This study examines the experiences of social workers within the field of social services when they encounter families influenced by the misinformation spread on social media. The study highlights how the work within social services is affected by these rumors and misinformation. The study uses an empirical method, and conducts five semi-structured interviews with social workers from various units within social services, specifically child and family units in Malmö. The interviews underwent thematic analysis, revealing six main themes. These themes are attitude and biases, education and background, media's influence on parents, challenges for social services, addressing parental distrust toward social services, and apprehensions regarding child removal. The study sheds light on the lack of knowledge and trust towards social services' work in child welfare investigations. Furthermore, it brings to the fore the presence of fear and biases among clients towards the authority. The study concludes that trust constitutes a crucial element in social workers' roles to conduct investigations and offer high-quality interventions. The possibility of developing measures to counteract the spread of misinformation on social media is also discussed. Social workers are already aware of these biases and client ignorance, encountering them at an individual level during meetings. Nevertheless, more comprehensive strategies are required to actively counteract and prevent the propagation of misinformation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-62862 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Sabri, Shams |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle (HS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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