När slutar jobbet? En kvalitativ studie kring hur socialsekreterare hanterar sin privata sfär i förhållande till arbetstiden

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to investigate how social workers look at the boundaries between their private sphere and working hours. Furthermore, it is intended to study how social workers look at work-related situations that may occur in their leisure time and how they handle them. The selection of respondents consisted of social workers who had a social education and had a regular professional contact with clients. Data was conducted during five semi-structured interviews and one focus group interview with social workers from three municipalities in the south of Sweden. The total respondents were seven social workers and they all work with authority in social services, with varying professional experience within the social services. In this study, we used Erving Goffman's dramaturgical interactionism as perspectives to understand the collected data. The study shows that several of the respondents find it difficult to keep the limits set by them self. There is an ambition to keep the work to work and not take it home in the private sphere, but there is a pattern that shows that the boundary is not so easy to keep. A conclusion in our study was that boundaries between work and the private sphere tend to be loosen when the social worker chooses to bring the work phone home. The professionals thus make themselves available to the client outside office hours.