Socialtjänstens samverkan med habiliteringen : En intervjustudie

Sammanfattning

Amongst the clients of social services’ family treatment and support many are families with neurodevelopmental disabilities such as autism. These families often access care and support from many places, including habilitation services that provide support, strategies and training to people with disabilities. To provide good and accessible care collaboration between those different organizations is needed. The current interview study aims to explore the experiences of social workers within municipal social services with regards to their collaboration with regional habilitation services. In the current study 4 semi-structured interviews ranging from 30 to 48 minutes were conducted with social workers experienced with collaboration with the habilitation services in two Swedish municipalities. The empirical material consisting of interview transcripts was analyzed using thematic analysis. The current study finds that social workers collaborating with habilitation services find the services initially difficult to access but important and specialized within their field. Additionally, the study finds that social workers describe the contact with and knowledge of their collaboration partners as important factors shaping their collaboration. Moreover, social workers describe their own role in the collaboration as supporting families in their contact with habilitation services and helping to apply the strategies and disability aids prescribed by the habilitation services. The study finds that according to social workers habilitation services establish clear boundaries for the care they provide. This may lead to social workers taking on extra responsibilities despite it falling outside their professional expertise. To be able to carry out these extra responsibilities, social workers rely on their professional experiences and interests, rather than formal training. The study calls for more research on collaboration between these two services, specifically centering the experiences of habilitation workers.