This study explores how social work approaches and methods developed and practiced in one context can be interpreted, transferred and implemented in another. Additionally it focuses on how cultures and societies are organised both in individualistic and collectivistic societies and its effects on different approaches and conditions for social work. The data was collected from Namibian social work students that have participated in the Linnaeus Palme exchange program, which is an ongoing cooperation between the Swedish University West and University of Namibia. The results show that what the Namibian students foremost learn during their exchange studies in Sweden has to do with client interaction, critical thinking and dimensions of increased self-awareness. The assimilation of knowledge and possibilities to transfer and implement what they have learned in Sweden in a Namibian social work context is understood with the help of the theoretical concepts of the marginal man and transferability of knowledge. Shaped by the Namibian hybrid society, where the respondents are part of an ongoing negotiation between different antipoles and mediation between various cultural contexts, I argue that they are marginal social workers. Through their marginal experience they are in possession of qualities that are crucial in their process of transferability of knowledge and further create conditions for implementing new knowledge in the Namibian work practice.

“Det krävs två för att dansa tango” - en studie om samverkan mellan socialsekreterare och skolkuratorer i arbetet med gymnasieungdomar. Studiens syfte var att undersöka och jämföra hur skolkuratorer i gymnasieskolan och socialsekreterare beskriver sin samverkan i det gemensamma arbetet kring ungdomar. För att uppfylla detta syfte genomfördes kvalitativa fokusgruppsintervjuer med sex professionella. Resultatet visade att både skolkuratorerna och socialsekreterarna upplevde otydligheter kring vad som gäller i arbetet med samverkan. Vikten av transparens, tydliga mål och återkoppling framhävs av båda grupperna. Resultatet visar också att de har olika syn på samverkan. Avslutningsvis diskuterades hur det skulle kunna bli bättre i återkopplingen mellan socialsekreterare och skolkuratorer, samt att transparens måste förbättras gentemot ungdomen från skolkuratorernas sida. / “It takes two to tango” - a study about collaboration between social workers and school counselors. The main aim of this study was to examine and compare how school counselors in the upper secondary school and social workers discloses their cooperation in their joint work with adolescents. To fulfill this aim qualitative focus group interviews were conducted with six professionals. The results showed that both the school counselors and the social workers experienced ambiguity regarding cooperating in their work. The importance of transparency, clear goals and feedback is highlighted by both groups. The result also shows that these professionals had different views on cooperation. In conclusion, how improvements could be made in the feedback between social workers and school counselors was discussed. The importance of improving transparency towards the adolescents from the school counselors was underlined.

At the current time Sweden is, like many other countries, characterized by a variation of different cultural and ethnical groups. Previous research has concluded that there are some difficulties among social workers who work with child protection cases to identify whether something is child abuse or whether it is the upbringing influenced by the culture within the ethnical group. How child protection cases with families of a foreign ethnicity is treated in relation to child protection cases with families of a Swedish ethnicity is therefor of interest – as well as this study’s primary inquiry. To find answers to this, two different vignettes were created where the only significant difference were the families’ names. In the first vignette the name of the family was of Swedish ethnicity, and in the second the name of the family was of foreign ethnicity. The vignettes were sent in the form of web surveys to social workers who work with child protection cases. The surveys were answered by 17 respectively 22 social workers. The result was then presented in the form of descriptive statistics and a thematic analysis. It showed more similarities than differences in the social workers assessments. The few differences that could be identified were found mainly in the way the social workers categorized their concern for the child.

This thesis contains both theoretical knowledge and empiric research. Since one complements another, the aim of this study is to deeper explore the motivation and values of male and female social workers for employment in social work. The theorethical part of this study defines values, their function, formation and place in society. It describes the term motivation, its development, various models and factors and also focuses on the concept of social work, its objectives, activities, competences and typologies of social worker. Finally, the study points out the role of gender, the differences in boys and girls socialization, the gender aspect in our society and whether this aspect is reflected in field of social work. The purpose of this study is to research the values and motivation of social workers (men) and social workers (women) for employment in social work.

The work deals with the current theme, which is the expertise of social workers in contemporary society. It responds not only to the changing requirements of the qualification requirements, but also to emerging professional organization of social workers, changes in education and in other structures of society. The goal is to put together a "picture" of a competent social worker for today's society. The work appears in data obtained by the project team Gaju 117/2013 / H.

In Social Work, the term paradigm is used to express a specific perspective on the discipline. There are multiple paradigms in Social Work. They are not in a hierarchical relationship to each other, rather they coexist as alternatives. In contrast, the term paradigm as introduced by Thomas Khun and used in science, assumes the existence and superiority of one the newest paradigm. This thesis discusses similarities and differences in formulating paradigms in Social Work and science. It uses the concept of social functioning to describe and explain paradigms in Social Work.

Lifelong education represents an important theme much discussed by the today's society, which was one of the reasons for choosing the topic of the diploma thesis. The present diploma thesis titled "Approaches of social workers to lifelong education" is divided into two parts: the theoretical part provides a summary of the existing knowledge contained in various literatures related both to lifelong education and education in general. The other, research part concentrates on the objective of the research, the methodology applied, characteristics of the research group, processing and evaluation of data and discussion. The theoretical part is engaged in defining the term of lifelong education, legislation in education, the development of lifelong education. Furthermore, it explores key documents associated with the analysed areas of lifelong education, structural funds and Community programmes, human potential, human resources and human capital. The theoretical part consists of a chapter dealing with the system of initial education, involving formal, non-formal and informal education and further education. The following section of the theoretical part focuses on social workers, who, in compliance with Act No. 108/2006 Coll., on Social Services, as amended, are obligated to pursue further education in order to improve, complement and refresh their qualification. The other section of the theoretical part is concerned with prerequisites for performing the profession of social workers, their further education, accreditation of educational facilities and programmes. The objective of this diploma thesis is outlined in the research part: Determination of approaches of social workers in the South Bohemian Region to the set-up of education in social work. In connection with the objective of the thesis, the following hypothesis was stipulated:The approach of social workers is more positive as to lifelong education directed at practice than theoretical education. To confirm the above hypothesis, a zero hypothesis was established, assuming that, within the final basic group of social workers in the South Bohemian Region, 75% of social workers has a more positive approach to practice-directed education and 25% of social workers has a more positive approach to theoretical education. The research part, in the framework of this diploma thesis, was effected in form of a quantitative research. The required data were derived by the method of interrogation, a questionnaire technique. The prepared questionnaire consisted of 27 questions in total. Closed, semi-closed and open questions were used. The questionnaire was sent by electronic mail to email addresses of facilities and their individual employees. The research group consisted of social workers employed in social services in the South Bohemian Region. The resulting data were assessed and processed by means of contingent tables and graphs in Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Values gained by the research were processed statistically. To verify the hypotheses regarding the structure of the basic research according to one or more indices, Pearson's Chi-Square Test of goodness of fit at the significance level alpha = 0.05 was applied. The research performed within the diploma thesis, supported by the survey based on questionnaires, anwers of the respondents as such and, last but not least, statistical calculations, confirmed the hypothesis that contemplated a more positive approach of social workers to lifelong education aimed at practice. Social workers in the South Bohemian Region taken into consideration, the results of the diploma thesis unquestionably demonstate that social workers prefer practice-directed education. Having assessed all questions in the questionnaire, the author determined the attitudes of social workers as to the set-up of lifelong education in social work and believes that the standpoint of the majority of respondents of lifelong learning is highly positive.

Thesis on the topic Satisfaction of health and social workers with financial rewards deals with the the subjective perception of satisfaction with the possibilities of financial compensation. The aim of of this paper is to describe the health and social care services by extension the South Bohemian Region and to map out the possibilities funding these services and not least theoretically identify the main motivational factors at work and care for employees. For processing the research part of the thesis was used quantitative research strategy, data capture been performed via interviewing methods, through a standardized questionnaire Job Satisfaction Survey, which was translated into the Czech language as a Průzkum spokojenosti se zaměstnáním M. Fraňkem. The research showed that both professions are dissatisfied with their financial rewards, but the overall rate of job satisfaction was in the range of ambivalence.

This thesis topic is preventing burnout among social workers in Ceske Budejovice. Currently, the burnout syndrome is struck by the large number of field social workers due to demand of social work and solving difficult situations with clients frequently. I have chosen this topic because it is very big problem nowadays. I also wanted to find out whether social field workers from the Czech Budejovice suffer from this phenomenon, and if so, whether they know the prevention. The work consists of practical and theoretical part. The theoretical part involves six main chapters. The first chapter describes the concept of burnout syndrome, which includes acute and chronic syndrome. The second chapter includes symptoms of burnout syndrome, where I describe physical, emotional, mental exhaustion and stress. The third chapter deals with the stages of burnout, which I describe more in detail. The fourth chapter focuses on risk groups of people that are the most often affected by burnout syndrome. In this chapter I characterize the concept of personality and describe the symptoms of burnout within the personality. In the fifth chapter I mention preventing burnout syndrome, furthermore there I describe the basic methods and prevention techniques, which include social networking, preventive measures by the employee as well as by the employer and last but not the least I mention supervision in that chapter. The last, sixth chapter, deals with the field social work in the context of the law on social services, basic principles, methods and procedures of social work are described. I focus on the differences between the field social work and provided social services. In the practical part two goals are set. First one is to determine whether burnout syndrome occurs among field social workers in Ceske Budejovice. The second one is what methods and prevention techniques are used by social workers in Ceske Budejovice in order to prevent burnout syndrome. Based on the objectives set, I chose two research questions. These research questions deal with burnout of social workers in the Ceske Budejovice and furthermore the most common methods and techniques for the prevention of Social Workers in the Czech Budejovice the symptoms of burnout used. In order to realize the practical part I used qualitative research methodology. Data were obtained using a semi-structured interview. The sample consisted of 7 social workers from Ceske Budejovice. I used the technique of purposive sampling research sample. The survey results showed that 4 field workers out of 7 have been experiencing symptoms of burnout syndrome. The most common methods and techniques to prevent burnout of field social workers are devoting their hobbies, social support from family, friends, colleagues, heads of organizations or supervisor. Furthermore, to separate work life from personal life and to set firm boundaries of work, adequate rest and of course supervision. My thesis could be benefit to the general public. Could be beneficial for both social workers, who have been experiencing symptoms of burnout syndrome and want to learn more, as well as for social workers who have met with burnout and want to know the possible methods and techniques in order to prevent burnout syndrome.

The thesis deals with problems connected with the placement of senior citizens into homes for the elderly. The objectives of the thesis are to find out how long the waiting period for the placement into a home for senior citizens is and which obstacles and problems connected with the placement into homes for the elderly appear. The theoretical part of the thesis is focused on some demographic trends, the opinion of the Czech population about the old age and senior citizens, history of social services for senior citizens in the Czech Republic and abroad, and the current offer of social services for senior citizens. In this part, I also describe the process of placing of senior citizens into homes for the elderly and the services which homes for the elderly offer to their clients; I also focus on the senior citizens´ financial reimbursement of board and lodging in homes for the elderly. The research was conducted by means of quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques. In the qualitative research, I deal with the second part of my goal identifying obstacles to placement in homes for the elderly. Firstly, I set the following research questions: 1) What are the obstacles and problems in the process of placing senior citizens into homes for the elderly? and 2) Do senior citizens have any other options of care instead of the care in homes for the elderly? Then, I conducted semi-standardized interviews with 3 social workers, 8 senior citizens and with 3 members of families which put their senior citizens into homes for the elderly. I asked all of them almost identical questions to be able to compare their responses later. The results show that nowadays, dependent senior citizens who have no other option of care are more likely to be placed into homes for the elderly. The answers to the question "What are the obstacles and problems when placing senior citizens into homes for the elderly?" were rather variable and they cannot be generalized. The quantitative part of my research relates to the first part of my goal. Here I primarily focused on the waiting period. The following two hypotheses were set for the research. H1: Senior citizens negatively evaluate the waiting period for their placement into homes for the elderly. H2: Senior citizens know only one possibility of care homes for the elderly. To verify the above hypotheses, I used the method of secondary analysis of the data taken from the client's documentation and the method of controlled conversation. Therefore, I conducted my research in the following homes for the elderly: Home for the elderly Light in Písek, Home for the elderly Bechyně, Home for the elderly Diaconia Centre ČCE Blanka in Písek, Home for the elderly Centre for Social Assistance Vodňany. Social workers in each facility advised me to use the greatest possible number of clients who were oriented and able to answer my questions. In total, I analyzed 100 files of personal documentation and then I conducted the structured interviews with the analysed clients in the homes for the elderly which are mentioned above. The average waiting period was 243 days. In the category of the waiting period shorter than 1 month there were 26 senior citizens; from 1 to 2 months 33 senior citizens; from 3 to 4 months 11 senior citizens; longer than 5 months 30 senior citizens. 79 senior citizens rated their waiting periods positively, but 21 senior citizens rated their waiting periods negatively. 56 senior citizens had some knowledge about other possibilities of care; most of them reported the nursing service (54 responses); homes with nursing (8 responses); personal assistance (3 responses); pensions for senior citizens (1 response).