“Och när man känner att man inte riktigt orkar så ska man nog se det som en varningssignal.“ Socialarbetares beskrivning av deras hantering av känslor i interaktion med våldsutsatta barn.

Sammanfattning: This study aimed to increase the knowledge of how social workers describe their emotions, how they handle their emotions in interaction with abused children, and how they describe the effects on their profession and private life. The study was based on six semi-structured interviews with social workers, who have experience working with abused children. In our analysis, we used Hoschchild's (1983) theory of emotional labor and Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theory of coping. The results of the study showed that social workers described varied experiences of emotions, for example, frustration and compassion satisfaction. The social workers were using self-care, emotional intelligence, colleagues' guidance from their supervisor, and emotional intelligence to manage their emotions. Lastly, our results showed that the consequences of emotional management are tangible both in work life and private life and that these were dependent on strategies. Without strategies, in the form of social support from colleagues and the workplace, self-care strategies, and emotional intelligence, it might lead to empathy fatigue and burnout. To summarize, the results showed that all respondents in the study were aware of the difficulty of both meeting and managing emotions that arise in interaction with abused children. Furthermore, different strategies that were used for handling emotions were important for the social workers not to develop harmful effects on their health.