The purpose of this thesis is to compile current research knowledge about the social worker’s psychosocial work environment in social services, focusing on themes as work-related stress, psychological well-being, social support and professional identity. The aim is to discover areas of change or improvement within the work environment in social services. The thesis is answering the following research question: what does research, published within the timeframe of 2017-2020, say about the social worker’s psychosocial work environment considering themes as work-related stress, social support, psychological well-being and professional identity? Two theoretical perspectives are applied to make understanding of the empirical data: cognitive theory with a coping perspective and social constructionism. The method used in this study is a thematic analysis. The purpose of this method is to compile research regarding the social worker’s psychosocial work environment according to different themes. The results of the study show that social workers experience both stress and well-being within their work environment. Stress is caused by high demands, lack of resources and lack of control. Work-related stress affects social workers’ health, professionality and their attitudes towards their job. Psychological well-being is promoted by resources such as social support, quality of work, work experience and client affirmation. Social support is a high valued resource among social workers and is often a reason for staying in social services. The social worker’s professional identity is both individual and shared, and built on solidarity. The results show that professional identity is affected negatively by conflicting demands within social services.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hig-35186 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Johansson, Mikaela |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Gävle, 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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