Conversations in Social Work (SAMSOC)

Group of peopple sitting around a table and talks. — Photographer: SolStock

The SAMSOC researcher/working group brings together researchers and teachers who are interested in the role of social interaction in social work. Conversations and encounters are fundamental components of social work, regardless of organization or client groups.

The research usually involves close and detailed analyses of how people create mutual understanding, as well as the ways that facilitate or hamper successful interaction.

We also work actively to implement the research results within social work practice and in the social work programme education. In terms of teaching, the group is mainly involved in the courses and modules that concern training in terms of communication and professional development.

Our working methods in SAMSOC

We work mainly with qualitative methods and the research usually has a naturalistic approach. This means that we try to follow the regular activities of organizations.

The group meets monthly for data sessions or text seminars.

We also have close contact with the LiU-wide 'Conversation and Interaction Seminar' (SIS) and participate in this activity.

Research topics

Social work online
Participation and voice of children and young people in social work
Communication in social work with older people
Communication skills in social work education and practice
Interaction and participation at Special Youth Homes
Young adults' encounters with the social services

Research projects

Projects with GEROSOC

When the basis for a common life changes
Improved conversations in elderly care

more information at GEROSOC website

Projects with TEMA Barn

Investigative child counselling in practice: Investigation, support and participation in counselling between social workers and children who are suspected of being harmed

more information at the project website

Collegiality and sense-making in multi-stakeholder meetings at special youth homes

Multi-party conversations are common in social work. Often the participants also belong to different professions.

In this project, which builds on previous research projects on young people's voices in Special Youth Homes, we instead investigate the staff's interaction and encounters about young people and activities.

Project Manager: Karin Osvaldsson Cromdal

Research collaborations

Conversation analysis in social work (CASW) more information at the project website

Discourse and Narrative Approaches to Social Work and Counselling DANASWAC

Project websites

An eledery couple that are gazing out over the water.

Gerontological Social Work

The GEROSOC research group brings together researchers in the division who study what it means to age in contemporary society and the mission of social work.

A person in a denim jacket with his hands on his knees sits opposite someone who is gesturing with his hands.

Investigative child interviews in practice

When children interact with social services, they have the right to participate and have their voices heard. This project explores children’s participation in social work interviews conducted by social services.

ESWRA

Conversation Analysis in Social Work - CASW

Dissertation projects

Conversation training in social work

Mikael Boregren's research is about the practice of conversation training in social work.

The focus of the study is on how experience, group affiliation and competence appear in the interaction within the framework of a conversation training situation.

This is studied in different participant groups with experience of social work, including social work students, professional social workers in substance addiction treatment and clients with lived experience of substance dependence.

Young adults' encounter with social services

Kevin Tankred's research: Young adults' encounter with social services.

The dissertation wants to shed light on a central part of the social services' work: the conversations with young adults who in some way struggle with crime. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how these conversations unfollow. Social workers in social services face a complex challenge where they must navigate between institutional, legal, and professional frameworks while encountering an individual who is in a position of dependency towards them.

Teaching

Courses

745G46
Conversation, Interaction and Approach in Social Work, 7.5 credits,

745G68
Professionalism, Ethics and Collaboration in Social Work, 15 credits,

745A90/91
Conversation as a Craft in Social Work: Analysis, Research and Improvement, 7.5 credits

745A81
Children and Families in Social Work, 7.5 credits

Education

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