Juvenile delinquency is a widespread phenomenon in Sweden. Social services are responsible for caring for children and adolescents who live in adverse living conditions. Today, there are ongoing discussions among politicians and the media about the social services’ shortcomings in addressing juvenile delinquency. This qualitative study aims to explore how social services investigate children and adolescents who have reported criminal problems to the social services and to examine social workers’ experiences and potential opportunities in their professional practice. The data collection comprises five semistructured interviews that have been analyzed within the theoretical concepts of human service organizations and grassroots bureaucrats, as well as the transtheoretical model of behavior change. The results show that social workers describe various strategies and approaches in their work with juvenile delinquency. Moreover, the study elucidates the susceptibility of social workers' professional endeavors to both organization factors and external ones, encompassing societal confidence in social services and the dynamic evolution of juvenile delinquency. These factors can either aid or hinder social workers in addressing juvenile delinquency. In summary, more resources and motivation are needed in social services for adolescents and families, along with research to improve social workers’ conditions in juvenile delinquency.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-226683 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Tito, Linora, Tzouma, Sofia |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete |
| 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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