| Summary: | The aim of this Masters thesis is to investigate how trained social workers experience information in their daily work. The thesis focussed on three major questions: - What type of information and information sources are mostly used by the trained social workers? - What kind of information barriers are described by the participants? - How can the patterns of information seeking and information use be understood on the basis of the trained social workers professional and social context? Semi-structured interviews were carried out with trained social workers working with child welfare enquiries. My theoretical framework consists of user and context oriented theories about classifications of information, information barriers and models of information sources. My conclusions are that trained social workers working with risk assessment in child protection services, need to use different kinds of information in their daily work, such as problem information, domain information and problem-solving information. Oral information sources, such as the current family of the investigation, colleagues and supervisors, are important. The participants vary in their use of written information sources. Information seeking on the Internet dominates among written sources. The main information barriers revealed are lack of time and lack of access to relevant information in the workplace. Political and economic issues together with the media debate have a strong impact on the trained social workers professional role. === Uppsatsnivå: D
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