Hur påverkas bedömningarna? : En kvalitativ vinjettstudie om socialsekreterares resonemang kring sina bedömningar av insatser för klienter med missbruksproblematik.

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine what factors that affect social workers, at the social services in Sweden, assessments regarding support for clients having problems with drug abuse. More specifically the aim was to find out how the social workers own perceptions regarding clients who use narcotics affect their assessments in relation to their depth of discretion and the clients motivation for change. Six interviews were conducted with six different social workers from three different municipalities. The social workers were asked to discuss and reason regarding four vignettes. The vignettes represented four clients who differed from each other regarding their age and socio-economic status. We found both similarities and differences on how the social workers argued for their assessments. Six themes were identified that seems to play an important role regarding the assessments for support: categorizations and perceptions about the clients socio-economic status, the clients age, which drugs they use and their motivation. The assessments were also affected by how the social workers relate to their depth of discretion and routines used by the organization. The analysis was based on a social constructionist view in relation to how we construct social categories, how street-level bureaucrats work with their depth of discretion and motivation. As a conclusion we found that what support that is offered depends on how the social worker perceive the client regarding their socio-economic status, age and which drugs they use. These perceptions are affected by the social workers previous experience and social constructions. What support they can offer is affected by the organizations routines and guidelines, and how the social worker relate to his or her own depth of discretion, but most important is the clients own motivation and how the social worker choose to work with ambivalence.