Det komplexa bemötandet - röster från en familjerätt i södra Sverige

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to describe and analyze encounters between clients and social workers in a municipality in the southern part of Sweden. Our questions are, what is a social workers opinion of a good encounter; which personal characteristics clients think are most important for social workers in a good encounter; do social workers and clients have a unanimous view of which personal characteristics are important in a good encounter for social workers and how do social workers gain knowledge bout encounters. Meetings with clients are, in some way or another, a vital part of social work and often contain an emotional element. The social worker has a great responsibility in how he or she receives clients and sometimes him or her fail, something that has been exposed in media and also addressed on the political arena lately. The many perspectives of, and contexts in which social workers and clients meet, make this into a complex phenomenon and even more interesting to examine and understand. To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, we interviewed six social workers in a Family Law department and handed out questionnaires to clients; a total of 67 clients participated in the study. The results of the interviews were analyzed with the theories; tacit knowledge, reflection-in-action and knowing-in-action. The statistic results of questionnaires were accounted for in the analysis. We concluded that social workers practical experience in combination with their theoretical knowledge amounts to professional knowledge, which itself develops over time. Continuous reflection of their professional knowledge, education and self-knowledge is critical; otherwise the professionals risk not focusing on the needs of their clients. Each social worker that took part in our study had their personal thoughts and theories of how to create a good encounter with clients, although they shared a mutual view of people. Clients expressed that some personal characteristics of the social worker, were more important than others, when it came to good encounters. The top five characteristics were friendly, respectful, explicit, helpful and dedicated. There were similarities between clients and social workers in their view on which personal characteristics were important in a good encounter.