Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Professionell eller medmänniska? En kvalitativ studie om professionella förhållningssätt till samtal i livets slutskede

Lindström, Agnes LU and Redegard, Judith LU (2023) SOPB63 20222
School of Social Work
Abstract
In our contemporary society death has been secluded in hospitals and care homes. A more individual and secularized society leaves death as a personal matter that is witnessed only on rare occasions. But for some, the conversation about death is part of an everyday routine. The aim of this study was to explore how professionals go about conducting these conversations in light of the current discourse on death. The method chosen for this study was qualitative interviews with seven different professionals, all active within an organization that, in different ways, handles the conversations about death. The participants are either social workers active within the healthcare sector or deacons in the church of Sweden. In analyzing our results we... (More)
In our contemporary society death has been secluded in hospitals and care homes. A more individual and secularized society leaves death as a personal matter that is witnessed only on rare occasions. But for some, the conversation about death is part of an everyday routine. The aim of this study was to explore how professionals go about conducting these conversations in light of the current discourse on death. The method chosen for this study was qualitative interviews with seven different professionals, all active within an organization that, in different ways, handles the conversations about death. The participants are either social workers active within the healthcare sector or deacons in the church of Sweden. In analyzing our results we applied Anthony Giddens's theory of late modernity, focusing on the terms reflexive self and fragmentation of experience. This study found that late modern society’s attitude toward death affects existential conversations in a number of ways. One finding was that the professionals perceive clients as unaccustomed, and in some cases even unwilling, to engage in conversations about death. Another finding was that the social workers within the healthcare sector experienced a shortage of symbolic rituals as a result of the secular society. The last finding of this study was the professionals' struggle to separate professional life from personal life given that their work demanded them to use themself and their emotional life as their main tools. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lindström, Agnes LU and Redegard, Judith LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPB63 20222
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
death talk, existential health, deacons, social work, palliative care
language
Swedish
id
9107309
date added to LUP
2023-01-19 11:14:08
date last changed
2023-01-19 11:14:08
@misc{9107309,
  abstract     = {{In our contemporary society death has been secluded in hospitals and care homes. A more individual and secularized society leaves death as a personal matter that is witnessed only on rare occasions. But for some, the conversation about death is part of an everyday routine. The aim of this study was to explore how professionals go about conducting these conversations in light of the current discourse on death. The method chosen for this study was qualitative interviews with seven different professionals, all active within an organization that, in different ways, handles the conversations about death. The participants are either social workers active within the healthcare sector or deacons in the church of Sweden. In analyzing our results we applied Anthony Giddens's theory of late modernity, focusing on the terms reflexive self and fragmentation of experience. This study found that late modern society’s attitude toward death affects existential conversations in a number of ways. One finding was that the professionals perceive clients as unaccustomed, and in some cases even unwilling, to engage in conversations about death. Another finding was that the social workers within the healthcare sector experienced a shortage of symbolic rituals as a result of the secular society. The last finding of this study was the professionals' struggle to separate professional life from personal life given that their work demanded them to use themself and their emotional life as their main tools.}},
  author       = {{Lindström, Agnes and Redegard, Judith}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Professionell eller medmänniska? En kvalitativ studie om professionella förhållningssätt till samtal i livets slutskede}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}