Social work is a social phenomenon, existing in most societies, that has given rise to a multitude of special organizations and professions. For that reason social work is dealing with a complex identity. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how social workers and the scientific discourse interpret the concept of social work. In addition to that the study intends to show similarities and differencies. The research process containes two studies, one based on qualitative interviews with five social workers and the other consisting a surway of academic litterature.

The overall aim of this study is to investigate how social workers who are dealing with financial assistance are experiencing discretion in their daily work. The aim of the study is also to examine how social workers who are dealing with financial assistance relates to the controlling and the supporting functions of their daily work and how this in turn affects the attitude to the client. In order to examine the aim of the study, qualitative method was used. Eight social workers have been interviewed and presented with two fictitious cases that they have been able to discuss. Theories regarding the street-level bureaucrat and its discretion have been used to interpret and understand the collected material.

Our main aim with this study is to shed a light over the social workers opinions about what they believe will be the consequences of introducing Housing First in the city of Stockholm. We wanted to examine the social workers perceptions about how Housing First could change their client?s autonomy and justice. Therefor we accomplished five qualitative interviews with social workers. We analyzed our empirical material with the theoretical terms; justice, autonomy and intern role-conflict.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how social workers within different areas of work in Malmö, who comes in contact with persons who have been subject to honour-related violence, sees the problem, if they have any special view on the cause of the violence and investigate the efforts which are offered to individuals who have been or are subject to honour-related violence. I wanted to investigate if there exists a universal view among social workers in Malmö of the definition of and way of working with persons affected by honour-related violence. Various reports show that there exists great disagreement among debaters as well as social workers regarding the definition of honour-related violence. There are also different sentiments about the cause of honour-related violence within research. I conducted four interviews on five individuals employed within different areas of work in Malmö which comes in contact with girls and women who have been subject to honour-related violence. My study shows that there exists great dissent among social workers regarding the term honour-related violence, the cause of the problem and the concerned areas of work works with different ways with persons which they come in contact with..

The intention of this study was to examine how social workers, leaders within the social work administration and politicians in the social work committee in Helsingborg related to residential treatment of youth and the research showing signs of undesirable results.The main questions were:1. How do social workers, leaders within the social work administration and politicians in the social work committee relate to residential treatment of youth and the research existing about it?2. Which factors do the different categories mean justify the placements?3.

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the worldThese words sum up my account of social worker expertise. How does one become skillful?a master?in the profession? I answer this question by exploring how social worker proficiency can be developed and grow with the help and support of supervisors, clients and colleagues. Development through professional supervision and in the encounter with clients is an essential part of the work. I also discuss what it means to be new in the field (a novice) in relation to being experienced (a master).

I Sverige har barnfattigdom funnits i alla tider. Den här uppsatsen handlar om barnfattigdom i Sverige i dag. Det var en kvalitativ studie med en induktiv ansats. Syftet var att undersöka hur barnfattigdom visar sig i en mellansvensk stad och hur professionella inom socialt arbete ser på barnfattigdom och vilket stöd som finns att få. Studien byggde på fem kvalitativa intervjuer med Socialarbetare inom kommunens enhet Familj och Fritid.

Omhändertagna ungdomar vid institution är en utsatt grupp som enligt tidigare forskning sällan kommer till tals gällande sin situation. Uppsatsen belyser utifrån brukarperspektivet, ungdomarnas subjektiva upplevelse av att vara placerad på Älgeredskollektivet i Hälsingland, samt hur denna upplevelse kan kopplas till det medlevarskap som bedrivs på kollektivet. Studien utformas med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer där respondenterna utgör fem av de tio ungdomar som bor på kollektivet. Intervjuerna analyseras och bearbetas med hjälp av meningskoncentrering och meningskategorisering. Resultaten visar bland annat på att en stor del av ungdomarna ofta saknar respekt, tillit och förtroende till och från sin personal.

The purpose of this essay was to examine and compare what attitudes Swedish and Belgian social workers may have towards residential care and foster care for children and young people. To answer the purpose eight qualitative interviews with four Swedish and four Belgian social workers were made. The results were analyzed by theory of organization and professional acting space. The results of the study show that the social workers in both countries preferred foster care, especially for small children, and that the Swedish social workers had a more negative attitude towards residential care than the Belgian social workers. Even though the Belgian social workers preferred foster care, they found themselves forced to choose residential care due to lack of available foster care facilities, something that did not seem to affect the Swedish social workers.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka brukarens erfarenheter av socialtjänstens försörjningsstöd. Författarna undersöker hur brukarna upplever kvaliteten, bemötande, servicen samt informationen från Socialarbetaren. En kvalitativ metod användes och intervjuer med brukare utfördes för att få djupgående svar på syftet. Ett totalurval utfördes och alla som sökt försörjningsstöd i oktober månad i Fagersta kommun fick ett brev med en förfrågan om att delta i en intervju. Sex brukare valde att delta, två kvinnor och fyra män i åldrarna 24-40.

The purpose of this study was to examine how some social workers in Sweden describe the social work with unaccompanied children. Emphasis was on the role of culture in social work with the unaccompanied children. I wanted to examine how the social workers describe their view on social work with unaccompanied. I also wanted to examine how the social workers describe their view at their own and the unaccompanied children?s cultural backgrounds influence on the social work with the unaccompanied.

This study illustrates how the power relation between the trustee and principals are experienced and maintained in proportion to the missions design. The main focus lies on understanding of how trustee perceives and applies the mission`s cornerstones and how power can be expressed in the relationship between trustees and principals. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with trustees whose principals were mentally disabled. The interviews were then analyzed with the support of Foucault's concept of discipline, knowledge, control, surveillance and reward/punishment and Tilly's theory of persistent inequality We have obtained an understanding of the complexity of the assignment regarding the mission`s cornerstones who goes into every other, and all respondents agreed that the cornerstones should be considered as a whole. We concluded that the trustee on the basis of the mission's design possesses a power that is necessary and important to have regarding the relation to his principal and its social network.

Socialarbetare som arbetar med barn och ungdomar och deras föräldrar kommer i sitt arbete ofta i kontakt med människor med en annan kulturell bakgrund än den egna. På grund av detta kan det vara viktigt att tala om mångkulturellt socialt arbete.Syftet med denna uppsats är att belysa hur socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredningar rörande barn och ungdom uppfattar mångkulturellt socialt arbete. I denna uppsats är den valda frågeställningen följande: Vad innebär mångkulturellt socialt arbete för socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredningar rörande barn och ungdom?Studien är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på fem samtalsintervjuer med socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredningar rörande barn och ungdomar inom Stockholms stad. De teorier som använts för att analysera det empiriska materialet är mångkulturalism och universalism.De resultat som framkommit i analysen visar på att socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredningar rörande barn och ungdomar anser att mångkulturellt arbete innebär att man skall respektera varje människa utifrån dennes förutsättningar och erfarenheter och att man som socialsekreterare bör skaffa sig kunskap om andra kulturer än den egna..

Although  ?naming and shaming? paedophiles are growing in Sweden, professionals working with the rehabilitation and treatment of paedophiles describe that the naming and shaming might not prevent child sex abuse. On the opposite naming and shaming alienates the perpetrator from any ordinary life. The alienation could lead them to only having other paedophiles as friends. Previous studies show that professionals are often distancing themselves from working with paedophiles, even if there is competence.

The purpose of this study was to inquire how social workers perceive and describe financial abuse of older persons. Six qualitative interviews were carried out and the assembled data was then categorized and analyzed using a theory considering exercise of power and ageism as a theoretical frame. Previous research has shown that at least 10% of older persons have been exposed to some form of abuse or violence; however, there is a lack of research carried out in a Swedish context regarding financial abuse specifically. The six persons interviewed in this study all presented financial abuse as some kind of violence and as previous research has shown the study suggests that this is an increasing problem. Further research ought to be carried out to increase the awareness of this particular form of abuse and to facilitate discovery and development of measures to prevent financial abuse of older persons.