Social workers in the Social Services are seen as professionals and they are associatedwith a substantial degree of freedom to carry out their work in order to interpret theSocial Services Act and make decisions. This freedom is referred to as discretion andis a central aspect of the role of the social worker. But the social worker is employedwithin an organisation that exists in an environment influenced of political decisionswhich sets boundaries to how far the freedom stretches. The general aim with thisthesis is to gain insight in how social workers within the Social Services experiencetheir discretion. Secondary this thesis also aims to explore how discretion is shapedand negotiated.

This study investigates how social interaction affects newly arrived pupils? views on their study situation in the Swedish educational system. The aim is to give a contribution to the discussion on the notion of including ?the Other? in educational practice in multicultural schools. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted to explore how the intercultural perspective and the theory of inclusion can be used to explain the dynamics of social interaction.

Income support is often described as the community?s farthest protection, as a last economic way out. From the clients perspective it´s very important to get possibility to an equivalent and correct assessment. Even if it´s an individual assessment the individual social worker´s assessment should not be different than other social worker´s, this from two aspects ? quality and the rule of law.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the degree of discipline in social services may be the reason why more children are evicted in one municipality in Stockholm, compared to another. Since our purpose was to study the degree of discipline in social services work with eviction cases where children are concerned, discipline is therefore a central part of the study. The interest in the subject arose from our prior understanding that social services approach to discipline may affect the extent of evictions. In order to answer the study?s question at issue, a qualitative interview was conducted to create an understanding of the discipline and a vignette study was conducted to compare the social workers assessments in two municipalities in Stockholm, Högstad and Lågby.

The law (1988:870) concerning care of substance abusers is constructed in a way that gives the social workers room to interpret and apply the law individually. This may contribute to differences in treatment between female and male substance abusers. The purpose of the essay was to investigate whether the client's gender had any significance to how the social worker interpret and apply the law (LVM).The specific questions we worked around were:- What significance does the client's gender have in the decision-making?- Does the social worker's opinion about the law have any significance?- What factors can effect the social worker's interpretation and application of the law?- What importance do the social workers attach to prevailing norms about men and women when they interpret and apply the law?We chose to use a qualitative method to answer the above questions. Six social workers were interviewed and 39 LVM sentences were analysed.

2004, the SSR, Akademikerförbundet, made a study on the threats and violence as a social secretary in the municipal social services are exposed in their occupation of the "social secretary of threats and violence at work" (T-110192), conducted by Temo ab. We have chosen to use the study on a smaller scale and then made contact with five municipalities in the middle of Sweden to investigate social secretaries experiences of threats and violence. Using the cross-sectional design and a convenience sample, we have gained access to data from 56 people. From a sociological perspective, we have chosen to use Norbert Elias theory of universal configuration and interdependence, and Michel Foucault?s theories concerning power search explanation for the existence of threats and violent situations in the contact between social workers and their clients..

AbstractThe purpose was to investigate whether a recovery perspective, viewed from a psychosocial approach is applied in municipal / private and county related care and rehabilitation. A recovery perspective means that the attending staff ensures that the clients are viewed as holistic individuals, where all aspects of life are considered to ensure adequate care and rehabilitation. A questionnaire was answered by staff in psychiatry, social psychiatry and addiction treatment from different areas of the municipal / private and county related sector.The results show no difference in application of a recovery perspective between these two types of organizations. However, there is a slight tendency (non-significant) to lower-rated general individual competencies for municipal / private. There is also a strong tendency (non-significant) to a general difference between the aspects of the implemented recovery perspective, where the tendency is that the respondents as a whole estimate that the organization to a greater degree creates good conditions for a recovery perspective compared to the degree they are actually working on that basis.

The aim of this study was to understand the contact between foster homes and social workers, by doing a comparison of the social workers and the foster homes experiences of the cooperation that is between them. We started from three main questions to get an answer to our aim, how the foster homes and the social workers experience the organization of the foster care in the Social Service as an impact of the cooperation, what does the foster homes and the social workers experience as a important fact of a successful placement and finally, how does the foster homes and the social workers experience the supporting and controlling contact that is between them. To get our results we based our study on interviews whit four foster homes and whit four social workers. The analysis was based on one theoretical perspective, Skaus (2007) analytical approach for power and help. As a conclusion we have found out, that the organization of the Social Service has significance for the contact between social workers and foster homes.

The purpose of this study is to describe how unemployed persons in a work-program experience their participation in the project and how they feel about the possibilities to find a new job. It is a qualitative study with a social psychological perspective and the research is based on nine interviews. The theories used cover both social psychological and cognitive perspectives such as those of Charles Cooley, Johan Asplund and Thomas Scheff..

The aim of this study is to through six interviews, with six experienced, social workers?, in three cities, understand how the child?s position in the Swedish child protective services? enquiries has change, and the factors behind it. The aim is also to compare if the social workers? view of the child?s position in the enquire has change accordingly to Socialstyrelsens intentions of BBIC. The theoretical approaches that was used is the new institutionalism, the Shier?s pathways to participation and the term discretion.

Our purposes with this essay was from the perspective of young people that has completed a stay at HVB-home, their parents and the social welfare secretaries get an apprehension on their way of looking at the purpose of placement in a HVB-home agrees with the comprehensive view of the placement. We also wish to get a picture of what is of important to change in this matter. How do they experience the reasons for the placement, goals and purpose? What positive and negative experience do they have from their placement? What is relevant to change when you look at the different parties' ways of looking at change/progress in this matter? In what different ways do the parties look upon collaboration and how does that effect the treatment? Our qualitative study is built upon interviews with the persons mentioned, upon educational visits to HVB-homes and upon interviews of staff at HVB-homes. The staffs opinion has also been compared with the other perspectives.

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.

The aim of this study is to through six interviews, with six experienced, social workers?, in three cities, understand how the child?s position in the Swedish child protective services? enquiries has change, and the factors behind it. The aim is also to compare if the social workers? view of the child?s position in the enquire has change accordingly to Socialstyrelsens intentions of BBIC. The theoretical approaches that was used is the new institutionalism, the Shier?s pathways to participation and the term discretion.

The aim of this study is to through six interviews, with six experienced, social workers?, in three cities, understand how the child?s position in the Swedish child protective services? enquiries has change, and the factors behind it. The aim is also to compare if the social workers? view of the child?s position in the enquire has change accordingly to Socialstyrelsens intentions of BBIC. The theoretical approaches that was used is the new institutionalism, the Shier?s pathways to participation and the term discretion.

During the last decade executive coaching has become an increasingly popular method of management development. Few studies have been conducted within this area, especially in Sweden, and little has been said about the construction of management in executive coaching. The purpose of this master?s thesis is to study executive coaching from a social constructionist perspective, focusing on the construction of management. The two research questions are: How is management constructed in executive coaching? How can we understand the construction of management in executive coaching? Additionally, we identify gender as a social construction of importance and thus include a gender perspective in our analysis.