Hälso- och sjukvårdskuratorns handlingsutrymme, normverk och dramaturgi - i ljuset av stödgrupper som psykosocial insats

Sammanfattning: The study’s aim was to investigate how a group of social health workers reasoned about patient support groups as a psychosocial intervention in conjunction with current research and the social health workers' own experience of such interventions. The study explores the interviewees' conceptions, challenges and concerns about patient support groups when used as a psychosocial intervention. The method was based on a qualitative approach with two focus groups interviews of six social health workers from a medium sized hospital in Southern Sweden. One of the interviews contained vignette studies. The results indicate that social health workers experience challenges in the form of obstacles and resistance from patients, health care workers and the health care system when trying to provide patient support group interventions. The health care context in which the social health workers act can be likened to street-level bureaucracy. When counselling patient support groups the social health workers had concerns for losing face and the interaction between counsellor and patients was analysed using dramaturgy in which it was highlighted that a dependency between both parts existed. An unexpected conception the social health workers held was to never blame patients for the perceived obstacles and hardships. This warrants more research of other social care professions’ conceptions about aid-seeking people.