Du går aldrig härifrån tomhänt: målkonflikter, etiska spänningar och folkhälsopolitik i sprutbytesverksamheten
(2025) SOPB63 20251School of Social Work
- Abstract
- The Swedish needle exchange program is the result of public health policy - a policy with certain aims. Selling syringes is illegal in Sweden. The only way to acquire such paraphernalia is through one of the Swedish needle exchange programs and, by extension, be made subject to the aims and requirements of this policy. Such aims and requirements include being able to identify oneself, give blood samples, and return the syringes one has received earlier. Drawing on the ideas of historian Peter Baldwin, the needle exchange programs are viewed as a way to make clients willingly participate in achieving public health goals in exchange for tools needed for safer drug use. This study has aimed to explore the experiences of the staff at different... (More)
- The Swedish needle exchange program is the result of public health policy - a policy with certain aims. Selling syringes is illegal in Sweden. The only way to acquire such paraphernalia is through one of the Swedish needle exchange programs and, by extension, be made subject to the aims and requirements of this policy. Such aims and requirements include being able to identify oneself, give blood samples, and return the syringes one has received earlier. Drawing on the ideas of historian Peter Baldwin, the needle exchange programs are viewed as a way to make clients willingly participate in achieving public health goals in exchange for tools needed for safer drug use. This study has aimed to explore the experiences of the staff at different needle exchange programs in Sweden - how they relate to and manage the programs' aims and rules in relation to the everyday demands of working with vulnerable clients. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare workers working in direct contact with clients at needle exchange programs. Results show workers balancing between institutional and legal demands on the one hand and professional ethics and personal convictions on the other hand, with some rules being regarded as unnecessary and others as absolute. Furthermore, it shows the workers sharing common ideals relating to ideas connected with harm-reduction and long-term normalization goals as opposed to more short-term oriented normalization goals commonly connected with Swedish substance abuse interventions. The presence of patients receiving opioid substitution treatment further illuminates the divide between the aims of the workers and public health policy. Lastly ‘’trust and relations’’ was identified as a necessary strategy by the workers to lower the thresholds of entry into the program. The findings help us locate and question the needle exchange program’s place within public health policy. The experiences of the workers contribute to a greater understanding of the tensions between policy and professional ethics in the case of working with vulnerable clients. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9211108
- author
- Åkesson, Björn LU and Kilander, Pontus LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOPB63 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- public health policy, needle exchange programs, social work, drug policy, syringe exchange
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9211108
- date added to LUP
- 2025-09-01 16:18:13
- date last changed
- 2025-09-01 16:18:13
@misc{9211108,
abstract = {{The Swedish needle exchange program is the result of public health policy - a policy with certain aims. Selling syringes is illegal in Sweden. The only way to acquire such paraphernalia is through one of the Swedish needle exchange programs and, by extension, be made subject to the aims and requirements of this policy. Such aims and requirements include being able to identify oneself, give blood samples, and return the syringes one has received earlier. Drawing on the ideas of historian Peter Baldwin, the needle exchange programs are viewed as a way to make clients willingly participate in achieving public health goals in exchange for tools needed for safer drug use. This study has aimed to explore the experiences of the staff at different needle exchange programs in Sweden - how they relate to and manage the programs' aims and rules in relation to the everyday demands of working with vulnerable clients. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare workers working in direct contact with clients at needle exchange programs. Results show workers balancing between institutional and legal demands on the one hand and professional ethics and personal convictions on the other hand, with some rules being regarded as unnecessary and others as absolute. Furthermore, it shows the workers sharing common ideals relating to ideas connected with harm-reduction and long-term normalization goals as opposed to more short-term oriented normalization goals commonly connected with Swedish substance abuse interventions. The presence of patients receiving opioid substitution treatment further illuminates the divide between the aims of the workers and public health policy. Lastly ‘’trust and relations’’ was identified as a necessary strategy by the workers to lower the thresholds of entry into the program. The findings help us locate and question the needle exchange program’s place within public health policy. The experiences of the workers contribute to a greater understanding of the tensions between policy and professional ethics in the case of working with vulnerable clients.}},
author = {{Åkesson, Björn and Kilander, Pontus}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Du går aldrig härifrån tomhänt: målkonflikter, etiska spänningar och folkhälsopolitik i sprutbytesverksamheten}},
year = {{2025}},
}