Digitala lösningar, att balansera inkludering och exkludering - En kvalitativ studie av socialarbetares upplevelser av arbetet med klienter med missbruksproblematik till följd av restriktionerna under covid-19 pandemin

Following the covid-19 pandemic, restrictions have been implemented in many social services in Sweden to reduce the risk of spreading the disease further. These have often included refraining from meeting clients in person and working remotely. The aim of this study was to examine how social workers that work with clients with substance use problems have adapted to these restrictions and how they reason around the consequences these restrictions have had on their work. We have also chosen to compare how the social workers that assess client‘s needs for treatment and the social workers that supply these treatments might work and reason around these restrictions differently. To analyze this we have chosen to perform eight qualitative interviews with social workers within the public sector from two different social services in southern Sweden. The interviews were then analyzed with Lipskys (2010) theory about street level bureaucracy and Van Dijkes (2020) theory about the digital divide that exists between people in society. The results of this study show that both groups of social workers view in person meetings as an important part of their work and they feel this has an effect on their prospect of building a relationship with the clients. Even though the results show that the social workers have been able to progress their work by mostly digital channels some clients have been excluded since they lack the means, capability or will to participate in digital treatment and contact.