| 1. |
- Stranz, Hugo, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
Teknikens under? : Om förutsättningar för e-baserad handläggning i socialtjänstens arbete med äldre och funktionsnedsatta
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Socionomens forskningssupplement. - 0283-1929. ; :32, s. 16-23
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- I artikeln presenteras resultaten från en explorativ fallstudie med fokus på förutsättningarna för e-baserad handläggning i socialtjänstens arbete med äldre och funktionsnedsatta personer. Av resultaten framgår bland annat att den personliga kontakten med socialtjänsten tillmäts stor betydelse och att faktorer som kön, klass och ålder är centrala för målgruppens möjligheter att dra nytta av e-baserade handläggningssystem.
|
|
| 2. |
- Bergmark, Åke, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
-
A safety net for all? – Vignette-based assessments of Swedish social assistance over three decades
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Journal of Social Policy. - 0047-2794 .- 1469-7823.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Swedish welfare is often characterized as comprehensive and generous. Social assistance constitutes the final safety net in the Swedish model. Unlike most other benefits, eligibility and subsidy levels are here subject to extensive means-testing, with eligibility determined by individual caseworkers. In this article, we explore the extent to which eligibility determination and generosity of benefits have changed in social assistance assessments over three decades, relating these to changes in regulations over the same period.The article presents data from three independent vignette studies conducted in the mid-1990s, mid-2000s and in 2018 respectively. The data consist of assessments of a total of six vignettes, made by individual caseworkers (n=1 337). The results indicate that overall generosity in social assistance has decreased considerably over the last 25 years and that, despite both national and local initiatives to reduce individual variation in assessments, disparities have instead increased.
|
|
| 3. |
- Bergmark, Åke, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
-
Från lokal förankring till regional samverkan? FoU-miljöer i socialtjänstens individ- och familjeomsorg
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift. - 1104-1420 .- 2003-5624. ; 22:2, s. 133-151
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- R&D units in Swedish social services: From local integration to regional collaboration.For a period of over thirty years, the emergence of R&D units serving locally based Swedish social services has been considered an important ingredient in the evolvement of more professional and knowledge-based social services. It has also been regarded as a vital component for increasing practice orientation in social work research, both inside and outside the universities. In this article we describe and analyse the development of these units, with respect to their pro-liferation, organizational features and how they are valued by representatives of local social servi-ces. Our data show that almost every municipality in Sweden is, in one way or another, served by an R&D unit. These units, however, display a considerable variation with respect to basic resour-ces, activity and organizational framework. Data enabled the identification of four basic catego-ries that, more or less, represent different phases in the evolvement of R&D activities. At one end, representing the early stages, there are units integrated with and exclusively serving single municipalities. At the other end there are R&D units organized within regional associa-tions, serving multiple municipalities and in general established in recent years. In between, there are two categories of R&D units formed in direct collaboration between a limited number of municipalities – one category formally connected to academia, another with less systematic con-tacts with university-based research. In general, development over time has resulted in a dilution of resources and an increasing distance between practice and R&D activities. Originally, the units were established by the initiatives of the municipalities and expected to respond to research needs emanating from practice. The regional associations have to a considerable extent been initiated and funded by earmarked state grants with the intention to implement evidence-based practice.
|
|
| 4. |
- Bergmark, Åke, 1958-, et al.
(författare)
-
Utilized discretion : a vignette study of social assistance assessments in Sweden
- 2023
-
Ingår i: European Journal of Social Work. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1369-1457 .- 1468-2664. ; 26:5, s. 840-852
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Swedish social assistance (SA) is administered with substantial discretion among both municipalities and social workers. Although such discretionary power has its merits, it also comes with potential disadvantages. Previous studies show considerable variation in assessments of SA eligibility, not only between municipalities but also between social workers within the same organisation. Further, the differences seem to have increased over time and apply irrespective of the method used for measurement. The present paper analyses eligibility assessments of eight so-called vignettes, collected among just over 1,000 social workers in 19 Swedish municipalities, including Sweden’s three major cities. The assessments are analysed by means of multilevel logistic and linear regression analysis, focusing on the influence that basic social worker characteristics, professional factors and individual attitudes exert over (a) propensity to grant SA in separate vignettes and (b) general tendency to grant applications. The results show that social workers’ caseload and attitudes towards clients and SA in general affect the outcomes of assessments the most. Along with the fact that significant parts of the variations remain unexplained, one main conclusion is that Swedish SA administration seem to be somewhat disengaged from formal rules and regulations.
|
|
| 5. |
- Hussénius, Klara, 1988-
(författare)
-
Differentiating the Poor : Patterns of Discrimination in Decision-Making on Social Assistance Eligibility
- 2023
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Access to the Swedish welfare state’s last safety net, social assistance, is ultimately determined through discretionary decision-making by social workers. This dissertation examines intersectional patterns and discriminatory bias in social workers’ assessments about social assistance eligibility. Focusing on factors related to applicants’ gender, family and ethnicity, the project comprises four studies, all of which highlight patterns regarding which applicants assessed as being eligible for support. Altogether, the project contributes to an expanded understanding of discriminatory tendencies in how social assistance policies are given practical meaning by the professionals that bring them into force.The first study builds on data covering all social assistance eligibility decisions implemented in 25 municipalities during one calendar month in 2012 (n=472). The remaining three studies build on data from a vignette experiment conducted in 2018, in which just over 1,000 social workers from 19 municipalities, including Sweden’s three largest cities, participated. Results from both sources of data confirm the impression left by previous research that social assistance assessments are gendered. They show that the likelihood of granting assistance is determined through different standards for men and women. In the view of current knowledge gaps, an important contribution lies in bringing the issue of ethnicity bias to light. The results from the vignette experiment indicate that applicants with Arabic-sounding names are responded to with more conditionality than applicants with Swedish-sounding names, and that discriminatory biases related ethnicity are highly intertwined with gender biases.By raising much-needed questions about the assessment of couples, the project also draws attention to the dissonance between the Swedish welfare state’s gender equality regime and the conditions for accessing social assistance. The results indicate that moral judgments about applicants’ gendered family roles affect social workers’ propensity to grant support to couples, and that such judgments take form through ethnicity bias. In terms of theory, the dissertation draws upon feminist and postcolonial perspectives on social policy as well as a street-level bureaucracy perspective on frontline work. Social assistance is understood as part of the welfare state’s wider politics of redistribution, and the quantitative patterns formed by social workers’ individual acts are seen in the light of structural inequalities. The dissertation presents a conceptual model for thinking about social assistance eligibility, emphasising uncertainty as an inescapable dimension of means-testing. A central argument is that eligibility issues decided at the street level cannot be separated from ongoing discretionary processes of policy implementation. While the risk of discrimination in social assistance assessments is inevitable, it tends to be concealed by the administrative arrangements through which policy comes to matter.
|
|
| 6. |
- Hussénius, Klara, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
-
Eligibility Deliberations at the Frontline : Uncertainty and Ethnicity Bias in Decision-Making about Social Assistance
- 2023
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study contributes to an understanding of the role of uncertainty in frontline decision-making about social assistance (SA) eligibility. Assessments by social workers of two vignettes (n=927; n=936) describing fictional SA applicants were analysed. The names of the fictional applicants were randomly varied so that the respondents assessed vignettes with either Swedish- or Arabic-sounding names. The respondents were asked to assess eligibility for SA, and to specify if any alternative assessment would be possible to make. Data was analysed by means of directed content analysis of free-text answers on the one hand, and crosstabulations and multilevel regression models on the other. The results show, first, that the social workers related the possibility of alternative assessments to varying definitions of what the uncertainty problem was, why it had arisen and how it could be solved. These aspects are discussed in terms of four to some extent overlapping rationales. Second, the results show that ethnicity bias may be involved both in how suitable for eligibility respondents assess SA applicants to be, and how definite or uncertain they perceive their own assessments to be. For both vignettes, the choice to deny SA to applicants with Arabic-sounding names was most clearly linked to perceived uncertainty.
|
|
| 7. |
- Lundberg, Lisa, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
-
A matter of choice—professionals’ views on the incorporation of practical work with intimate partner violence into Swedish personal social services
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Social Research. - : Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS. - 1892-2783. ; 10:1, s. 48-65
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the last decades, efforts have been made to increase local support provided to victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Sweden. As with other social problems, responsibility to address IPV falls on the municipal personal social services. The present article draws upon data obtained via structured telephone interviews with designated personal social services staff members from a sample of 99 municipalities, focusing on aspects of potential progress in social work with IPV. The results show that successful incorporation of IPV into personal social services largely seems to depend upon the commitment and dedication of individual actors within the organisations. Furthermore, the data indicate that competence in this field depends on personal inclination, with attention to IPV appearing as ‘a matter of choice’. The results are analysed using neo-institutional theory as well as concepts related to social movement studies, with focus on individual agency in organisational change and the potential relevance of IPV as an issue related to gender inequality to gender inequality. The analysis suggests that while IPV social work may challenge institutionalised practises within social services, change may go both ways with IPV being reframed to fit within the established framework of social services.
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
- Stranz, Hugo, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
-
Child welfare activities targeting single mothers on social assistance : a study of child welfare interventions and case managers’ referrals in a Swedish sample
- 2015
-
Ingår i: British Journal of Social Work. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0045-3102 .- 1468-263X. ; 45:4, s. 1224-1241
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- By utilising data on nearly 900 single mothers on social assistance (SA) in Sweden, this article examine (i) prevalence of child welfare interventions and factors associated with such interventions in this population and (ii) case managers’ reporting activities and considerations in relation to this group. The main findings in relation to (i) are (a) that about 30 per cent of the sample was subject toCWSinvolvement during the time of enrolment in the SA agency and (b) factors associated with increased odds ratios of CWS involvement were presence of maternal psycho-social and mental conditions, large family size (more than one child) and persistent maternal SA dependency (over three years). Factors associated with decreased odds ratios were maternal somatic condition and mothers being of non-native origin. The main findings in relation to (ii) are (a) that social work case managers filedCWSreports in 5 per cent of the households (significantlymorecommonin nonnative households) and considered filing a report in an additional 3.4 per cent (more common in native households) and (b) CWS involvement was initiated through SA case managers’ referrals in an estimated 15 per cent of the cases. The findings are discussed in terms of possible clientification processes in the population studied.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
