Abstract
The article discusses the results of a research study on social work during COVID-19 in Slovenia. Governmental measures to prevent the spread of the disease have increased the need for ...assistance to various groups of people but at the same time limited their access to social services. The main research question was to what extent social workers and social services were able to reorganise and adapt to crisis conditions and how this relates to the role of social work in society. Data were collected using mixed methods: online survey and interviews with social workers. Content analysis and selective coding, thematic analysis and univariate descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The analysis shows that the ability of social workers to respond to the growing and changing needs of people during the pandemic depended on the context in which they worked. Social work was perceived as more effective and responsive in social services where professional autonomy was assured and valued and where horizontal relationships existed between staff and management. The study contributed to a better understanding of the context in which the pandemic occurred and identified some structural barriers to successful social work that are internationally comparable and relevant.
This article presents a mixed-methods study ‘Social work during COVID-19 in Slovenia’, in which data were collected through an online survey and interviews with social workers. The aim was to examine the response of social workers in social work centres (SWCs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of measures against the spread of the virus on social work, and their relationship to the role of social work in society. The measures taken in SWCs against the spread of the virus and the social context in which the pandemic occurred are related. The main findings were that, in SWCs where management was based on democratic negotiations and participation, staff were more satisfied than in SWCs with authoritarian management. Social work in Slovenia during COVID-19 was individualised and reduced to emergency contacts with service users. Social workers were excluded from national action planning, and social work engagement and visibility during the pandemic was higher in SWCs that were well-embedded in the local community. The lack of visibility of SWCs is related to the overall role of social work in society, where the needs of SWCs and their staff have been long overlooked.
The findings on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and outcomes in adulthood cover a wide subject area. In order to understand the results of ACE studies and plan adequate ...measures, the role of social work should not be disregarded. This paper studies the topic of ACEs, positive childhood experiences and the association with the subjective experience of poverty, which has rarely been addressed, but is relevant to social work. The research was based on simple and extended ACE questionnaires and was conducted amongst the adult population of Slovenia (n = 4939). The results found that adverse material position is associated with a higher amount of adverse and a lower amount of positive childhood experiences (on average, people with adverse material position have 3.43 ACEs and 7.77 positive experiences, while those with better material position have only 1.75 ACEs and 9.82 positive experiences). Social work needs to provide measures on a systemic level to improve the material position of families and to develop programmes based on the poverty aware paradigm to support partnership and interparental relationships in order to decrease the incidence of ACE. In addition, people need adequate support (e.g. trauma-informed care) when recovering from ACE and to enhance their resilience.
Gospodarska kriza pridonijela je porastu broja obitelji koje se suočavaju s višestrukim izazovima u Sloveniji. To postavlja nove zadatke za kreatore socijalnih politika i socijalne radnike da ...odgovore na nove izazove na makro i mikro razini. Aktualno pitanje reorganizacije centara za socijalnu skrb u Sloveniji također otvara pitanja o vrstama promjena koje su potrebne. Razvili smo model rada s obiteljima koje se suočavaju s višestrukim izazovima i proučavali iskustva s ovim oblikom pomoći. Rezultati potvrđuju da je za kompetentnu pomoć obiteljima nužno osigurati kvalificirane socijalne radnike koji dosljedno primjenjuju načelo su stvaranja u individualnim projektima pomoći u zajednici i institucionalnim kontekstima. To će pružiti podršku profesionalnom socijalnom radu.
Social work with families is a specific social work field in which the social worker works in the midst of complex interactions between individuals, the family and the community. The proposed model ...of social work with families presented in this paper is designed for students, practitioners and academics to help them reflect on theories used in helping processes and their influences on direct practice in those instances in which social workers seek answers on how to act in complex processes of providing help to families. The model encourages the use of theoretical knowledge and offers social workers a choice of different theoretical concepts, which they can reflexively use in specific practical cases to co-create good results for families, while their members and the social worker collaborate in a unique working project of help. At the same time they all contribute to the development of a useful theory for the practice of social work with families. Adapted from the source document.
Pri tem gre tudi za ključen premik v odnosu socialne delavke ali socialnega delavca - od strokovnjaka s specializiranim znanjem, ki popravlja disfunkcije, k zavezniku, ki podpira ljudi v tem, da bi ...uzrli želeno življenje in se podali na pot želenih sprememb (Madsen, 2014). Več o projektu lahko preberete v članku Tadeje Kodele z naslovom »Izzivi socialnih delavk in delavcev pri delu z družinami s številnimi izzivi: podpora za refleksivno uporabo in razvijanje znanja v mentorski skupini projekta LIFE« v tej številki. 2 Npr. Theory in practice: increasing professional effectiveness. The heart of the matter 2: integration of ecosystemic famiiy therapy practices with systems of care mentai
Današnji izziv za prakso in znanost socialnega dela je, kako spodbujati okoliščine za razvoj in utrjevanje novih praks, temelječih na sodobni doktrini socialnega dela. Izkušnje sodelovanja s ...socialnimi delavkami v različnih kontekstih potrjujejo, da prepoznavajo pomen premika k sodelovalnim procesom podpore in pomoči ter da so ta teoretska izhodišča privzele. Pred nami pa je nova naloga: soustvariti prakso, iz katere bo razvidno, da je sodelovalna paradigma tudi paradigma v uporabi. Vskladu z razumevanjem izhodišč sodelovalnega socialnega dela je pomembno preseči ločevanje delovanja na mikro-, mezo- in makroravni ter iskati priložnosti v sodelovalnem dialogu vseh udeleženih v snovanju stroke in znanosti socialnega dela. Vpredstavitvi dela rezultatov projekta »Pomoč družinam v skupnosti: soustvarjanježelenih sprememb za zmanjševanje socialne izključenosti in krepitev zdravja« avtorici razpravljata o priložnostih za skupni premik v usmeritev na področju socialnega dela od tega, »česa ni in kaj bi moralo biti,« k temu, »kaj je in kaj bi lahko bilo«.
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