In the wake of the positive development of aging populations, self-neglect has become a more common problem in later life. Self-neglect is an inability, due to cognitive impairments, to care for oneself combined with resistance to receiving care from others. Striking a balance between self-determination, health and well-being in such cases, in accordance with international human rights, is a great ethical challenge for social workers in elder care. Soft governance provide guidelines on how to handle this challenge. This presentation informs about published results from a narrative analysis of nine policy documents in Sweden. Sweden is chosen as the case since it has been held up as one of the most advanced states when it comes to legal realisation of human rights for people with impaired decision-making ability. Eight identified themes for relational work to prevent and handle self-neglect is presented. The unclear knowledge base for these themes are discussed, as well as how they can be seen as care ethics standards for supported decision-making. It is also discussed how and why these themes seems to have rather limited impact on practice, especially in times of a pandemic. The conclusion is that there is need for further research on how national guidelines affect self-determination, health and well-being of people in social networks with self-neglecting older people. Further theoretical attention also needs to be paid to relations between soft governance, knowledge management and research in national guidelines for social work.