The purpose of this study was to analyze how the key staff concept is used in residential care for children and young people and which role the key staff concept plays in the organization.The study was based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with six key staff and two managers from two different residential care facilities for children and young people. The theoretical perspective used was the neo-institutional theory and Hasenfeld´s term Human service organizations.One of the conclusions of the study was that the key staff describe that they have a central role when it comes to the treatment of the children. Another conclusion showed the variety of tasks that the key staff have, like the administrative work that they do. They also have an educational role, similar to the one that parents normally have which means that they are responsible of parenting the children. They also described themselves as a link between the children and their social network.

This essay focuses on a träffpunkts-activity within LSS's disability care, which started a year ago. The study has an evaluating perspective.The purpose of this essay is to describe the activity, study its intentions and to describe how far it has come reaching its intentions/goals. The questions we have focused on are: What were Träffpunkten's goals and how far has it evolved during the past year. Further more we have examined what kind of social interaction developing between guests and LSS-activity users and how much the activity's intentions show in it today.We used a qualitative method in this essay. To get answers to our questions, we have interviewed persons involved in Träffpunkten and others at Vård och Omsorgsförvaltningen.

The purpose was to describe the significance of participation concerning leisure time and household duties for persons with mild intellectual disability living in a group home with some support from caretakers. Interviews were performed with five persons, two men and three women, living in such a group home. The questions in the interview guide had an open character and were divided into four different areas, leisure time, economy, cooking, cleaning and laundry. The results indicate that all informants felt they participated in all four areas. Further on, the results show there was participation of three different kinds.

The aim of this study was to investigate how disabled pupils feel about school lessons in physical education. Previous studies in the area show that many disabled pupils think that this is a problem. Drawing on data from one-to-one semi-structured interviews with six students in the age of 11-14 years, this study focused on how students with disability cope with their impairments and physical activity in school. The interviewees? background displays a wide range of sport related activities and besides school the interviewees seem to be engaged in different sports associations on their leisure time.

The last years trends of increasing globalisation and the decreasing importance of the nationstate has led to rising flows of travellers and information throughout the globe. This has affected the competition between destinations; they are now competing in a global market. The importance of placemarketing and representing a place identity, is today essential to attract customers from around the world. The purpose of this essay was to examine how Iceland as a place is represented through the photographs in horse tourism. The research questions asked were: How is the Icelandic landscape represented in photographs? How is people and horses represented in the landscape? And how can the horse be analysed as a part of the Icelandic landscape? The method used for research was image-analysis, a qualitative approach where horse tourism-websites and photographs on these websites were strategically selected.

The aim of the study is to investigate how social workers relate to the self-determination in cases that involve people who have dementia. To investigate this we have chosen to build a qualitative study. The study is based on four interviews with social workers in elderly care in Sweden. To analyze our material we chose the concept autonomy, and legal texts from the Social Services Act (SFS 2001: 453) and Parental code (SFS 1949: 381). Our results show that social workers are often forced to deviate from the law and guidelines to ensure the best for the person with dementia.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how elderly people in today?s society look upon themselves and experience their own aging. We have inquired answers to the following main questions: What main events during the life course are emphasized in the elderly?s stories about their lives, and in what way has it affected their experience of growing old? In what way have social relationships, interests and the experience of health changed during the life course? How do the elderly experience their own aging, and what emotions are expressed in the speech surrounding their life course? The results of the study have been analyzed and interpreted with the help of the life course theory, Erikson?s psychosocial development theory and the continuity theory. The results show that elderly people of today don?t feel their age.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how people can return from a marginalized position and become a part of society. Also how a model for returning from a marginalized position should be formed. The intention is to make a contribution to those in society that are helping people to return from marginalized positions. The survey is based on 5 thematic qualitative interviews on individuals that have returned from homelessness, criminality, drug abuse and prostitution. The main results of the investigation are that those who took part in it started their role exit with a turning point.

The advancements of Internet have contributed to the expansion of social networks and new communities online where people are given an opportunity to get help and support. An important reason why people join these groups and organizations is to share their experiences, meet people in a similar situation and get support. Social media is nowadays an important part of our society. In this study, we will focus on investigating the interaction in closed communities online and blogs. The study aims to investigate whether social media and social networks online can be a support for young adults with cancer in the same way as physical meeting places.

The aim of this study was to examine the view of social service workers on the secondary housing market based upon their work with social investigations regarding people with a difficult substance abuse. The foundation of this study rests upon a phenomenon, which according to other scholars, occurs in the secondary housing market in Sweden. The secondary housing market consists of a multitude of housing projects that social services provide for people who are homeless. The phenomenon is that the secondary housing market contains a number of demands aimed at the clients who live in these housing projects. If a client fails to live up to the demands it can sometimes lead to negative consequences which results in an exclusion from the housing projects.

The purpose of our study is to interpret and understand the collaborative process around a regional model that is based on state developed guidelines for people with dementia. We have chosen to focus on the importance of interaction and have therefore interviewed participants in the project's steering committee. This group participates in efforts to develop a model for dementia care in Halland.The project work in Halland, to develop a joint model for people with dementia and their families was initiated in the spring of 2011 and is due to finish at the end of 2012. The Halland model has been named ?Annas led? and is about Anna and her husband Lars and living with dementia.

The purpose of this study has been to increase the awareness of what significance models of explanation have for intervention programmes, aimed at perpetrators of intimate partner violence, within the Swedish social services. The study is not gender neutral, it centres on male batterers in heterosexual relationships. The study is based on qualitative interviews with five people working within the topical field. I analyzed their statements using an ecological model of understanding violence. The main finding was that the people I interviewed had a multiple understanding when it came to comprehending the violence, but that when it came down to the actual intervention they targeted mainly on elements in the individual spectra, such as feelings of frustration.

The aim with our paper has been to get a picture of which factors one of the heterogeneous group that we've chosen of old persons, 75-90 years, in Scania, in south Sweden, have experienced to be of importance for their life quality today and what they wish to preserve of their actual life style when they eventually shall use the elderly care. Also how their individual life course has influenced their experience of the quality of life.We found this subject interesting as the group of old people in the society is constantly increasing and when the group becomes bigger, then greater demands will be put on the elderly care. We have proceeded from a standpoint that all people are unique individuals and that people become what they are from their life histories and from the choices they have made during their life. We have used the life course theory that says that one should see the individual in his/her wholeness and the whole life history of a person in order to understand him/her. We have also studied earlier research concerning the different determinants of the life quality.

Abstract Title: We are equal. A study of cultural differences and professionalism in international projects.Level: Thesis for Master Degree in Business Administration.Author: Zahra AhmadiSupervisor: Lars EkstrandDate: 2012-05The purpose of my study is to analyze and examine it well-educated people can reduce the cultural differences in interaction with other actors around the world. Part of aims study surveys and analyzes to understand how educated people can communicate and facilitate communication in order to achieve the goals and motivation in international collaboration. Problems can arise from cultural differences in connection with that persons face in society and in international collaboration. In this study, I assume theoretical framework that exists in cultural and communication theme and professionalism to find common objectives within educated groups.Method: The purpose of this study, I have chosen to use a qualitative approach.

Due to the growing population in Stockholm, some of the urban green areas are beingsubjected to exploitation. Hammarbyskogen is an urban forest in the south of Stockholm andis an example of a green area that is planned to be transformed into an urban environment.This paper investigates key qualities and values of an urban forest of Hammarbyskogenvalued by local inhabitants of the neighbourhoods of Hammarbyhöjden and Björkhagen in thesouth of Stockholm. In addition to that, the study seeks to investigate people?s perception ofthe planned development of the forest as well as investigate how these perceptions andqualities are being incorporated into the process of neighbourhood development.Using text analysis, interviews and discussion forums, findings have been made showing thatthe local inhabitants value the urban forest mostly for its ecological and recreational qualities.Regarding perception of the change, people are either positive or negative to the developmentwhich can be explained by people?s experienced sense of place and place attachment of thearea and the forest itself. The study has also shown that the urban planners rely on localinhabitants? view, as well as on expert knowledge during the process of planning.The results of the study contributes to a better understanding of why and for what purposesurban forests are important for the city dwellers..