Socialsekreterares syn på bemötandet och relationen med klienter - en jämförande studie av försörjningsstöd och missbrukarvård

Our aim with this study is to explore socialworkers perception of what is a good treatment is and how to establish good relationship with their clients. We have decided to limit our study with social workers in Economic assistance and Abuse Units in social servises and explore if we can discern any differences between the units. We have chosen to use qualitative methods to achieve the aim of this study. We interviewed a total of seven social workers, of which three were from Abuse unit and four were from Economic assistance unit. One of the theoretical frame we have used is Goffmans (1970, 1974) theories about social interaction in which he explains the social encounter between social workers and clients. Blumers (1969) symbolic interactionism was used as our second theoretical point, where he explains the social interaction as a complex mechanism. We also used a theorie related to the worker's discretion and we have assumed Johansson's (2007) interpretation of Lipsky theories of Street-Level Bureaucracy to understand how frontline public workers are the people who truly enact policies. The study shows, according to respondents the characteristics required for good treatment, which includes respect and understanding, how it affects the alliance between the socialworker and the klient and their ethical views. The socialworkers emphasize the relevance of first meeting and to make a first good impression. We did notice ambivalence in some of the socialworkers statements. It was revealed some differences between the social workers’ view of treatment depending on which unit they belonged to, for example the socialworkers from financial assistance seems to have a more controlledrelation to their clients while social workers from abuse unit appears to have a closer relationship