The study aims to gain insight into how social workers perceive their psychosocial work environment and examine whether this effects the performance of their duties. The study mainly addresses the shortcomings of the psychosocial work environment of Social Services and the implications it entails for social workers health and wellbeing. The psychosocial work environment includes physical and psychological factors therefore the study's interpretive framework consists of organizational theoretical and social psychological concepts and previous research on the subject. We examined the organizational and social psychological connections to social workers perception of their work environment with a qualitative approach. The empirical data was collected through interviews with four social workers in a municipality in central Sweden using a semi-structured interview guide.

The purpose of doing this research except for educational reasons is to show significant effects that make motivational work successful. The choice of subject we decided out of experience from the term of practise. The description of the subject is from the social workers angle of approach. The method we used is a qualitative study with semi structured interviews. We have looked at three different fields of social work from the view of six social workers, two from each field.

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to do a benchmarking study of the marketing activities at the public library of Valdemarsvik. The purpose is also to describe and get a deeper understanding of benchmarking as a method for improving library activity. Four major problem areas are addressed: How can one use benchmarking as a tool to achieve change? How can one learn with benchmarking? What similarities and differences are there between benchmarking and other similar methods for competence development? Is benchmarking better than other similar methods for competence development? The empirical approach was qualitative and the method chosen was action research.

Research about social support and social networks has mostly concerned the impact on a person?s wellbeing and health. However an aspect largely neglected is how social support within the social networks can affect the process of giving up a drug abuse. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of what role the social support within different relationships can have on the process of giving up drug abuse. Furthermore the aim is to examine how a self-help group can provide social support in the transitional period after leaving a drug abuse.

En ökad muslimsk invandring till västvärlden har medfört växande behov av att förstå muslimer och de sociala utmaningar de ställs inför. I denna forskningsöversikt sammanfattas och diskuteras 30 refereebedömda vetenskapliga studier som berör olika typer av socialt arbete med muslimer genom tre olika områden; utbildning socialt arbete, frivilligt socialt arbete och professionellt socialt arbete. Resultaten i studien visar en genomgående kunskapslucka i de tre områdena där det framförallt framträder stor brist på kunskap om kultur och religion. Denna brist på kunskap leder i många fall vidare till rädsla och därmed ovilja att anpassa socialt arbete till muslimers behov.  Slutligen presenteras områden med behov av framtida forskning..

This is a qualitative study of how some journalists on the Swedish national media are using social media in news work. The study, carried out by using interviews, also covers how these journalists' work is influenced by social media. For the journalists in the study social media has become a tool to do research, get news ideas and find interviewees. At the same time social media affects the work of the journalists, as the social media increases the speed of news and flow of information. Even though they involve some challenges, social media facilitates news work and the journalists in this study have a positive attitude towards the phenomenon.Keywords: Social media, news journalism, the national media..

The purpose of this study was to examine social workers apprehensions about institutional placement of youths and what determines when these proceedings are used. When research not always shows that institutional placements lead to positive changes for youngsters, we wondered how social workers act on their assessment to institutional placement. We wanted to find out if the social workers meet any dilemmas along the way. To find out about that we used qualitative interviews with ten social workers, who worked in social service and came from different places in the southern parts of Sweden. To analyze our material we used the theory of human service organization and street-level bureaucrats work situation.

This study focuses on the use of animals in social work from the perspective of social workers. The purpose of this study is to examine social workers? experiences of animal assisted social work and how social workers view the integration of animals in various fields of social work. The research is based on a qualitative method and four semi-structured interviews were conducted with social workers. The theories incorporated in the study are Attachment Theory and Sense of Coherence (SOC).The following results are presented: Social workers are considered to have a more comprehensive understanding of clients compared to their associates who do not hold a degree in Social Work.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this c-level essay shall try to illustrate how a good leader is formed. We have investigated what influences leadership style, personal characteristics or individual competence have when recruiting a new manager. This study has been carried out with comparative applications because we wanted to study the similarities and differences between the Unemployment Office, the Social Insurance Office and the Social Welfare Administration.We have used a qualitative method in interviews both with employers as well as the from the trade union representative?s perspective. Part of our results indicates that the trade union representatives and the employers are not always unanimous and do not request equivalent characteristics and knowledge at recruitment.

This essay focuses on strategies for acquisitions in Swedish publiclibraries. The topic has been occuring in the public debate off andon since the70s. The dominant view has been that librarians haveallowed demand direct the purchases of media and thus haveignored quality literature.This debate has caused me to reflect on the librarians constantdilemma when purchasing media. Are they supposed to chooseliterature that are in demand, or should an evaluation made bylibrarians be the decisive?The previous research has shown that the library profession istraditionally characterized by a non-judgmental approach.

The aim of this study is to understand the collaboration at a child investigation and the actions that may be encountered as a result of the investigation, based on the Social Secretaries experiences of collaboration with other agencies such as schools, police, health visitor and child psychiatry. In the study, eight social workers from different municipalities was interviewed at a total of six occasions. One of the occasions was a group interview with three social workers at the same time. Through the interviews, it appears that the collaboration has an important role in social work and the necessity is something that manifests itself in the social secretaries stories but also in the earlier research done in this area. The results show that social workers extensively want to interact but that the purpose of interaction varies depending on the nature of the matter.

This study focuses on the use of animals in social work from the perspective of social workers. The purpose of this study is to examine social workers? experiences of animal assisted social work and how social workers view the integration of animals in various fields of social work. The research is based on a qualitative method and four semi-structured interviews were conducted with social workers. The theories incorporated in the study are Attachment Theory and Sense of Coherence (SOC).The following results are presented: Social workers are considered to have a more comprehensive understanding of clients compared to their associates who do not hold a degree in Social Work.

Our purpose with this study was to look at the connection between social capital and integration. Particularly if meetings between people from different cultures can increase social capital and in that way affect integration. We start by identifying the social integration perspective we are going to use through out the study and then we introduce social capital theory as a way of narrowing down the field even more. The study was done through six semi structured interviews. We interviewed three women that was established in the Swedish society and three women that had immigration background.

The purpose is to examine social workers view of vulnerable children and their needs. We are also interested to know how social workers think and discuss concerning the help these children are given. Our main questions in our study are; How do social workers define vulnerable children? Which needs do vulnerable children have according to social workers? Which opportunities and difficulties might there be in the decision making when trying to help these children? Which public authorities do social workers cooperate with? Which opportunities and difficulties do social workers find in the cooperation?This study is based upon interviews with ten social workers in the social childcare division in different municipalities in Skåne region, Sweden. Our results are explained and analyzed with a qualitative approach through different aspects of power- and Human Service Organization theories.

This is a case study of work for gender equality, performed by the Employment and Competence Centre (Arbets- och kompetenscenter) in the municipality of Botkyrka. The aim of the study is to explore how gender equality is understood in the context of a municipality, and what underlying assumptions this understanding is based upon. The questions raised are; How is gender equality understood by the personnel? How do they understand gender? To what extent are women and men seen as homogeneous groups and what differences are (un)visible? What other power hierarchies besides gender are seen as important when working for gender equality? The analysis show that gender equality is a blurry vision, mainly understood in terms of equal conditions and rights, equal results for male and female participants and equal amount of women and men employed. Gender is seen as a binary system and differences between the genders are highlighted.