”Det behövs ju röster – starka röster” - en kvalitativ studie av nya förväntningar på kvinnojourerna

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, focus was upon the Swedish women's movement, a group of nonprofit organizations who since the late 1970’s have taken responsibility to help and protect people who have experi- enced intimate partner violence (IPV). In 2006 there was a change of the formulation of the Swe- dish Social Services Act, where the responsibility of the local authorities for victims of IPV was increased and explicitly expressed. This – in combination with evidence based practice (EBP) as well as new public management (NPM) becoming increasingly popular in social work performed in the public sector – has made the expectations on the women’s shelters become complicated. Many municipalities have established a work position within the social services who's main focus is to coordinate the work with people who experienced IPV. The question formulations were as follows: • Can the coordinators identify any consequences for the women’s shelters based on the munici- palities’ increased responsibility for victims of IPV – and if so, which are they? • How can one from an organizational perspective understand the women’s shelters possible stra- tegies of adaption to the new demands on their work? A combination of inductive and abductive methods was used. Five interviews were performed with coordinators in five municipalities of varying sizes. The analysis was performed with the conceptu- al apparatus of neo-institutionalistic theory, with the ideas of isomorphism, rationalized myths and loose couplings as main themes of explanation. The consequences identified by the coordinators were professionalization, regimentation and an increased market orientation, as well as a divided economy and an unclear future. The women’s shelters strategies identified by the coordinators were interpreted as strategies of survival and adaption to the society surrounding them.