Achieving change and security in social services’ work with perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Research problemSwedish social services has been tasked with support and protection of battered women since the 1990s.

In 2021, the social services were given increased responsibility to work towards changing the behavior of those who expose people close to them to violence (5 kap. 11a § SoL). Working with both victim and perpetrator raises new opportunities and challenges for the social services.

However, since the legislation was recently changed, there is a lack of research on social services’ work with perpetrators by the new legislation.

Hence, the project aims to examine social services’ work with perpetrators and shed light on opportunities and challenges connected to how security of victims is taken into consideration in this important work.

Data and methodThe project seeks to generate rich, “thick” descriptions of social services’ work with perpetrators.

Hence, qualitative methods will be utilized:Twelve group interviews with social workers in different social service units in three municipalities, exploring social workers’ perspectives on opportunities and challenges in their work with perpetrators.Thirty case files from the municipalities will be analyzed in order to generate “naturalistic” data (cf.

Potter, 2002) of work in actual cases.Nine clients of social workers in the participating municipalities will be interviewed to obtain clients’ perspectives on security issues.

Societal relevance and utilizationIntimate partner violence is a social problem and a serious human rights and public health issue. If violence is to stop, interventions must be aimed at those who perpetrate it. Social services have been given increased responsibility to make perpetrators change their behavior.

This project increases knowledge of this important work and its challenges and dilemmas.

Such knowledge is valuable for social services who seek to enhance the security of victims in their work with perpetrators. Plan for project realizationThe project will be carried out within 3-years. Josefin Kjellberg will lead and work in the project (80%).

The budget covers costs for salaries, as well as costs for application for ethical approval, data collection, proofreading of articles, conference participation, etc. The project is a collaboration with a County Administrative Board. No costs are connected to the collaboration.