Hur resonerar socialsekreterare vid LVM-utredningar? - En vinjettstudie om socialsekreterares bedömningar vid LVM- utredningar.

Sammanfattning: Sweden's compulsive laws are processed by social workers and there are no real guidelines for how the investigations should be assessed. It is up to the social worker to assess a case with the help of the law, the municipality’s policies, and the room for maneuver. The aim of this study was therefore to explore if social workers assess cases differently and what arguments they use in situations that lead to compulsory care through the law of mandatory treatment for abusers and alcoholics (LVM, 1988:870). The method chosen for this study was qualitative interviews with six social workers, from two different municipalities in south Sweden, where a vignette case would be presented and which the questions were based on. When analyzing the study, we applied the theory of roam for maneuver, to get a better understanding of how laws, organizations and the social worker could affect social workers assessments in compulsory cases. The study found that social workers focused on different factors in the vignette, but also in their previous cases, where different factors were highlighted in their arguments for compulsory care. The results also showed that LVM is a costly but necessary law, and that younger clients were given priority in cases, but also that the law's prerequisite was used differently depending on age. However, it also emerged that the effect of compulsory care is not always positive and that the social workers wished that there were greater resources for voluntary treatments.