Family as Raw Material
This article focuses on how families are defined and conceptualized by social workers in the Swedish social services. Using a qualitative study design, we carried out telephone interviews with 60 social workers in five major sectors of the social services in two smaller and two larger municipalitie...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Stavanger
2014-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Comparative Social Work |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uis.no/index.php/JCSW/article/view/117 |
| _version_ | 1811341944908939264 |
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| author | Ahmet Gümüscü Evelyn Khoo Lennart Nygren |
| author_facet | Ahmet Gümüscü Evelyn Khoo Lennart Nygren |
| author_sort | Ahmet Gümüscü |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This article focuses on how families are defined and conceptualized by social workers in the Swedish social services. Using a qualitative study design, we carried out telephone interviews with 60 social workers in five major sectors of the social services in two smaller and two larger municipalities. These sectors included elderly care, disability, child welfare, addiction and economic support, with a qualitative content analysis approach used to analyze the data.The results showed that the practices in social service organizations are both individualized and specialized. Social workers primarily focus on the individual as the client when deciding upon interventions, and when asked about how they regard, define and delimit the family in their work, our analysis revealed that different mediating mechanisms were engaged in what can be seen as a deconstruction of the family. These mechanisms included legislation (as a control mechanism), household composition (boundary mechanism) and service needs (professional mechanism), which were used in various ways and to differing degrees within each sector. The resultant five unique and sector-specific conceptualizations of families are implicated in how interventions are constructed and work processes targeted at individuals and families.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:03:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dd291846f7d94f769be3e9c4f5e19fe5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0809-9936 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T19:03:03Z |
| publishDate | 2014-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Stavanger |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Comparative Social Work |
| spelling | doaj.art-dd291846f7d94f769be3e9c4f5e19fe52022-12-22T02:34:03ZengUniversity of StavangerJournal of Comparative Social Work0809-99362014-10-019210.31265/jcsw.v9i2.117117Family as Raw MaterialAhmet GümüscüEvelyn KhooLennart Nygren This article focuses on how families are defined and conceptualized by social workers in the Swedish social services. Using a qualitative study design, we carried out telephone interviews with 60 social workers in five major sectors of the social services in two smaller and two larger municipalities. These sectors included elderly care, disability, child welfare, addiction and economic support, with a qualitative content analysis approach used to analyze the data.The results showed that the practices in social service organizations are both individualized and specialized. Social workers primarily focus on the individual as the client when deciding upon interventions, and when asked about how they regard, define and delimit the family in their work, our analysis revealed that different mediating mechanisms were engaged in what can be seen as a deconstruction of the family. These mechanisms included legislation (as a control mechanism), household composition (boundary mechanism) and service needs (professional mechanism), which were used in various ways and to differing degrees within each sector. The resultant five unique and sector-specific conceptualizations of families are implicated in how interventions are constructed and work processes targeted at individuals and families. https://journals.uis.no/index.php/JCSW/article/view/117Case studyclient constructionfamily-based social worksocial servicespublic sectorsocial work practice |
| spellingShingle | Ahmet Gümüscü Evelyn Khoo Lennart Nygren Family as Raw Material Journal of Comparative Social Work Case study client construction family-based social work social services public sector social work practice |
| title | Family as Raw Material |
| title_full | Family as Raw Material |
| title_fullStr | Family as Raw Material |
| title_full_unstemmed | Family as Raw Material |
| title_short | Family as Raw Material |
| title_sort | family as raw material |
| topic | Case study client construction family-based social work social services public sector social work practice |
| url | https://journals.uis.no/index.php/JCSW/article/view/117 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ahmetgumuscu familyasrawmaterial AT evelynkhoo familyasrawmaterial AT lennartnygren familyasrawmaterial |