust and power in client relationships. As a conclusion we found that whether the interviewees stated that their work was about the exercise of power or not, we could still identify that all of them used some form of power on a daily basis. We also saw that trust was not always the essential part of a working client relationship. Through this study, and by using the theory of power by Michel Foucault, we found that power therefore is something that exists in all relationships whether you believe you exercise it or not.

The aim with this study was to get an understanding of how social workers on treatment centers where substance abuse occur identify ADHD among the patients and how the social workers in their daily work treat and meet patients with ADHD. The study was based on eight interviews with social workers on three different treatment centers in Sweden. The result has been analyzed with a content analysis. The theories used in this study are Howard Becker’s labeling theory and equifinality and multifinality, which derive from the systems theory.   The result of the study was that the social workers do not identify ADHD among their patients, but they adjust the treatment after what needs the individual patient have. These needs are for instance need of security and predictability. These needs are being considered in the treatment in the daily work since the social workers use a treatment that consists of structure, routines and schedules. This treatment is used on every patient and is not adjusted whether a diagnosis exists or not. How the social workers meet the patients can however be different for patients with ADHD since the social workers find clearness, alliance and trust as important in the meeting with these patients. This can however differ depending on what the social workers focus on in the treatment. The social workers on one of the treatment centers focus on the substance abuse, the social workers on another treatment center focus on the disability and in one treatment center both of these are in focus.

Sexual abuse of children is a complex problem that holds far-reaching consequences for the child and his / her family. It is a criminal act of power and control that has an impact on all people regardless of age, race, culture and economic status (Statistics, 2014). The handling of sexual abuse is a service field of social work in which social workers are designated by law to investigate cases of sexual abuse of children and the allegations thereof, according to the Children's Act No 32 of 2005 (SA, 2005). During investigations into child sexual abuse social workers experience intense, powerful feelings that have an emotional impact on the social worker and his / her role functioning (Cussons, 2011:2). It is important for social workers to possess the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to facilitate service delivery (Van Wyk, 2011:65). The objective of this research was to determine the psychosocial needs of social workers during investigations into child sexual abuse in order to establish the nature of social workers' needs, conscious experiences and observable behaviour. The researcher used the qualitative approach. The interpretive descriptive research design as a research strategy was used to determine the psychosocial needs of social workers during investigations into child sexual abuse. Eleven participants took part in the study and data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with each participant individually. The qualitative data were transcribed into themes and sub-themes to be analysed by a coding system according to the proposed framework of Tesch (in Creswell, 2009:186). Eight themes were identified: (1) role requirements, (2) role expectations, (3) emotional needs, (4) physical needs, (5) social needs, (6) cultural needs, (7) spiritual needs and (8) development and growth. These themes were divided into sub-themes and categories, and appropriate narratives as discussed in the interviews. The information was checked with literature and some conclusions and recommendations were made. Investigations into child sexual abuse are high-intensity cases which require immediate action from social workers. It was found that social workers experienced a strong demand for debriefing and support during their involvement with these investigations. It seems that social workers dealing with these cases experience unique psychosocial needs. If these needs are not addressed, it can lead to negative role functioning, occupational stress and even burnout of these social workers. The following recommendations can be made, namely that: * support working groups be presented for debriefing opportunities; * organizations establish working groups that focus on stress; * child sexual abuse be seen as a speciality field; * social workers be trained as case managers of the investigation into child sexual abuse; * professional role-players involved be trained through workshops in respect of their own and others' obligations; * resources be recruited and obtained. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Sexual abuse of children is a complex problem that holds far-reaching consequences for the child and his / her family. It is a criminal act of power and control that has an impact on all people regardless of age, race, culture and economic status (Statistics, 2014). The handling of sexual abuse is a service field of social work in which social workers are designated by law to investigate cases of sexual abuse of children and the allegations thereof, according to the Children's Act No 32 of 2005 (SA, 2005). During investigations into child sexual abuse social workers experience intense, powerful feelings that have an emotional impact on the social worker and his / her role functioning (Cussons, 2011:2). It is important for social workers to possess the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to facilitate service delivery (Van Wyk, 2011:65). The objective of this research was to determine the psychosocial needs of social workers during investigations into child sexual abuse in order to establish the nature of social workers' needs, conscious experiences and observable behaviour. The researcher used the qualitative approach. The interpretive descriptive research design as a research strategy was used to determine the psychosocial needs of social workers during investigations into child sexual abuse. Eleven participants took part in the study and data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with each participant individually. The qualitative data were transcribed into themes and sub-themes to be analysed by a coding system according to the proposed framework of Tesch (in Creswell, 2009:186). Eight themes were identified: (1) role requirements, (2) role expectations, (3) emotional needs, (4) physical needs, (5) social needs, (6) cultural needs, (7) spiritual needs and (8) development and growth. These themes were divided into sub-themes and categories, and appropriate narratives as discussed in the interviews. The information was checked with literature and some conclusions and recommendations were made. Investigations into child sexual abuse are high-intensity cases which require immediate action from social workers. It was found that social workers experienced a strong demand for debriefing and support during their involvement with these investigations. It seems that social workers dealing with these cases experience unique psychosocial needs. If these needs are not addressed, it can lead to negative role functioning, occupational stress and even burnout of these social workers. The following recommendations can be made, namely that: * support working groups be presented for debriefing opportunities; * organizations establish working groups that focus on stress; * child sexual abuse be seen as a speciality field; * social workers be trained as case managers of the investigation into child sexual abuse; * professional role-players involved be trained through workshops in respect of their own and others' obligations; * resources be recruited and obtained. / MSW, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Syftet med studien var att få en djupare förståelse för hur biståndshandläggare inom äldreomsorgen upplever sitt handlingsutrymme utifrån gräsrotsbyråkratens roll samt att identifiera vilka faktorer påverkar handlingsutrymmet. Fem intervjuer med sju informanter, varav sex kvinnor och en man, har genomförts och studien har en kvalitativ ansats. Analysen av resultatet visade att handlingsutrymmet ökar eller minskar vilket beror på ett antal identifierade faktorer. Dessa faktorer är: bakgrund, stödfunktioner, påtryckningar, reglementen och arbetssätt. I studien beskrivs hur handlingsutrymmet utförs och hur det upplevs av informanterna. En konsekvens av ett litet handlingsutrymme är att biståndshandläggarnas position mellan myndighetens uppdrag och medborgarnas behov kan bidra till stress. / The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how social worker in elderly care experience their discretion based on the street-level bureaucrats role and to identify the factors affecting the discretion. Five interviews with seven informants, six women and one man, have been completed and the study has a qualitative approach. The analysis of the results showed that the discretion increases or decreases due to a number of identified factors. These factors are: the background, support functions, pressure, regulations and practices. The study describes how the discretion is performed and how it is perceived by the informants. A consequence of a small discretion is that the social workers position between the authority´s  mission and the needs of citizens can contribute to stress.

The present thesis is an exploration of normalization processes and the problem of appropriation in labor conflict. More specifically, it analyses the way contemporary labor conflicts in nursing relate to, and thereby help to illuminate, changes in modes of gender normalization under neoliberalism, and how nurse labor conflict thereby sheds light on wider patterns of labor strife. Analysis shows how a “virtue script” bound up with long-lasting patterns of gender normalization in nursing becomes tangled with forms of abstract labor related to “new public management” reform. Although the restructuring of work threatens public professionals’ autonomy, at the same time, it provides opportunities for resistance through collective action. What is more, this restructuring process facilitates the appropriation by nurses and, by implication, other public workers, of the discourses and ideals that belonged to the ethos of the Keynesian welfare state. However, this is a contradictory process, since the discourses and ideals thus appropriated inhere in modes of labor exploitation and normalization. Analysis indicates that although appropriation risks to reinforce gendered and exploitative ideas about work, the strategy can be a lever of collective mobilization, and one of its possible outcomes is the radical transformation of the entities it takes possession of. This interview study is mainly based on four journal articles, attending to different aspects of an act of collective resignation taken by registered nurses at a Swedish hospital ward. This is an emerging form of collective action and the thesis provides one of the first analyses of this new grassroots and workplace-based phenomenon, which may be considered its particular empirical contribution. On the other hand, the chapters of the cover essay unfold a sustained argument on normalization and appropriation, thereby elaborating theoretical themes broached in the articles. The focal point of this discussion is a certain concept of form, deployed in Marxist and feminist theory, a concept pointing to the identity of thought-forms and practically enacted forms. Further, these forms migrate: they are evoked in practices wherein “the mind is not active as sentient” (Hegel), later to be projected by the mind onto different entities. The results of the discussion thus question common approaches to normalization. In particular, it is untenable to oppose a tacit and internal mode of control where individuals are induced to comply by attaching to identifications (by becoming/being made into subjects) to an overt and external mode reliant on sheer coercion. This matter–form dichotomy should be dissolved, and modes of coercion should be understood to leave subjective imprints—not at the level of identity but at the level of thought’s infrastructure, that is, form. / Föreliggande avhandling utforskar normaliseringsprocesser och problem rörande appropriering i samband med arbetskonflikter. Avhandlingen analyserar hur sam-tida arbetskonflikter i sjuksköterskeprofessionen relaterar till och sålunda belyser förändrad genusnormalisering i en nyliberal tid, samt hur dessa konflikter belyser övergripande konfliktmönster i arbetslivet. Analysen påvisar hur en ”dygdighets-norm” kopplad till långlivade modaliteter av genusnormalisering sammanvävs med en form av abstrakt arbete relaterad till sentida NPM-reformer. Men medan denna omstruktureringsprocess urholkar den autonomi som professioner i offentlig sektor länge innehaft medför den också möjligheter till kollektiva motståndshandlingar. Vidare möjliggör denna nyliberala omstrukturering sjuksköterskors—liksom andra offentliga professioners—appropriering av diskurser och ideal som var centrala i den tidigare, keynesianska, välfärdsstaten; men detta är en motsägelsefull process då dessa diskurser och ideal är sprungna ur, och präglade av, historier av utsugning och normalisering. Analysen visar att medan appropriering visserligen riskerar att reproducera former av normalisering underlättar denna strategi mobilisering och kan i förlängningen omvandla övertagna diskurser och ideal. Denna intervjustudie är huvudsakligen baserad på fyra artiklar: de analyserar olika aspekter av en kollektiv uppsägningsaktion bland sjuksköterskor vid en sjukhus-avdelning. Detta är en framväxande typ av aktion i Sverige och avhandlingen är en av de första studierna av denna gräsrots- och arbetsplatsbaserade kampform, vilket kan ses som dess empiriska forskningsbidrag. I kappan förs, å andra sidan, en kon-tinuerlig teoretisk diskussion kring normalisering och appropriering som utvecklar teman som lyfts i de enskilda artiklarna. Diskussionen kretsar kring ett visst form-begrepp, som härrör ur marxistisk och feministisk teori och som påvisar en identitet mellan tankeform och praktiskt artikulerad form. Dessa former migrerar; de uttrycks omedvetet i praktiker där individens fokus är annorstädes och projiceras sedan på andra praktiker. I diskussionen ifrågasätts sålunda vedertagna förståelser av norma-lisering: det är teoretiskt ofruktbart att ställa omedvetna, interna, former av kontroll där lydnad eller konformitet uppnås via internaliseringen av påbjudna identiteter mot medvetna, externa, eller tvingande, former av kontroll. En häri latent dikotomi om materia respektive form bör upplösas i syfte att synliggöra hur ett slags kontroll över arbete lämnar subjektiverande avtryck, inte genom att påbjuda identifikationer utan genom att forma vad som kan beskrivas som tänkandets minsta beståndsdelar. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 2 och 4 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 2 and 4 submitted.</p>

While worker flow analysis has grown in importance in many countries, Austria still lacks a specific longitudinal dataset as a prerequisite to perform similar analyses. For this reason, this article provides a coherent procedure to construct a longitudinal dataset based on the rotational panel structure of the Austrian quarterly LFS from 2004 to 2014. The procedure, which is available for researcher, is grounded on the discussion of several related and important issues inherent in constructing this sort of longitudinal data: First, it deals with the construction of the quarterly-matched dataset and the quality-of-measurement of several labour market variables. Second, the paper analyses non-response as a sample selection process, and shows that the selected (quarterly-matched) dataset causes biased estimates of worker flows. Third, the article proposes an iterative raking procedure to obtain survey weights as a bias-correcting device for any future analysis. Based on these adjustments, we present unbiased time-series of worker flows and transition rates, and conclude that the employment-unemployment margin is highly sensitive to economic shocks and that the Austrian labour market is additionally shaped by large movements within the participation margin. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Using a grounded theory approach, two case studies were carried out in large organisations which have recently implemented family-friendly policies. The studies asked whether or not cultural change has taken place as a result of the implementation of these policies. Using Shein's (1992) three level model and definition of culture, attention was focused on underlying assumptions or 'root' facets of organisational culture (and conceptual distinctions made between culture, image and identity). After establishing which facets are present and how they exist in combination with each other, shifts which have taken place as a direct or indirect result of the introduction of policies were identified. Especial interest was taken in the way the primacy of work was expressed through the ideal worker type and the extent to which this type has been replaced by the integrated worker type (Rapoport et al 2002), which acknowledges that family and other commitments are as legitimate as occupational demands. Both studies conclude that, as yet, there have been only slight adjustments in the construction of this ideal worker type and that employees do not make a permanent shift towards the integrated worker type but `toggle' between these two types. Explanations are developed for shifts in other cultural facets, such as the importance of autonomy, emphases on equality or individuation, sense of entitlement and attitudes to change. The utility of the notion of purposive cultural change is considered, given that high levels of anxiety are released when unconscious and shared mental structures are destabilised in such processes of organizational learning. The merits of a more evolutionary model are explored.

The life of work has undergone major changes. Globalization and liberalization is contributing to the fact that many companies often require flexibility regarding ability to work around the clock when they are hiring new staff. The fact that the health is poorer among evening and night shift workers compared to daytime workers is widely documented. The conditions for evening and night shift workers to maintain healthy habits are not considered to be good. The aim of the study was to investigate shift workers in the engineering industry’s experiences of what influences their food choices during the work shift. The study was based on a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. Semi- structured interviews were used for collection of data. The result showed three main themes which affect the shift workers food choice. Within the themes were three factors identified: the conditions of the workplace, the ambition of balance between work and leisure and also physical and mental wellbeing. The result is not transferable to all shift workers, but the experiences that have emerged in the study are valuable to take into consideration in new sociological studies about food choice within the engineering industry. The individual at the workplace have a major responsibility for their food choice even though the design of the workplace has proven to be one of the major factors of influencing the food choice during working hours. Therefore should higher requirements be imposed on employers when it comes to health promotion linked to eating habits and the abilityof workers to make healthy food choices during work hours. / Arbetslivet har genomgått stora förändringar. Globalisering och avreglering bidrar till att företag ofta kräver arbetstidsmässig flexibilitet hos personal när de anställer. Att hälsan är sämre bland de skiftarbetare vilka  arbetar kvälls- eller nattskift jämfört med dagtidsarbetare är vida dokumenterat. Kvälls- och nattskiftsarbetarnas förutsättningar till hälsosamma vanor anses inte vara goda. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka skiftarbetare inom verkstadsindustrins upplevelser av vad som påverkar deras matval under skiftarbetet. Studien utgick från en kvalitativ metod med fenomenologisk inriktning. Semi- strukturerade intervjuer användes som datainsamlingsmetod. Resultatet visade på tre övergripande teman som berör skiftarbetares matval. Ur dessa teman plockades tre faktorer fram: arbetsplatsens förutsättningar, strävan efter balans mellan arbete och fritid  samt fysiskt och psykiskt välmående. Resultatet är inte överförbart på alla skiftarbetare men upplevelserna vilka framkommit i studien är värdefulla att ta i beaktning i nya sociologiska studier kring matval inom verkstadsindustrin. Individen på arbetsplatsen har ett stort eget ansvar för sina matval trots att en av de största påverkansfaktorerna för matvalet visat sig vara arbetsplatsens utformning. Därför bör högre krav ställas på arbetsgivare när det kommer till hälsofrämjande arbete kopplat till matvanor och möjligheten för arbetstagare att göra hälsosamma matval under arbetstid.