Tyrimo problema. Lietuvoje socialinį darbą dirbantys sosialiniai darbuotojai savo darbe kylančiam stresui bei kitoms psichosocialinėms grėsmėms skiria mažiau dėmesio, palyginti su Europos Sąjungos šalių vidurkiu. Tai rodo preliminarūs apklausos apie sveikatą, kylančius stresus, saugą taikant socialines paslaugas duomenys (Europos darbuotojų saugos ir sveikatos agentūra, 2012). Nors stresą išsamiai tyrinėja daugelis mokslo srities specialistų, bet ši problema toli gražu nėra nuodugniai ištirta ir juo labiau nėra išspręsta. Lietuvoje trūksta tyrimų, kurie nagrinėtų pačių socialinių darbuotojų patirtis patiriant stresą ir įtampas dirbant socialinį darbą. Tyrimo tikslas – Atskleisti socialinių darbuotojų patirtis, kaip profesinės krizės ir patiriamo streso pasekmę socialinio darbo kontekste. Tyrimo objektas – Socialinių darbuotojų patiriamo streso ir profesinių krizių patirtys. Tyrimo imtis. 5 socialiniai darbuotojai, turintys ne mažesnę kaip dviejų metų patirtį ir dirbantys įvairiose socialinio darbo srityse. Tyrimo medodai. Duomenų rinkimo metodas – pusiau struktūruotas individualus interviu. Duomenų analizės metodas – turinio aprašomoji analizė, remiantis grindžiamąja teorija. Tyrimo rezultatai. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė jog socialinių darbuotojų patiriamas stresas darbe formuojasi labai panašiose kontekstuose, stresą formuoja tam tikri individualūs ir situaciniai rizikos veiksniai. Kurie ilgainiui tampa profesinės krizės pasekmė. Tyrimo išvados. Dažnas susidūrimas su... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Research problem. Social workers in Lithuania pay much less attention to stress at work and other psychosocial threats compared to the European Union average. This is proved by preliminary survey data on health, stress and safety of social service appliance (European workers safety and health agency, 2012). Though stress is being studied by scientists of various sciences it is far from being fully examined, not to mention being solved. Lithuania lacks research which would examine social workers experience of stress and tension while performing social work. Research objective – To disclose social workers experience as a consequence of professional crisis and endured stress in the context of social work. Research object – Social workers stress and professional crisis experience. Research sample. 5 social workers with work experience no less than 2 years, currently employed in various social work spheres. Research methods. Data collection method – semi structured individual interview. Data analysis method – Descriptive content analysis based on grounded theory. Research results. Research results have shown that stress experienced by social workers forms in similar contexts. Stress is formed by certain individual and situational risk factors, which eventually become consequences of professional crisis. Research conclusions. Frequent exposure to negative phenomenon of life, difficulties that must be faced to provide real help to the client and low social prestige level of... [to full text]

Senatvei būdinga daug stresą sukeliančių faktorių, kurie gali pabloginti psichikos sveikatą, pvz., mažėjantis funkcinis pajėgumas ir socialinė izoliacija. Taip pat įgimti ar paveldėti žmogaus sveikatos sutrikimai, kurie pasireiškia vyresniame amžiuje. Ilgėjant žmonių gyvenimo trukmei, tampa aktualūs, dažnai pastebimi senatviniai psichikos sutrikimai. Vienas iš senatvinių psichikos sutrikimų yra Alzheimerio liga. Sistemingai didėjant Alzheimerio liga sergančių pacientų skaičiui, atsiranda problema kaip efektyviai padėti šiems žmonėms pagerinti jų gyvenimo kokybę. Socialinių paslaugų teikimas tokiems pacientams, socialiniams darbuotojams tampa svarbi veiklos sritis. Tyrimo tikslas – atskleisti socialinių darbuotojų patirtis dirbant su pacientais, sergančiais Alzheimerio liga. Tyrimo imtis – 6 socialiniai darbuotojai, dirbantys Kauno miesto slaugos ir palaikomojo gydymo ligoninėse. Pirmoje darbo dalyje pateikiama Alzheimerio ligos samprata, jos medicininiai bei psichosocialiniai aspektai; socialinio darbuotojo veiklos ir metodai dirbant su Alzheimerio liga sergančiais pacientais. Antroje darbo dalyje pristatoma atlikto kokybinio tyrimo metodika. Trečioje darbo dalyje pristatomi bei interpretuojami gauti tyrimo duomenys. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad socialiniai darbuotojai, dirbdami su Alzheimerio liga sergančiais pacientais, renka informaciją apie pacientą bei teikia pagalbą palaikant paciento savarankiškumą. Dirbdami su šeima, socialiniai darbuotojai, ne tik gauna... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Old age brings many stressors that can worsen mental health, for example, decreasing functional capacity and social isolation. Also, congenital or inherited disorders have influence on human health, which occurs later in life. Senile mental disorders are often observed and have become important because of increasing life expectancy of people. One of senile mental disorders is Alzheimer's disease. The number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease is systematically increasing, so, there is the problem of how to effectively help these people improve their quality of life. Social services for such patients are an important area of activity for social workers. The aim - to reveal the social workers' experience working with patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The survey sample - 6 social workers working in Kaunas city nursing hospitals. In the first part of the work there is given the concept of Alzheimer's disease, its medical and psychosocial aspects and social worker's activities and methods of dealing with patients with Alzheimer's disease. The second part presents the methodology of qualitative research which was carried out. The third part presents the results of a study and interpretation of data. The results showed that social workers working with Alzheimer's disease patients collects the information about patient and provide assistance in maintaining the patient's autonomy. Working with families, social workers, not only receives the information about a patient... [to full text]

Netylant diskusijoms apie nuteistųjų reintegracijos į visuomenę galimybes, siekiama sukurti tokią sistemą, kuri padėtų ne tik sumažinti recidyvinių nusikaltimų skaičių, bet ir padėtų nuteistiesiems pasikeisti, geriau suprasti ir prisitaikyti prie visuomenės pokyčių. Darbe apžvelgiami nuteistųjų asmenų reintegracijos lūkesčiai, kurių atskleidimas gali padėti efektyviau funkcionuoti nuteistųjų reintegracijos procesui ir taip apsaugoti ne tik pačius asmenis nuo izoliavimo galimybės, bet ir užtikrinti visuomenės saugumą. / While discussions about opportunities of inmate reintegration into society are underway, it is intended to create such a system which would not only reduce the rate of repeated crimes but also help inmates change, better understand society as well as adapt to its changes. In this work provides an overview of inmates’ reintegration expectations the disclosure of which may lead to more efficient functioning of prisoners’ reintegration process making sure that prisoners do not become isolated and public safety is ensured.

Forensic social work is defined as the specialty that focuses on the interface between the legal system and the human service system. Forensic psychiatric social work is a subspecialty of forensic social work. Treatment issues arise in forensic social work due to the nature of working within the two systems, but some are specific to forensic psychiatric social work due to the nature of balancing the needs of the patient with the protection of society. Issues that are relevant to forensic psychiatric social work are, applying psychosocial rehabilitation strategies in a forensic setting, the paradox of custody vs. caring, issues surrounding confidentiality and the use of authority, bargaining and persuasion as tools for social work practice. The author identified these issues as each of them was raised during a specific case that the author was actively involved with. The focus of the study is to explore the issues by discussing them in relation to this case. The literature is reviewed and suggestions are made as to how the management of the case could have been improved. Recommendations are also made for the field of social work, specifically in the field of forensic psychiatry.

Social work is a profession that espouses respect for the value of diversity. However, diversity is limited in social work programs as these programs focus primarily on the teaching of verbal methods of connection for social workers to engage with clients. Non verbal methods of communication are limited in social work programs. This inhibits diversity as research has demonstrated that many clients for various reasons are unable to communicate through verbal dialogue. This present study explored social workers attitudes towards the use of art in their therapy. Six social workers from a children's mental health agency were interviewed and the results indicated that social workers used art in their work and found it beneficial for their clients. The social workers limited education in non-verbal modalities of communication however, prevented them from using the art effectively. The study recommends that social work programs include nonverbal methods of communication to ensure diversity and best practice for the profession of social work.

In this paper the researcher discusses the importance of specialized training for workers in child welfare who are responding to allegations of child sexual abuse in the context of custody/access disputes. The researcher has implemented an experimental design involving two matched groups of staff, equally sized, from an Ontario child welfare agency. Participants were requested to complete a pre-test and post-test which measured the priority assigned to a set of fictitious scenarios developed for the project. A training session was offered to the experimental group prior to the post-test. / The outcome data suggests that the training affected the coding which members of the experimental group applied to scenarios. The experimental group tended to consider dynamics related to the issue of custody/access when assessing the priority of response time given to a referral. The control group evidenced no consideration of such dynamics. / The researcher has included a number of recommendations within the analysis section so that future applications of similar studies may be improved. The conclusion of this study clearly states that adequate worker training is essential in order that objective, reliable, and competent service is available to child welfare clients.

This study investigates the dialectic of emancipation and control in the relationship between staff and clients at shelters for battered women. The dialectic of emancipation and control represents the tension shelter workers feel in trying to empower their clients while, at the same time, maintaining control over the programs and domestic order of the shelter. Past research has introduced this dialectic, but no studies exist which view it in the context of the staff/client relationship. Additionally, very little communication research exists exploring the interaction that takes place in shelters for battered women.Four employees of four different shelters were interviewed by this researcher. Their accounts were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the constant comparative review method consistent with grounded theory. The workers' accounts indicated that the nature of their profession requires them to be dominant over their clients in five areas. Additionally, the workers discussed four contradictory aspects of their work which reflect the existence of the dialectic of emancipation and control in their interaction with clients. / Department of Speech Communication

The aim of this study was through theories of emotional labor; understand how staff and volunteers within women’s shelter handled their emotions in the encounters with battered women. To examine this we used a qualitative method and interviewed four staff members and three volunteers spread across four different women’s shelters. The data collected was analyzed using Hochschilds’ theory of emotional labor. The results show that the most common feelings within the women’s shelters were feelings of friendship, happiness, sadness and frustration. The results also show that the staff and volunteers needed to manage their emotion due to the inappropriateness of some feelings. The feelings that needed managing were primarily feelings of sadness, frustration and shock. To manage their emotion the staff and volunteers of the women’s shelters used both surface acting and deep acting. The surface acting used was that staff and volunteers hid the feelings that were considered inappropriate. The deep acting used was method acting, working experience, life experience and the staff and volunteers also managed their emotions by talking to fellow staff and their loved ones.

The aim of this study is to examine what social workers consider as ‘challenging behaviour’ among adolescents, but also to examine the connection between investigation and intervention in cases where such behaviour is being displayed. The questions of the study are to examine what social workers think of the instrument of assessment BBIC (Children’s Needs in Focus) and how the usage of BBIC affect social workers understanding of challenging behaviour. Moreover, it is a qualitative study and the respondents are all social workers with various length of professional experience who work with making decisions in juvenile welfare cases. The social workers’ opinion about which behaviours among adolescents that were important to intervene in could be understood with what was considered as moral panic for some behaviour. The social workers use of and opinion towards BBIC could be understood in relation to practical theory, tacit knowledge and naïve theories.

The aim of this thesis was to study how social workers in social services in several municipalities perceive that they interpret the concept of domestic violence and how they believe they would act when it comes to different types of domestic violence. The thesis has focused on three types of violence; physical, psychological and economical. Seven social workers were interviewed with a thematised interview guide and six vignettes. The theoretical perspectives applied in the analysis were the process of normalization and the continuum of violence. The results showed that the social workers did not interpret domestic violence unanimous, and they had different ideas of how they would act in the vignettes. To sum up, the study showed that the social workers found it easier to identify and define physical violence as domestic violence and they tended to more frequently suggest the couples in the vignettes to separate as well as to protect the victim of violence. In comparison to physical violence, the social workers found it more difficult to identify and interpret psychological and economical violence, and tended to suggest the couple to stay together and try family counselling.