Contemporary social work concepts are based on the notion of recognizing human relationships as a means of creating change (Hansen/Natland 2017). They have their origins in the basic principles of ...social work as stated in the IASSW (2020) definition. Social work concepts that work at the micro level with users advocate supporting commitment rather than criticism, thinking constructively rather than competitively. They are consistent with contemporary guidelines in education, which Fitzpatrick (2019) describes as generous thinking that emphasizes listening, community, and collaboration. In some settings (e.g., services for children and families), concepts are used in ways that are supportive of
At present, when so many problems erode the welfare state, evaluations are mainly used for determining the efficacy & effectiveness of programs. The author analyses the evaluations that have been ...carried out in the field of social care in Slovenia. She notes that the normative basis to carry out evaluations is not binding, & that their implementation is anticipated only for the programs that are co-funded by the pertaining ministry. Nevertheless, a great number of evaluations & self-evaluations were carried out between 1997 & 2001, but they have not been used for decision-making of a greater importance. The conclusion is that evaluations, in order to serve their purpose, need to become more firmly rooted on both normative & operative levels. Adapted from the source document.
The article is based on the analysis of the performance of Slovenian policy in the field of Drug and Alcohol Demand Reduction. Analysis of the key contents was developed on the bases of the analysis ...of interviews made by representatives of different departments in the field of Drug and Alcohol Demand Reduction. Key contents -- the visibility of drugs and alcohol problems in the society, department contribution to problem solving, cooperation with others actors and future planned activities -- has showed that departments in the field of Drug Demand Reduction, in the process of forming and performing politics, take into account the Resolution on national programme in drug field. Deficiencies appear on the level of data collection and exchange, on the level of sharing similar tasks among different actors, and on the level of co-ordination and inter-department co-operation. Adapted from the source document.
The follow-up carried out among two generations of students (2003/04 & 2004/05; n = 464) from the 2nd year of the professional program of social work at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social ...Work presents indicators of the students' secondary schooling achievement & their first-year academic achievement within the professional program at the Faculty of Social Work. It also includes their experiences with research activities as well as their expectations & aspirations regarding the academic subject Methodology of Research with Statistics I. The results show weak to zero correlations between the measures of their achievement at the secondary school & those of their first year's academic achievement, even though their academic achievement at the secondary school is the sole criterion for their admission to colleges & faculties. This unexpected outcome may be interpreted as a result of the relativity of achievement measures at the secondary school & of the disregard, within the enrolment procedure, of the level accredited to secondary schools on the grounds of their students' average academic achievement, which leads to the relative achievement being taken for the absolute one. Consistency has been found in the moderate correlations between the measures of academic achievement in the first year of study & the achievement at Methodology, which supports the view that the Faculty's evaluation policy is appropriate. Changes in the enrolment system & a further improvement of the Faculty's evaluation criteria are proposed. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.
The current contribution focuses on evaluation research as a process of learning and development for practice, by looking at conditions of collaboration between practice and research in two examples. ...We exemplify that learning from evaluation in complex programme settings is related to the nature of the collaboration between social work agencies and researchers. Findings are based on two similar cases of evaluation research for interagency collaboration in Germany and Slovenia. Results show that a symbiotic collaboration between research and practice enhances the learning and development potential for practice, but also that the balance between organizing the collaboration process and leaving room for experimental and ad hoc decisions needs to be guarded. Both advantages and disadvantages of planning and stability need to be taken into account when doing practitioner evaluation research. Adapted from the source document.
The current contribution focuses on evaluation research as a process of learning and development for practice, by looking at conditions of collaboration between practice and research in two examples. ...We exemplify that learning from evaluation in complex programme settings is related to the nature of the collaboration between social work agencies and researchers. Findings are based on two similar cases of evaluation research for interagency collaboration in Germany and Slovenia. Results show that a symbiotic collaboration between research and practice enhances the learning and development potential for practice, but also that the balance between organizing the collaboration process and leaving room for experimental and ad hoc decisions needs to be guarded. Both advantages and disadvantages of planning and stability need to be taken into account when doing practitioner evaluation research.
In 2003-2004, Faculty of Social Work carried out a research of the work with people suffering from dementia in homes for the aged. Students and members of the research group gathered data in 23 ...homes, using observation and interviews with workers and relatives. Different degrees of dementia entail different needs, demands, types of nursing and care. Workers have pointed out problems with the organisation of work, the organisation of space, the lack of qualified staff, and the lack of regulations. Reprinted by permission of the publisher
In Slovenia there is little information available on the labour market and employment situation for some of the most deprived categories of unemployed people. This article presents the research ...methodology developed and the most outstanding results regarding the labour market and employment situation of the most vulnerable categories which were obtained in the research project supported by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. We focused on seven vulnerable categories: homeless people, people with mental health problems, people with drug addiction problems, people with alcohol addiction problems, people with experience of violence, people undergoing post-penal treatments and people without a work permit. Despite the common notion of professionals that individuals from the vulnerable categories are not motivated for job searching and employment respondents from the vulnerable categories claim they do want a job but under reasonable circumstances. Therefore a lot of obstacles should be removed first in order to improve the labour market and employment situation.
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