Magistro darbas susideda iš įvado, 3 skyrių, išvadų, rekomendacijų. Jį rašant išanalizuoti 46 literatūros šaltiniai lietuvių ir užsienio kalbomis. Darbą sudaro 64 puslapiai (be priedų). Darbas papildytas 4 priedais. Gauti rezultatai pateikiami 1 lentelėje ir iliustruojami 24 paveikslais. Darbui atlikti iškelti trys uždaviniai. Jų siekiant buvo naudoti šie tyrimo metodai: teoriniai – mokslinės ir metodinės literatūros analizė. Sociometrinio tyrimo metodai – anketinė apklausa. Taip pat atliktos Statistikos departamento duomenų ir Nusikalstamų veikų žinybinio registro duomenų antrinės analizės. Matematiniai duomenų skaičiavimai atlikti kompiuterine programa SPSS. Rezultatai išreikšti procentais (proc.). Aprašomaisiais metodais buvo aprašomi, analizuojami ir interpretuojami tyrimo rezultatai. Remdamasi empirinio tyrimo rezultatais, autorė analizuoja socialinių darbuotojų veiklą ir būdus, kuriuos jie taiko spręsdami šeimose kilusius agresijos proveržius. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad agresija šeimose pasireiškia dėl tam tikrų priežasčių, t. y. alkoholizmo, bedarbystės, narkomanijos. Nuo šio reiškinio nukenčia ne tik šeimos nariai, bet ir jiems norintys padėti socialiniai darbuotojai. Tyrimo metu paaiškėjo, kad dažniausiai apie agresyviai besielgiančius asmenis šeimose, socialiniai darbuotojai sužino iš trečių asmenų, o jų pagalbos efektyvumą užtikrina geras profesinis išsilavinimas ir kvalifikacijos kėlimas. Socialiniai darbuotojai, norėdami eliminuoti agresiją šeimoje, taiko įvairius... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Work conists of Introduction, 3 chapters, conclusion and recomendations. 46 literature sources in Lithuanian and foreign languages were analized in the progress. The work consists of 69 pages (exluding additions). It is supplemented by 3 additions. The received results are presented in table 2 and illustrated with 24 pictures. To do the work 3 tasks were raised. In achieving them these research methods were used: theoretical – scientific and methodical literature analysis. Social research methods – questionnaire inquest. Also the secondary analysis of the department of Statistics data and Criminal action departamental registry data. Mathematical data calculations were done using SPSS software. The results are expressed in per cents. In descriptive methods the reserch results were described, analized and interpreted. On behalf of empirical research result, the author is analyzing social workers activity and nature which they apply in resolving agrresive breakthrough happening in the family. Research shows that agrresion in the family arrises for specific reasons i.e. alkohol, unemployment, drugs. Not only family members but also willing to help social workers suffer from this occurrence. During research it became clear that ususally social workers find out about agresively behaving family members from third parties and that the effectivenes of their help is ensured based on their good profesional education and raising qualifications. Social workers use various methods to... [to full text]

Magister Social Work -MSW / Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of Cape Town, which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process. Snowball sampling was employed in this case, a non-probability sample, in which participants were recruited via key informants. The sample distribution included 13 participants, 10 of which were heroin users (5 female, 5 male) and the remaining 3 were key informants which contributed to triangulation of the data.

The thesis deals with social work with gypsy clients. The first chapter of the theoretical part 1.1 Social work aimed at the gypsy minority describes the specifics of social work with gypsy clients, which is based on preconditions that social workers should fulfill when working with this target group and their facilities for such work. It aims at the professional approach of the social workers to the clients who are members of the gipsy ethnicity and describes the value system of a social worker. The research proved that the workers approach the clients professionally based on an ethical code. Factors which influence the perception of the clients from the gipsy minority by the social workers became clear from the research. The approach is most commonly influenced by the more difficult communication with the clients and low motivation of the gipsy clients to change their burdensome situation through their own endeavors. The workers do not distinguish their clients according to their membership in a minority but according to the specific problem they wish to help them solve. The biggest problem of the gipsy ethnicity became education. The majority of the workers believe that if the education of the gipsy clients can be improved it will reduce the impact of other social problems.

The thesis is devoted to the topic of job satisfaction of social workers working in the Department of Employment Labor Services and dealing with people with different disabilities within the social assistance programs. The aim of this thesis is to determine how these social workers are satisfied with their jobs, and how this is affected by the workload and by the current work conditions. The thesis is then seeking to identify possible subsequent optimization of working conditions that would result in the improvement of the job satisfaction level of the workers. The final hypothsys were made based on the methodological triangulation, an in-depth analysis of the interviews with the social workers and thier observation and also the burnout syndrom test. The results could be used as a base for an improvement of working conditions of social workers and for identifying the most serious occupational stress factors that occur at the Department of Employment Labor Services and also other office departments dealing with people with disabilities. The research also points out the fact of an extensive number of burnout symptoms among social workers. Finally, this research creates opportunities for further exploration of various topics, especially how to reduce or eliminate the job stressors occurring on the exercise of this profession.

Magister Social Work -MSW / Heroin usage is on the increase in the Western Cape province of South Africa owing to globalization and to increased access to the drug in this province. The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of coloured heroin users in the Metro South area of Cape Town, which stretches from Simons Town and Muizenberg to Retreat, Lavender Hill, Grassy Park, Parkwood and Wynberg. These individuals have been found to congregate in the Wynberg CBD. The overarching theoretical framework for the purpose of this research is social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, using a qualitative means of inquiry. Snowball sampling was used to recruit prospective participants and data was collected by means of in-depth interviews, with a semi structures interviewing schedule. The questions informed the subsequent themes and categories that arise from the data collection process.

The purpose of the study was to investigate children's participation in child welfare investigations. Six interviews were conducted with social workers who are active in child welfare investigations, to understand social workers experiences of children's involvement in investigations. The results show that children are not always involved or as involved as they should, for different reasons. The child's age, the child's ability to communicate, the child's attitude to cooperation, the guardian's attitude to cooperation, social workers prerequisites in terms of skills, tools and workload. Furthermore, the results show that children's best and social issues need to weigh heavier in child welfare investigations, as today there is a lot of focus on parents and guardians. This study aims to contribute knowledge of children's participation in child welfare research.

This research is aimed at studying and describing the psychosocial effects of infertility on couples. Infertility is a reasonably new field of specialization in Medical Social Work, with a limited amount of research findings and literature available. A definite need for research therefore exists in this field. The stages and procedures of research used in this study are firstly described, as well as the problems experienced with the study and definitions of terms used. Subsequently, infertility is described in detail to provide the necessary knowledge of and insight into the problem and also to understand what infertile couples have to endure during the whole treatment period. This includes the initial interview, the medical investigations, the causes of infertility, the treatment procedures av.ailable and the psycho-social effects of infertility. The roles, tasks, skills and knowledge of the medical social worker in a multi-professional health setting are described next, followed by a guideline for medical social workers as regards the infertile couple at an Infertility Clinic. This guideline describes the roles and tasks of the medical social worker regarding each step of the entire infertility treatment plan. Hereafter the research findings and graphical representations of this exploratory and descriptive study of the psycho-social effects of infertility on couples, are presented and discussed. The hypothesis for this study: "Infertility has various psychosocial effects on a couple" is accordingly supported. Finally the general summary, conclusions and recommendations arising from this study are provided. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 1989. / gm2014 / Social Work and Criminology / Unrestricted

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Societies today are rapidly expanding, both demographically and politically, thereby causing adolescents who are HIV positive to be faced with multifaceted challenges. For these societal demands, young people need to acquire the relevant skills. The life skills approach has been found to improve adolescent changes by building skills that are necessary components of healthy development and enables adolescents to deal with life challenges. Evidence suggests that the life skills approach promotes social, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral competencies that are important in decreasing negative or high-risk behaviours (Pearlstein et al.,2013, Mellins et al.,2012) . The aim of this research was to evaluate the life skills programme utilised by social workers, social auxiliary workers and community workers at an NGO that deals with HIV positive adolescents.

Child sexual abuse has occurred since the beginning of human history. Physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect was known to people, but child sexual abuse was hidden because of the social restriction surrounding sexual contact with children. Even though reporting is now more socially accepted, it is still difficult to determine the prevalence of child sexual abuse, because it remains under-reported. Sexual abuse of a child is highly complicated and has various effects on a child and the functioning of the child. The goal of the research was to explore the experiences of designated social workers working with cases of alleged child sexual abuse in the South African context. A qualitative research approach was utilised in order to obtain the information of their personal experiences as designated social workers working with cases of alleged child sexual abuse. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews, guided by an interview schedule. Snowball sampling was used to select designated social workers working at child protection organisations and the Department of Social Development in the Western Cape. Ten participants (all female) formed the sample for the study. The research is based on the personcentred theory, developed by Carl Rogers (1961) (Corey, 2013:159). This theory implies that people’s experiences and perceptions will be their reality (Henderson & Thompson, 2011:191). The findings of the study suggested that the role and responsibilities of designated social workers are to do prevention work, to be the first response, to ensure that the abuse is reported, to provide support and empowerment to the child and family concerned and also to do risk and safety assessments to assess the likelihood that the abuse occurred. Designated social workers also need to investigate the child’s circumstances and establish whether the child is in need of care and protection and they must safeguard the child either through a safety plan or finding the child a suitable and safe placement. Furthermore, it was found that the fundamental skills and principles of social work support designated social workers and that the more years of experience designated social workers have, the more confident they feel when they must work with cases of alleged child sexual abuse. Additional training for designated social workers working with cases of alleged child sexual abuse is also necessary. Designated social workers face many challenges when working with cases of alleged child sexual abuse. Designated social workers reported that working with the police can be challenging, organisations and departments often work in isolation, challenges are being faced at medical centres, child sexual abuse is a silent crime that is being hidden away, there is a lack of resources, designated social workers deal with many challenging emotional experiences, staff turnover is a reality, there are limitations in the child protection system and community and family characteristics are risk factors for child sexual abuse. Supportive factors for designated social workers when they must deal with cases of alleged child sexual abuse include good supervision, peer support, support from social auxiliary workers, organisational protocols and guidelines and the South African legislation. Designated social workers feel that they do have the ability to make a difference. / Mini Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted

Current statistics show an alarming number of children entering the South African children’s court system annually. Yet little to no research has been conducted involving children who actually attend children’s court within the South African context, specifically since the promulgation of the new Children’s Act 38 of 2005. Consequently, very little knowledge regarding these children’s experiences and where the court system may be failing them exists. Statutory intervention with children in the middle-childhood phase is based on the premise that such intervention is in the best interest of the child. The process begins with the assignment of a social worker who is tasked with conducting a comprehensive investigation into the child’s life. Once this investigation has been finalised, the child and all relevant parties will attend children’s court where a final decision will be made regarding the child’s future care. The question arises how children experience children’s court procedures and whether there are areas where improvement would be warranted, especially since heavy caseloads often result in postponements which could exacerbate any negative experiences. With a view to gaining insight into middle-childhood children’s experience of children’s court procedures, the researcher conducted a qualitative, applied study using a collective case study design. Two literature studies form the knowledge base of the study, where the first explores the various areas of development in middle childhood and the second the children’s court process, with specific reference to the relevant legislation and polices underlying this process. In-depth interviews with nine children in the middle-childhood phase who had been exposed to children’s court procedures allowed the researcher to gather data from the children’s perspectives, rather than from the perspective of professionals as is the case in the majority of other studies. This empirical study contributed to the knowledge base by providing evidence that children are not by any means adequately prepared for children’s court and do not meaningfully participate in the process. Furthermore, empirical evidence revealed that children in middle childhood often associate negative emotions – notably fear, sadness and anger – with children’s court procedures. From this empirical study, it was concluded that social workers need to take responsibility for ensuring that children are comprehensively prepared for court procedures. Furthermore, steps need to be taken to enhance children’s level of participation throughout the entire process. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmchunu2014 / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted