"Det här är ju tvångsvård... och det är svårt... dom har ju inte viljan!" : professionella egenbilder hos behandlare i den slutna ungdomsvården

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the workingconditions for staff personel, mainly from an educational and knowledgebased point of view, at three youthcareinstitutions in southern Sweden. Social service interventions for children and young people are guided by the Social Services Act (SoL) and the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act (LVU). The study was based on nine interviews with staffpersonel whos main occupaiton concisted of care and treatment of the youngsters. One of the staff was working as a teacher, and another was working as a unit manager. The study implies the complexibility of carrying out treatment in a large organisation (SiS), which in itself holds a great inability to provide knowledgebased workingconditions for its staffpersonel. There is a conflict between those who have an adequate education and those who don´t. This leads to a deterioration of the quality of the caring conditions towards the youngsters. This study indicates the importance of solving the divide between the moral and the knowledgebased conditions that constitutes the institutions that are managed by SiS. It also stresses the importance of defining the goals for the treatment of the youngsters. As it is now the gap between management and staff leads to another divide that reflects the inconsistency in which direction the treatment should be carried out.