Caring for Addicted Clients by Swedish Community Social Workers, Sweden

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore and describe the Swedish social workers’ experiences in caring for addicted clients in the middle-sized municipality with a population of about 130,000 inhabitants. Qualita-tive descriptive study was applied. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants. Seven Swedish social workers participated in the study. These participants had extensive experiences and were able to communicate in English. The structured interviews, fi eld notes, and the tape recorder were used during data collection process dur-ing February 21st to March 23rd 2011. Content analysis was used for data analysis. The results disclose that two themes emerged including ways of encountering and ways of caring. The fi rst theme way of encountering, social workers encourage their drug addicted clients to sustain abstinence by using motivation talk and showing respect for human rights. In another theme, way of caring, social workers applied standardize methods in the caring process and collaboration between the health care and social welfare systems.