The purpose with this master thesis is to analyze how the Swedish County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) acts in an environment that changes fast with more regional actors than ever before. There are also proposals regarding new public authorities and eventually a reduction of the Swedish County Administrative Board.By studying a report issued by the Board in December 2005 the aim is to find their intentions and actions for the future. By using three diverse theoretical concepts - the public organisation, the instrumental perspective and two separate perspectives from new institutionalism - the expectation is that I will have the possibility to analyze the intentions of the organisation in many different ways.In this case study I also want to take into consideration the central discourses in the regional debate, shall we decentralize or shall we keep on having a strong state even in the future? What kind of regional policy does the Swedish County Administrative Board prefer?The result shows that the Swedish County Administrative Board struggles for a strong state even in the future, but it does not propose any huge changes. In many ways it seems like they act as they are supposed to - as an instrument for the government - but despite that it is obvious that the Swedish County Administrative Board tries to show that it has the traditions and knowledge.

How does a social welfare officer know when a parent with mental illness or behavioral symptoms is harmful to the children? As a social you are confronted with different ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. The social welfare officers have to follow their own authorities, laws, guidelines and regulations while at the same time do everything to satisfy their clients? needs. This inconsistency can sometimes be difficult to handle.

The main purpose of this study was to examine, and illustrate, highschool social workers experiences of pupils with self-injurious behaviour. Self-injurious behaviour in this study refer to individuals who harm them-selves, with physical injury as consequence, without purpose to commit suicide. A qualitativ method was used and five highschool social workers, in the south of Sweden, were interviewed.The main questions were:- What kind of experiences have highschool welfare officers of pupils with self-injurious behaviour?- What view, and personal opinion have the welfare officers at the problem, and how do this affect them in their work with these pupils.The school social workers experiences of pupils with self- injurious behaviour, were for instance that the pupils often feel ashemed over their behaviour and that they often have lowe self-esteem. The social workers seemed to imagine the behaviour as a copingstrategy.It turned out that the social workers personality and their personal opinion regarding self-injurious behaviour, were of great importance in their work with these pupils..

This is a study of the national test in 3rd grade. The national test is obligatory and is conducted in 5th and 9th grade, but since the spring of 2009 the tests also become mandatory in 3rd grade. The case study of this research is to find out how children in 3rd grade perceive the purpose of the national test. The survey should also clarify how students think and feel about the national test, and how they feel before the national test and after they have finished writing the test. Has the test positive or negative influence on children? The survey will also show how much teachers clarify what the significance of the national test is for the students.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the participation of immigrant organizations to the partnerships in the Equal program in Sweden. The focus of the study was on the significance of the participation for the organizations and its impact on them. The point of view of the participant organizations has been object of study through interviews with the persons who, on behalf of the organizations, have been in charge for the work with Equal. Interviews have been conducted with people representing 10 of the 21 immigrant organizations that have been identified among the Swedish Equal partners. Many organizations have experienced that the participation has strengthen the awareness of target groups about their needs and their possibilities.

The worsening of psychical health issues among young people has widely been discussed over the last few years. Research shows for example that 9% of girls at the age of 16-24 reported anxiety problems in 1989 while 16 years later, in 2005, the same number was 30%. The purpose of this essay was to study and analyze psychiatrists', psychologists' and counselors' view on the resilience and risk factors for youth depression (age 16-24). Beside this, our aim was to study their view on the influence of family environment on treatment and recovery. Data were collected with qualitative interviews with eight informants within the psychiatric care.

AbstractThe Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has since a year or so started to introduce a new way to work with childcare investigations within the social services. This new concept, BBIC, is meant to put the child?s needs in the first room rather than the grownup?s as it used to be before. This study is about to examine how BBIC affects the legal security of the children within these childcare investigations.BBIC was first developed in England after a massive criticism against the way that the foster home- and institutional care was handled. In Sweden, BBIC was first tested and developed into Swedish conditions in a few project municipalities for about five years but is now being introduced all over the country.

The purpose of this literature review was from dairy cows? behaviour and welfare point ofview describe how feed bunk and cubicles in a loose house system should be designed. Todaydairy cows in Sweden and in the world have high demands because of a high milk production,stress and higher risk of being afflicted with diseases. Through selection in breeding the bestquality can be performed, but high demands of the environment for the dairy cow is above allalso important for a good welfare and for a good milk production. Feed bunks and cubiclesare just some parts to be designed in the best way for a good animal welfare.

The purpose of this paper was to discuss stigma and stigmatisation in relation to social policy and social work. By discussing welfare systems in social policy I wanted to see if there could be any connection between social policy and stigma. I used case studies of hearing impaired adults to give examples of how the stigma processes work. By connecting the stigma and the social policy theories with the case studies I wanted to see how the social policy could affect the stigma processes or vice versa.In the paper the concept of stigma has been described and discussed, foremost using the theories of Erving Goffman. I have also discussed the welfare system and the connection between residual systems and stigma.

Corporate governance intensified due to the corporate scandals in the USA which led to a new law the so called Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).In 2005 the "Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning" (The Code) was introduced. The main purpose of The Code is to strengthen the confidence in Swedish companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The Code focuses on the working process of boards. The rules set by The Code places higher demands on the board.  Among many other duties the board has to establish long term operational goals and strategy.

Earlier this year the Swedish migration board gave a part of their responsibility for the separated children to those municipalities that have signed an agreement with them, so that the children can get the best handling of their matters and also to lift the heavy pressure of the Swedish migration board. Our aim in this paper is to see how this division is made and which areas of responsibility they have. We want to see how this process is being handled in relation to these children?s rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Swedish law. To get the best information possible we used a qualitative method.

Today, the catering personnel are an essential part of the safety organization on board Swedish passenger vessels in ferry services. Their responsibilities for the safety on board have increased in connection with the changes in regulations made on the shipping industry. These changes have been mostly related to human factors and structural leadership in the last 25 years.A well-functioning safety organization requires competence and commitment from every individual. Previous researches on Swedish passenger ferries concerning the safety organization have raised issues regarding the catering personnel?s perception of the safety on board.

The aim of the study was to examine if and how the social service and the social welfare secretary provides against threat and violence in the encounter with clients. The study is qualitative and carried out with six semi-structured interviews with social welfare secretaries and participation observations at the social welfare offices in three municipalities. The theoretical starting points used were symbolic interactionism and strange loops. The result shows that social service and social welfare secretaries both use measures to prevent threat and violence to occur. The precautionary measures mainly used by social services are ; looked doors, alarm device, loose objects removes and interview rooms are furnish in purpose for the social welfare secretary to flee the room at urgent need.

Our purpose was to investigate the schools and the social welfare´s experiences of Roman children´s school situation in a Scanian town. We have done a qualitative investigation, interviewing 14 persons from both school and social welfare. Through the interviews we wanted to find the factors which influences the Roman pupils schooling and which efforts the professionals has to their disposition to influence these children´s school situation in a positive direction.The main result of our study is that the majority of the Romans is an isolated group, both in the Swedish school system and in the society. The Romans got access to the Swedish comprehensive school first in 1965, which implies that the Romans have a young school tradition. Most of the Roman pupils have a high absent, which is grounded in a complex of problems.

People play games now more than ever before. While the digital gaming industry dominates the market, boardgaming has been living in its shadow. Board games offer a physical tangibility and a social experience that can be found in few digital games. How do we create a tool that further builds upon those strengths? The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of developing a service that consists of an mobile application and board game events to promote social face-to-face interaction. Focus has been on the social face-to-face interaction in the context of a board game session.