”Håller inte jag, så hjälper inte jag någon annan heller” - Upplevelsen av emotionshantering och emotionellt stöd hos socialsekreterare inom barn- och familjeenheten

Sammanfattning: Emotions play an important role in social work, including child welfare. Child welfare workers interact daily with clients in difficult life situations, in which strong, negative emotions are common. As a professional, a child welfare worker cannot express too many emotions, but is expected to show a calm and objective expression. This makes child welfare workers at risk to experience emotional strain, and to prevent an emotional burnout they need social support. The aim of this study was to explore in which way child welfare workers use emotions in their daily work, and what importance collegial support has to prevent emotional strain. To collect data, eight qualitative interviews were made with child welfare workers who worked within social services. The analysis of the empirical data was guided through the theories of emotion sociology and coping. We found in this study that emotions can be used as a tool to build alliances with clients, but strong emotional expressions could be a risk for the work process itself and for the child welfare workers’ health. To be able to manage emotions, child welfare workers need support from colleagues at work. Colleagues share a common understanding of the work and can therefore validate the child welfare workers emotions. Supervision and manager support are also shown to be valuable; supervision in the sense that it provides recurring appointments, and managers because they have the authority to influence the extent of which the employees have access to emotional support at work.