MAKT, EN FÖRUTSÄTTNING FÖR HJÄLP? : prykiatrihandläggares maktposition gentemot klienten

Abstract Author: Ellinor Carlsson and Renate Höjd Title: "When you can make a difference and when you can´t" the power relation between psychiatric disability social worker and client [translated title] Supervisor: Eva Skogman Assessor: Norma Montesino One branch of the social works field of research is the relation between social worker and client. Research has shown that the power and inequality in the relation between helper and person being helped is needed for the helper to provide help. Power is often mentioned under negative circumstances such as social workers abuse of their power position, violating the person being helped. However, Michel Foucault suggests that power is something neutral that exists in every social interaction. The negative aspects of power are effects of the parties not reaching agreement. Through Michel Foucault and Max Weber we have described how the social system affects people seeking help. With a qualitative research we have studied how social workers experience the power relation between them and their clients. We have focused on the group of people with psychiatric disability and interviewed six social workers working with that target group. Our purpose was to describe and analyze how psychiatric social workers experience their power position. Our findings suggested that the social workers have their power position in mind but not in their everyday work. They recognize both positive and negative aspects of power for them and for their clients and describes situations were they don't have power to help. This because of how the system is built and because of the client's right to say no to help. With the results in mind we have argued that social workers have a great impact on their client and his/hers experience of the encounter with the social system. Therefore it's of great importance that the power relation is discussed and taken into consideration