Vad gör en socialarbetare när den gör det den säger att den gör? : Socialarbetares berättelser om våldsutsatta och våldsutövare utifrån ett genusperspektiv

Sammanfattning: The aim of this qualitative study was to examine social workers´ experiences of their work with violence in intimate relationships. This was performed by taking part of the social workers narratives about their work through semi - structured interviews. The social workers are employed at social services in Helsingborg, Sweden. The survey is built upon theories about intersectionality and gender. What we could see from the interviews was that different factors affected the work with violence. Factors such as different attitudes and standards had a crucial impact on the support for victims and assailant. Furthermore the results showed that social services many times strive for a gender-neutral workplace. But at the same time they mean that women in general are the primary target group for social services, based on the fact that women are exposed to violence to a greater extent. The informants also indicated that they are prejudice when it comes to the violence perpetrated by men and women. The majority of the social workers perceived that women's violence against men are less common than men's violence against women and that it was more common among women to use psychological violence against men. We could also see from the interviews with the social workers that shameful feelings from men were stronger than women as a victim of intimate violence. They meant that men in general should be strong and not disclose their feelings. This was a problem, because there are men who need help in that situation as well.