Skydda genom att begränsa : En studie om LSS-personals överväganden vid användning av tvångs- och begränsningsåtgärder på gruppbostäder för personer med utvecklingsstörning.

Sammanfattning: My purpose of this study was to examine LSS staffs’ (LSS: The Swedish Act concerning support and service for persons with certain functional Impairments) consideration of clients’ needs and self-determination as well as the staffs’ own power in the use of coercion and restraint in the work with clients in group housings. My study was based on five interviews with staff from two different group housings in a medium-sized municipality in Skåne. I used a qualitative method and the interviews were semi-structured. The results in the study were analyzed from two different theoretical perspectives, an ethical perspective and a power perspective. I used Foucault´s theory of pastoral power to analyze the staffs’ position of power in relation to the clients and how the purpose of this power appears in the staffs’ consideration of the use of coercion and restraint. I used an ethical perspective of professions within social work and health care to analyze the ethical aspects in how the staff argues how to act in situations when usage of coercion and restraint has become current. Moreover, I analyzed the ethical conflict between the self-determination principle and damage minimization principle and goodness maximization principle which arose in connection with these situations. The primary conclusion I got from this study was that the clients’ need and preconditions were the central part in the consideration the staff made when it came to the use of coercion and restraint. Protection from harm and to promote health, well-being and security of clients were the decisive arguments for using restraint and coercion. The clients’ low cognitive ability and understanding what is the best for themselves was also one of the reasons why the staff sometimes went against the clients’ self-determination or did not get consent to some of the measures they took.