Att vara klient i socialtjänsten - en studie om upplevt erkännande från ett brukarperspektiv

Sammanfattning: In this essay, we have attempted to gain a better understanding of client's feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction about contact with their social workers in social service and economic assistance. We wanted to gain understanding, through the lens of the theory of recognition and judgment, how individuals who receive economic assistance experience the contact in terms of satisfaction or dissatisfaction and what prompted the feelings throughout the experience. The study attempts to answer the following question: how do clients experience contact with their social worker in terms of satisfaction and dissatisfaction viewed from the lens of recognition and judgment? Our method has been qualitative and the interviews have been with four respondents through a nonprofit organization in Sweden. The resulting information indicates that clients have experienced both recognition and judgment when interacting with their social worker. Whilst parts of the results show dissatisfaction with the social service contact, others point in the opposite direction. Our interpretation is that the client can experience judgment in contact with the social worker as they take the role of devil's advocate and also when they convey the institution as we describe as no-mercy-bureaucracy. In contrast, the client experiences recognition when they get support from either the social worker or from a third party. Accessibility also plays a part in the client's feeling recognized.