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.

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the participants experiences of a parent support group and the effect of their participation on their parental role from a learning perspective. As the parent support group takes place as a group activity, the focus was on the individual learning processes which, in turn, are influenced by both the group itself as well as the leaders of the group. The empirical data was collected from a focus group interview with four mothers, and analyzed using empowerment and coping theories. Based on the participants´ narratives, the result showed that the parent support group had a great social and pedagogic effect on the participants. As a result of the received knowledge in the group from both leaders as well as from other participants, they felt less stressed and more confident in their parental role.

The aim of this study is to better understand the Swedish concept of ?förebyggande socialt arbete?, preventive social work. I have conducted eleven qualitative interviews with different key persons and skaters, together with participant observation. During the process of analyzing the material I have used Randall Collins´ concepts of interaction ritual chains together with Jean Laves and Etienne Wengers concept of situated learning. The answers could be split up in three areas, first those who regard prevention work as building good things for the future.

The aim was to investigate three anti-racist groups of pupils, their thoughts about respectively their work against racism. The aim was divided into the following questions: - What is, according to the groups, racism and what does the situation look like at the schools? - What does the dynamics in the group look like? - What courses of action are the groups using and how can they improve their work? - How can the groups be described according to the terms work group and basic assumption group? To answer these questions I made three group interviews, one with each group. I analysed the results partly according to earlier research and literature, partly according to the group theory of WR Bion, using the terms work group and basic assumption group. My conclusion is that the word racism seems to have been affected by inflation, since the groups include bullying as well as anti-racists.

The purpose of this Master Thesis was to study the reader in the informal reading group. To fulfil our purpose we have used the following questions: how did the reader become a reader and what does her reading look like, why do people choose to participate in a reading group, how may the group influence the individual member in her reading and interpretation of a book, does the reading group have a therapeutic function, how does the informant find the group dynamics and different roles in the reading group, and finally how does the informant experience the discussion in the reading group. We have used two studies about reading groups, one by Elizabeth Long and one by Jenny Hartley. Our theory is divided into reading and group psychology. We have interviewed seven women belonging to different reading groups.

In today's society there is a trend in progress that it is positive and effective to have working groups or teams in organizations. But is it really all good? This essay explores this question through the concept "group weariness". Group weariness is defined as a negative attitude towards working in groups based on previous experiences of the working form. The aim of this study is to explore the concept of group weariness through a quantitative study.

There are many children in Sweden today, approximately between 100 000 and 200 000, who have parents or a parent that abuses alcohol or other drugs. In this research paper we have reviewed some of the literature concerning these children and their situation. The purpose of this research paper was to make an interview study of a group activity for children that have parents or a parent, who abuses alcohol or other drugs.This research paper is based on interviews conducted with two children and four group leaders. We compared the children's opinions about the group activity to the opinion of the group leaders of what the group activity has given the children. We also wanted to compare our interview study with other similar studies that has been made within this subject.

We chose to study the groups for divorced children in Vellinge municipal because there was no evaluation made of these kinds of groups with the involved methods.Vellinge municipal has had groups for children to divorced parents since 2000. During this period of time the total numbers of children in these groups have expanded. As of now, there are two groups.Our goal with this study was to see which way the CAP, Children Are People, manual has been implemented in the every-day work in the group. Several studies have been made about CAP but not in the context of groups for divorced children. We have also examined results in other municipals that have implemented groups for divorced children into their social services.We have interviewed ten children and four social workers.

The aim of this study has been to examine what students within the sport of skydiving think about their education and the social spirit of the community. The purpose of the study is thereby to answer the study's aim through the following questions; how does group dynamics and social solidarity work within the skydiving community, how do the students feel about group dynamics and social solidarity within the skydiving community, and what factors makes the students feel included or respectively excluded from the spirit of the togetherness?The theoretical part of the study focuses on group dynamics and groups overall. Further on earlier research within adventure sports and skydiving regarding group dynamics and community spirit is presented. My survey is based on 35 interviews with skydiving students.The result shows that the community spirit within skydiving sports is described by the students as very special, unique, and strong among the members.

Today, we can see that social navigation is embedded in different kinds of websites, but there is still little support for social navigation in the web browser. Our main concern has been how we construct a tool that fills this hole in the web browser. By letting the theory, the prototype and the focus group serve as input/output to each other we could create a better overview of how the different pieces were intertwined. This has been a crucial mental model for us to obtain since it has helped us to understand how we could realize the theory through our prototype and thereby come to the conclusion of what aspects of the theory that we should put forward to further development. After constructing the prototype we thought that it would support social navigation, but realized after analyzing the discussion of the focus group that we are not there yet.

In the age group 16-25 years, the Internet is the most powerful source of information. This age group is also the main user of social media. The purpose of this study was to investigate young people's experience of social media and any associations between social media and adolescents health by answering the questions: ?how does young people use social media?, ?what risks can occur in young people's use of social media? and ?how can social media influence young people's lifestyles?. The survey was conducted by a quantitative cross-sectional study using questionnaires.

Bullying is a significant workplace problem, a fact highlighted both by companies, government and social science. The purpose of this master thesis was to examine if workplace bullying is a result of group processes. This is a theory-based master thesis. A search of literature on bullying, mobbing and harassment was done in a database called ELIN, Electronic Library Information Navigator, connected to Lund University and 414 articles were singled out. The summary of the articles were studied and according to a list of criteria, I choose to study some of the articles in more depth.

The aim of our study is to explore social workers view on the importance of clothing. We want to know how and if social worker reflects on the importance of their clothing and how it may affect their clients. Dresses social workers differently due to different work situations? Play client`s clothes any role in the social welfare officers? Can client`s clothing affect the assessment of their problem?The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consists of two focus group interviews with four social workers in each group, containing three women and one man in each focusgroup, with a total of eight informants.The results of our study indicate that the clothes are important in meeting with clients and especially as to help create a relationship with the client.

The primary purpose of this essay is to study and describe what student?s self experiences of the media coverage of social work. The theoretical perspectives applied to analyse the empirical data are social constructionism, roles, and construction. The method of this study is qualitative and based on ten personal interviews. The material has been analysed by condensed meaning units and three themes have been used, the media coverage of social work, the relationship between social workers and media and the influence media coverage has on the students.The results given from these interviews show that the majority of the interviewed group considers the media coverage of social work as negative.

Recent research in classrooms has often had its focus on the pupil, the individual, and not on the different groups of students that exist. In a classroom there are normally several different groupings, each one having its own personal attitude towards the current lesson. If there had been more research we would find it easier to understand why pupils sometimes behave the way they do.The purpose of this essay is to analyze how pupils` social relations create groupings. Furthermore I intend to investigate how and why pupils show their belonging to a certain group.The two questions of the essay are:1. How pupils? social relations appear in a classroom?2.