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This study examines the Swedish Police’s perceptions and experiences in implementing the 2015 Swedish Counter-Terrorism Strategy, focusing on the intermediary strategic level that connects political decision-making with local practitioners. Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), the study identifies barriers and facilitators across five domains: innovation, outer setting, inner setting, individual characteristics, and implementation processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants from the National Operational Department (Noa), responsible for operationalizing the strategy or its critical components. The findings highlight systemic challenges, including misalignment between top-down directives and local priorities, resource limitations, and an emphasis on outputs (e.g., equipment procurement) over outcomes (e.g., prevention effectiveness). Key barriers included resistance to change, reliance on individual initiative, and a lack of clarity, motivation, and performance-based incentives. Structural and cultural factors, such as organizational autonomy and scepticism toward external mandates, further impeded implementation. Despite these obstacles, opportunities for improvement were identified. These include align national directives with local realities by engaging stakeholders early, transferring scientific knowledge on effective implementation to practitioners, recognizing individual contributions, and developing long-term, outcome-focused strategies. This research offers critical insights into the complexities of implementing counter-terrorism strategies within bureaucratic organizations, providing valuable lessons for similar contexts globally. Future research should incorporate regional and local perspectives to capture a comprehensive understanding of implementation dynamics across organizational levels.

This study explores the collaboration between the Swedish police and community actors in a particularly vulnerable area. Drawing on Horwath and Morrison’s framework, the study identifies three levels of collaboration—communication, cooperation, and coordination—and examines the conditions that facilitate or hinder effective collaboration. Based on 22 qualitative interviews, the data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings highlight the importance of leadership, trust-based relationships, and structured approaches. Contextual factors such as resource imbalances, institutional presence, and community perceptions significantly influence collaborative dynamics. While collaboration is essential for enhancing safety and trust, it remains fragile when dependent on individual actors or uneven institutional support. The study concludes that successful collaboration requires shared goals, equitable capacity, sustained engagement, and a deep understanding of local conditions. These findings contribute to the broader research on community policing and interagency collaboration, and offer practical implications for improving safety and social cohesion in vulnerable urban contexts.

Purpose: Research suggests that male victims of interpersonal violence (IPV) experience differential treatment when seeking help from service providers. However, little research has explicitly investigated gender differences in actual service provision. The present study investigated whether there are gender differences in the number and type of services provided to IPV victims by the social services (research question 1), as well as if these gender differences vary depending on the victim’s type of relation with the offender (research question 2).

Methods: We used data from the SU-Kvinnofrid (“Women’s peace/safety”) project, with information on all IPV victims (n = 2,998; 2,814 female and 184 male) seeking support from the social services in 34 Swedish municipalities. Data were analyzed using logistic and negative binomial regression models.

Results: On average, there were no or only small gender differences in service provision. However, these average differences masked significant variation based on the offender’s relationship to the victim. Men generally received fewer services when victimized by a partner but more when victimized by a non-partner (e.g., a family member); a pattern primarily driven by safety-focused and, to a lesser extent, practical support.

Conclusions: The findings do not support the view that there is a general bias against male victims. Rather, they suggest that service provision is critically shaped by the inherently relational nature of IPV, and that gender differences in treatment cannot be understood by only focusing on the gender of the victim. Future research should not only adopt a positional perspective – stressing men as victims – but also a relational perspective, focusing on how different types of relationships influence service provision. 

An aim of committing terror is to instill fear in the population. This article explores to what extent Swedish citizens were cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally affected by the 2017 terrorist attack in Stockholm and how the citizens perceived that the authorities handled the situation. The study is based on data from a survey with 1996 participants, consisting of a random sample of people living in Sweden, aged 18–79 years. Our results show that exposure to terrorist acts has a significant negative psychological impact on the population in general and on those who do not feel part of Swedish society in particular. The attack's negative effect was despite the fact that the vast majority of respondents felt that society had handled the attack well and almost half of the respondents stated that they had gained increased confidence in the authorities.

While men frequently experience interpersonal violence, their help-seeking behaviors and experiences with support services remain understudied. Moreover, existing research has largely focused on male victims abused by an intimate partner, overlooking other types of close relationships, such as with family members and caregivers, that may be particularly salient from an intersectional perspective. This study examined variations in help-seeking patterns and social service support among male victims of interpersonal violence in Sweden depending on age, disability status, and migration background. To this end, we used register data on all male clients (N = 189) seeking support for interpersonal violence from the social services in 34 Swedish municipalities. Logistic and Poisson regression models were fitted to analyze intersectional differences in perpetrator characteristics, contact initiation, inter-organizational collaboration, and the type and amount of support received. Results showed that typically marginalized groups – old and young victims and victims with disabilities – were generally more often victimized by perpetrators other than a partner, more often referred to the social services by other organizations, received more support, and their cases resulted in more collaborations. This indicates that, among male victims of interpersonal violence, those victimized by family members or other close relations besides intimate partners are often the most vulnerable. Our findings highlight the importance of an encompassing understanding of interpersonal violence that includes multiple types of perpetrators, especially in the context of intersectional analyses. They also underline that interpersonal violence among men is often part of a broader web of social or health-related problems, and that organizational responses to male victims cannot be understood without taking this broader web into account.

This qualitative thematic study aimed to examine the placement of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in compulsory institutional care in Sweden, to expand knowledge regarding their care and treatment. The dataset comprised official documents and anonymized journal documents from personnel detailing the experiences of twenty-five unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in compulsory institutional care organized by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care in 2015. The study identified three main themes: traumatic life events and mental health, alignment between needs, goals, and treatment, and language difficulties. The findings revealed a high prevalence of severe traumatic experiences among the asylum-seeking minors, with half having endured significant psychological and physical trauma. Mental health issues were inconsistently addressed, and prior traumas were often overlooked in care planning. The majority exhibited various mental health problems, underscoring the need for tailored interventions. The study highlights challenges in aligning unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors' individual needs, treatment goals, and provided care. Language barriers emerged as a critical concern, impeding effective communication and treatment. Approximately 80% of the asylum-seeking minors experienced difficulties in understanding and expressing themselves in Swedish. The limited use of professional interpreters further exacerbated this issue. The study underscores the need for targeted interventions to better support unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors within compulsory institutional settings.

Police officers frequently interact with the public, and many of these interactions involve some form of conflict. As professionals, and representatives of the state, police officers are expected to handle these conflicts in a professional and just manner to maintain positive relationships with the public. Therefore, solid conflict management skills are necessary for any officer in a democratic society. The present scoping review examines the current state of research on police involved conflicts and conflict management in a police context. Results indicate that a majority of the studies have been conducted in the USA and that many of these studies focus on use of force rather than effective conflict management strategies and methods. The study further indicates a number of methodological difficulties in researching this important area of policing, including difficulties in obtaining data as well as a lack of unified definitions of concepts and methods.

Poliser i yttre tjänst har en avgörande roll i att förebygga, förhindra och upptäcka brottslig verksamhet, samt att bevaka den allmänna ordningen och säkerheten. Detta uppdrag är inte begränsat till en specifik plats utan spänner över hela samhället. Det innebär att hela samhället utgör polisernas arbetsmiljö. Denna arbetsmiljö är dock komplex och involverar risker såsom hot och våld. Det gör att poliser i yttre tjänst löper en särskilt hög risk för övergrepp, vilket kan leda till långvariga fysiska och psykiska påverkningar.

Poliser ställs inför ökande krav, särskilt med tanke på de samhällsutmaningar som finns idag med exempelvis den grova organiserade brottsligheten. En hög andel poliser överväger att lämna yrket och upplever känslor av otillräcklighet. Det indikerar att det finns utmaningar i arbetsmiljön. Det är därför nödvändigt att få en systematisk översikt över risk- och friskfaktorer på individ-, organisations och samhällsnivå för att utveckla effektiva arbetsmiljöstrategier för en hållbar polisorganisation.

Forskargruppens uppdrag av Myndigheten för arbetsmiljökunskap är att sammanställa befintlig forskning som genomförts i Sverige och Europa de senaste tio åren gällande arbetsmiljö för poliser i yttre tjänst. Resultatet kan vara ett stöd i den svenska polismyndighetens arbetsmiljöarbete.

Introduction: Police officers work in a variable environment under different circumstances and often involves stressful situations. This include working irregular hours, ongoing exposure to critical incidents, confrontations and violence. community police officers are mainly out in the society and have daily contact with the general public. critical incidents can also consist of being criticized and stigmatized as a police officer, both from the public but also lack of support from their own organization. There is evidence on negative impacts of stress on police officers. However, knowledge about the nature of police stress and its various types is insufficient. It is assumed that there are common stress factors which are universal among all police officers in different contexts but there is a lack of comparative studies to provide empirical evidence. The aim of this study is to compare different types of stress among police officers in Norway and Sweden and how the pattern of experiencing stress has changed over time in these countries.

Methods: The study population consisted of patrolling police officers from 20 local police districts or units in all seven regions in Sweden (n = 953) and patrolling police officers from four police districts in Norway (n = 678). A 42-item Police Stress Identification Questionnaire was used to measure the stress level.

Results: The findings show differences in types of stressful events as well as its severity among police officers in Sweden and Norway. The level of stress decreased over time among Swedish police officers whereas it showed no change or even an increase among the Norwegian participants.

Discussion: The results of this study are relevant for policy-makers, police authorities and lay police officers in each country to tailor their efforts to prevent stress among police officers.