”Det är bland det viktigaste och svåraste du kan göra” : En kvalitativ studie om att arbeta med barn på HVB-hem

The aim of this study was to understand how staff in residential child care experience and relate to their profession and their daily work with the children. The method chosen for this study was semi-structured interviews with eight professionals from three different residential care for children in the southern part of Sweden. To analyse the results, we chose the following theories and concepts; professional approach, the balance between closeness and distance in social work, the concept of role conflict and a sense of coherence. To analyse their professional role, focus was put on the expectations of having a professional approach and the expectations of acting as a caregiver towards the children in the homes. This study found that the profession of residential child care staff means variation and complexity, which is necessary for satisfying the various needs of the children. The staff needs to be able to have a professional approach as well as being a caregiver to the children in order to fulfil expectations of their profession. This means that the staff needs balance between being close and distant in their profession, which can consequence in intra-role conflict. Furthermore, this study found that the sense of coherence has an impact on how the staff manage to handle the daily stress that can be found in their work. The way the staff relate to their job as well as factors within and around the homes can either affects the different components that together forms a sense of coherence which are comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Meaningfulness was found to be the most important competent in that way it can motivate the staff to keep doing their best for the children regardless of the challenges and stress that they might face, which increases the chances to understand the current circumstance and to find the necessary resources. Lastly, a good relationship between staff and children and a will to help have a great impact coming to increasing the meaningfulness within the staf