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”Mitt arbete är sprunget ur Guds kärlek till folket.” - En kvalitativ studie om diakonens roll i socialt arbete.

Johansson, Pernilla LU and Öhrn, Sebastian LU (2011) SOPA63 20111
School of Social Work
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore how deacons in the Swedish church practice social work. It was also aiming to highlight the place of faith in their practice. As a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with eight different deacons, we were seeking answers to questions about the deacon's target group, how they see their own professional role and their acting space, and how faith influences their work. By using the Role Theoretical Model combined with Fowler's Theory of Faith Development for the analysis, we found out that the deacon's professional role was changing and that they saw themselves as the social secretaries of the Church and as part of the Swedish social security system. Although their faith was leading... (More)
The purpose of this study was to explore how deacons in the Swedish church practice social work. It was also aiming to highlight the place of faith in their practice. As a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with eight different deacons, we were seeking answers to questions about the deacon's target group, how they see their own professional role and their acting space, and how faith influences their work. By using the Role Theoretical Model combined with Fowler's Theory of Faith Development for the analysis, we found out that the deacon's professional role was changing and that they saw themselves as the social secretaries of the Church and as part of the Swedish social security system. Although their faith was leading them in their contact with people, they look at their practice as a profession rather than as a live style. They find their faith to be very personal and them don´t talk about it if the person they meet don´t want to. The deacons say that they find a freedom in their profession. They have a lot of room to make decisions by themselves. The work is about helping people in need. They see their target group to be everyone in need. They are having soul-caring conversations and they give away food for people in need. Our study tells us that the deacons of the Swedish church are performing a great deal of social work. They make a difference in many people’s lives. But we also have criticism to their work. The church themselves is evaluating their work. No one on the outside has a saying in their work. It is also important to know that the Swedish church is depending on funding from the Swedish government. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johansson, Pernilla LU and Öhrn, Sebastian LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPA63 20111
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
deacon, church, faith, society, professional role
language
Swedish
id
2153242
date added to LUP
2011-09-05 09:34:07
date last changed
2011-11-11 11:11:42
@misc{2153242,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this study was to explore how deacons in the Swedish church practice social work. It was also aiming to highlight the place of faith in their practice. As a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with eight different deacons, we were seeking answers to questions about the deacon's target group, how they see their own professional role and their acting space, and how faith influences their work. By using the Role Theoretical Model combined with Fowler's Theory of Faith Development for the analysis, we found out that the deacon's professional role was changing and that they saw themselves as the social secretaries of the Church and as part of the Swedish social security system. Although their faith was leading them in their contact with people, they look at their practice as a profession rather than as a live style. They find their faith to be very personal and them don´t talk about it if the person they meet don´t want to. The deacons say that they find a freedom in their profession. They have a lot of room to make decisions by themselves. The work is about helping people in need. They see their target group to be everyone in need. They are having soul-caring conversations and they give away food for people in need. Our study tells us that the deacons of the Swedish church are performing a great deal of social work. They make a difference in many people’s lives. But we also have criticism to their work. The church themselves is evaluating their work. No one on the outside has a saying in their work. It is also important to know that the Swedish church is depending on funding from the Swedish government.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Pernilla and Öhrn, Sebastian}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{”Mitt arbete är sprunget ur Guds kärlek till folket.” - En kvalitativ studie om diakonens roll i socialt arbete.}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}