To Örebro University

The professional jurisdiction of social workers is subject to continuous change. Such changes are often assumed to be based on actions taken by the profession; an assumption that downplays the influence of external factors. This paper investigates the influence of educational reforms on jurisdictional change by examining the addition of social care to the professional jurisdiction of social workers. The paper is based on an analysis of public reports and the curricula of all social work programmes in Sweden. The findings show that only one curriculum has mandatory courses in social care, while most other curricula have non-mandatory courses on ageing. The findings support the hypothesis that educational reforms can drive changes in professional jurisdiction. However, the path-dependent nature of higher education institutions may lead to gaps between the intention and embodiment of such reforms, which is shown in the empirical analysis. Finally, there are tensions between the idea of a generalist social work programme and ensuring that newly qualified social workers are prepared to work in the specialized sectors of social work.

Objectives: Sexuality in residential aged care is a complex and often overlooked aspect of aged care. Te attitudes of both staf and residents signifcantly infuence how sexuality is perceived and addressed in these settings. Tis scoping review aims to compile, analyse, and identify gaps in the existing research concerning the attitudes of residents and staf towards sexuality within the context of residential aged care.

Methods: Te scoping review involved a systematic search across eight databases, yielding 469 unique articles, with 29 included studies.

Results: Tematic synthesis within the selected studies disclosed three themes: hollow attitudes, postsexual residents, and organizational setbacks.

Discussion: Te results emphasize the signifcance of treating sexuality as a fundamental right, emphasizing that it should be not only acknowledged in theory but also implemented in practice.

Covid-19 pandemin förändrade förutsättningarna för människobehandlande organisationer och även för att bedriva socialt arbete inom socialtjänsten. Villkoren och förutsättningarna för interaktion och relationsarbetet såväl med medarbetare som med sårbara människor i behov av hjälp och stöd av socialtjänsten är i fokus för denna studie, som bygger på intervjuer med nio socialarbetare. Intervjuresultatet och analysen pekar på att den snabba omställningen till att arbeta på fysisk distans via tekniska lösningar bidrog till att arbetet kunde genomföras men att interaktionsritualer förändrades på ett sätt som i många fall påverkade socialarbetarna i negativ riktning – det gällde såväl interaktionen medarbetare emellan såväl som arbetet med klienter och brukare. Dessutom pekar resultatet på att det sociala arbetet med socialt utsatta människor i vissa situationer inte är möjligt eller lämpligt att genomföra genom fysisk distans eller genom tekniska lösningar, utan behöver ske i direkt interaktion mellan socialarbetare och klienter.

Summary: The social gerontological field has long called for a culturally appropriate framework to understand, prevent, and respond to elder abuse in the Global South. This emphasis is, in part, based on the notion that elder abuse is a cultural and structural concern that cannot be effectively addressed using mainstream social work approaches. Therefore, indigenised approaches are preferred while tackling cultural and structural forms of elder abuse. However, despite several attempts, there is limited research on indigenised approaches and practices within the gerontological social work field. Therefore, we investigated how social work could promote indigenised approaches to better address elder abuse. We explored this through in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 21 social workers.

Findings: Elder abuse is a cultural and structural social problem that requires family- and community-centred approaches premised on the Indigenous values of togetherness, reciprocity, solidarity, responsibility and love for humanity. These approaches must be embedded in people’s cultures and knowledge to address the social structural changes that have contributed to elder abuse in the Global South.

Applications: Social workers should strengthen family and community support to achieve social capital and inclusion for older people. This will not only enable families and communities to safeguard their older members, but also enhance community-based solutions to address elder abuse. Social work educators should engage in robust and rigorous research and curriculum change for social work education to enable the integration of post-colonial theories and approaches into social work training.

Using thematic analysis, this study examined social workers’ (n = 21) descriptions of whatIndigenised social work practice in Uganda entails. Responses from semi-structured interviewsrevealed the following three themes that inform social workers’ understanding of Indigenisedsocial work practice: (1) collective action and mutuality, (2) communal welfare and respect forlife and (3) liberation and restoration. The discussion aims at understanding the hallmarks ofeach description in relation to the notions of Indigenised social work as culturally inclusive andresponsive practice, developmental social work and political action.

In Sweden, many older adults receive care in their own homes. However, their perceptions of the experience of receiving home care has not been sufficiently examined. This study aimed to explore older adults' experiences of receiving care and services in their homes and their perceptions of the care that they had received. In-depth interviews were conducted with 29 older adults. There were individual differences in their level of participation, but they mostly perceived their participation in the planning and provision of home care to be limited. Furthermore, their needs (and wishes), especially those that pertained to different aspects of time, were not always gratified. Organizational factors and care providers' lack of competence and high levels of time pressure influenced their perceptions of care. It is important to consider the perspectives of older care recipients when developing home care.

Abuse of older people is a major challenge for people who are aging. Studies into older people's perspectives on abuse focus mainly on developed countries, while the views of those in sub-Saharan Africa remain largely unheard in social research. To address this imbalance, we report a qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to examine older people's perceptions of abuse in Uganda. Thirty-three participants were selected from four districts of Uganda to reflect different locations, levels of development, cultures, and contexts. Behaviors considered abusive were categorized into five themes: economic abuse, harassment and violence, disrespect, neglect and abandonment, and discrimination. Results showed that participants largely viewed their abuse from a cultural perspective, contrary to the West's perception based on a discourse of human rights. The findings show the need for a broader definition that includes the cultural dimensions of the abuse of older people in developing societies.

FoU Nordväst har under 2018 genomfört benchmarking av hur nordvästkommunerna i Stockholms län utreder och bedömer rätten till tillfälligt boende. Studien kom till efter att Sollentuna konstaterat att de hade högre kostnader för ekonomiskt bistånd per hushåll än många jämförbara kommuner.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka och jämföra hur rätten till tillfälligt boende utreds och bedöms, och hur socialsekreterare värderar och resonerar kring vilket ansvar klienterna själva har för sin situation, vad som är akuta situationer, vilka faktorer som gör att tillfälligt boende beviljas och vilket ansvar klienterna själva har med tanke på deras position i samhället och på bostadsmarknaden.