The social workers ability to handle stress : Consequences, strategies and solutions

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur socialarbetare, som arbetar med att utföra bedömningar om direkt omplacering av ett barn eller ej, hanterar sin stress som kan uppstå i denna situation. Studien undersökte fem socialarbetare uppfattningar om stresshantering genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med både socialarbetare och teamledare. Alla fem medverkande var utvalda genom tillgänglighetsurval. De fem deltagare arbetade i tre olika kommuner i Sverige. De teorier som användes i studien var KASAM, försvarsmekanismer samt olika former av copingstrategier. Det centrala ur resultatet från denna studie var att socialarbetarens stresshantering stöddes av tre olika delar: Socialarbetarens egen strategi, stödet från kollegor samt ett nära samarbete med organisationen. Valet av socialarbetarens egna strategier varierade mellan de olika deltagarna, men alla använde en egen strategi. Vanliga egna strategier var att planera och fokusera på de ärenden som prioriterades. Möjligheten att kunna diskutera ärenden med sina kollegor samt att få stöd från sin organisation visade sig ha en stor påverkan i hanteringen av stress hos socialarbetaren. Organisationerna hade olika resurser och policys som mallar och hälsovård för att förebygga samt minska stress hos socialarbetare.The aim of this study was to investigate how social workers, who works with carrying out assessments about immediate relocation of a child or not, handle the stress that can appear in these kinds of situations. The study investigated five social workers view on how to handle stress by using semi structured interviews when interviewing them. All five social workers were selected by a accessibility selection. The five participants worked in three different municipalities in Sweden. The theories used in this study was KASAM, defence mechanisms and different kinds of coping strategies. The central of the result of this study was that the coping of stress by the social worker was depending on three different sections: The social workers own strategies, the support from colleagues and a close cooperation with the organisation. The choice of the social workers own strategy varied between the different participants, but they all used a strategy of their own. Common strategies used on their own was planning and focusing on the errand with the highest priority. The possibility to discuss errands with co-workers and to get support from the organisation was shown to have a big effect on how the social worker were able to handle stress. The organisation had different resources and policies such as templates and health care to prevent and reduce the stress of social workers.