Rätten att bestämma över sitt liv : En studie hur biståndshandläggare hanterar äldre demenssjukas självbestämmanderätt och hjälpbehov

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to analyze how social workers in an elder administration in Sweden handle empowerment and needs for people with dementia and what ethical dilemmas the social workers could experience with these clients. The result is based on qualitative interviews where eight social workers had the opportunity to describe their work with elder people with dementia. Five main subjects were identified in the interviews: empowerment, strategies, dilemmas, force and knowledge and understanding in the organization. The analysis of these themes helps us to understand how the social workers in their profession handle different situations and dilemmas which can arise in their daily work. The conclusion from the result and the analysis was that the most frequent dilemmas for the social workers in their work with people with dementia was the clients unwillingness to receive help, relatives’ and other professions’ ignorance about empowerment and also when relatives wanted to make decisions for the clients. The result showed that the social workers used extensive motivational work for the clients with dementia in order to handle their empowerment and needs. The social workers requested that the relatives and the staff who work with elder people should have more knowledge about the empowerment for the clients.