Varför stannar ni kvar? En kvalitativ studie av motivationen hos socialsekreterare som arbetar med barn och unga

The aim of this study was to investigate how social workers in child-welfare perceive that different levels of motivation affect their investigation work with children and young people and the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the choice of staying. The analysis was based on self-determination theory (SDT). A qualitative approach was used, and four social workers were questioned with the use of a semi structured interview. The result showed that intrinsic motivation, with components such as mission, solidarity with colleagues, interest in the task itself and a feeling of making a difference, gave a greater impression in the decision to stay while the extrinsic motivation, with components such as wages and rewards, didn´t play as much of a role in the decision. Although the four respondents didn´t appear to have much in common at first, they all have defied the high turnover and a common feature after all was the feeling of joy and satisfaction after helping a child or a family. Keywords: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, retention, child welfare, self-determination theor