This is a qualitative study with the purpose of examining the emotional labor affecting socialworkers, working with children and youths, and whether they get sufficient support to manage their work tasks. The study aims to answer the two following questions: “Do socialworkers, working with children and youths, feel that they are emotionally affected by their work and if so, how do they manage this?” and “In what ways is support from the workplace crucial to manage the emotional labor?”. The theories that this study is based on are Hochschild's theory about emotional labor, Goffman’s dramaturgical theory and organizational theory. Four qualitative interviews with social workers, working with children and youths, were conducted and the data was analyzed in accordance with Braun and Clarke’s (2008) thematic analysis.The findings indicate that social workers, working with children and youths, are emotionallyaffected by their work, both in positive and negative ways. To manage this they account fordifferent ways to work with their emotions, for instance they enter a professional role, convey certain feelings and hide some feelings. The findings also indicate that support from the workplace is essential to manage the emotional aspects of the work and avoid negative workrelated consequences for the social workers. This entails support from colleagues andstability within the organization, but some also indicate that support from family and a stablehome is a necessity to be able to manage the emotional aspect of work.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-209079 |
Date | January 2023 |
Creators | Persson, Olivia, Bruinewoud, Emma |
Publisher | Umeå universitet, Sociologiska institutionen |
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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