“Vem är det jag jobbar för?” En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares erfarenheter av arbete med anhörigstöd

Abstract

The Social Services in Sweden are obligated to provide career support to relatives who care or assist a relative. To work with young adults (18-25) who are in the start of their adulthood is particularly complex due to issues like confidentiality, shifting family roles in the transition to adulthood and unclear organisational guidelines. The aim of this study is to explore how social workers, who work with young adults, manage and perceive their assignment regarding career support. The aim is also to explore strategies, ethical considerations and experiences that social workers perceive working with career support in relation to law and guidelines. This study is a qualitative research that are based on semi-structured interviews with social workers from units that work with young adults within the investigation and financial assistance. The analysis is based on a thematic analysis that is using coping theory and bureaucratisation theory as analytical frameworks. The findings in this study shows that career support is characterised by limited organisational prerequisites, uncertainty and varying interpretations of the assignment. Social workers in this study describe that despite legal mandate, relatives often fall outside the main focus due to their primarily work with the young adult. The findings also show that social workers perceive the career support complex, where their own strategies include boundary-setting and developing individual approaches. This study concludes that increased knowledge, clearer guidelines and organisational structures is missing and enables social workers to adequately work with career support within social work with young adults.