Mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer - En kvalitativ intervjustudie om socialsekreterares upplevelser av att arbeta med våldsutsatta kvinnor

Abstract

Men`s violence against women is a global problem and it is something that has existed for many years. It is a problem that many human rights organizations highlight and that the Women`s Convention works to abolish all forms of discrimination against women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore what social workers experience working with women who are exposed to violence in close relationships. By examine how the social workers help the abused women it can give an insight in how the work looks like, but also how it can be improved. Social workers must follow the guidelines found in the work, but they also have room for actions. It is therefore interesting to interview the social workers to get a picture of how they experience the work, because it can be difficult to work with the existing guidelines at the same time that the social workers have to meet the needs of the clients. To answer the aim of the study following questions were added: How do social workers experience the work with women who are exposed to violence in intimate relations and what do they think can be improved? How do the social workers relate to the guidelines and the discretion that they have in their work? How do the social workers describe their emotions in meeting with the clients and how can it be understood based on the sociology of emotions? The study was based on a qualitative research method with the use of six interviews with social workers from the west part of Sweden and the interviews was analyzed with the help of a thematic analysis. The theoretical framework was added to the study to help the analysis of the interviews with the use of the central concepts such as: street-level bureaucrats and social emotions theory. The results shows that the social workers feel that they have a lot of room for actions based on the guidelines they must follow. However, not all social workers stated that their workplace has functioning guidelines and routines in their workplace. Shortcomings emerged based on the social workers stories and they described several factors that could have improved their work with abused women. They also described that their work can affect them and meeting abused women can be difficult and complex.