| Title: |
Negotiating standardized approaches to IPV detection in social services? : previous experiences, degendering, and mandatory reporting |
| Authors: |
Bäckström Olofsson, Hanna; Carbin, Maria; Goicolea, Isabel; Lauri, Marcus; Linander, Ida |
| Publisher Information: |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete; Umeå universitet, Umeå centrum för genusstudier (UCGS); Umeå universitet, Institutionen för epidemiologi och global hälsa; Department of Psychology and Social Work, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
| Subject Terms: |
degendering; intimate partner violence screening; mandatory reporting; men's violence against women; standardization; Social Work; Socialt arbete |
| Description: |
Through interviews with 16 social workers, drawing on the concept of “willful subjects”, the aim of this paper is to analyze how social workers working in Swedish municipal social services make sense of, adapt, and/or challenge routine questions about intimate partner violence, and how such routines affect their professional role and agency. We found that participants renegotiated standardized ways of asking by stressing the need to use such questionnaires with care, and stating that the individual judgement and agency of the social worker is paramount. The participants also renegotiated the purpose of asking; while their routine questions about IPV seldom led to a disclosure of ongoing exposure to violence, social workers considered it important to ask because it “opens the door” and signals the possibility of receiving help in the future. We argue that social workers are not necessarily stripped of agency when following standardized protocols and routines, despite increasing efforts to include controlling mechanisms in their everyday practice. However, our results also show that social workers’ legal obligation to report to child protection services, if there are children in the household, limits their room for discretion and how the routine questions about violence are asked and perceived by clients. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
Affilia, 0886-1099, 2025, 40:4, s. 623-638; ISI:001485516200001 |
| DOI: |
10.1177/08861099251340674 |
| Availability: |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-239101; https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099251340674 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.F4D8394E |
| Database: |
BASE |