In my diploma thesis I focus on the social assistance provided to the physically handicapped citizens, with the purpose of finding out how this assistance adds to the quality of their life. The work has got a theoretical and an empirical part. It is divided into six chapters, five of them focusing on a brief delineation of the physical handicap issues, social assistance, quality of life and different interconnected issues. The sixth chapter is empirical in nature, focusing on finding out the evaluation of the influence of social assistance on the quality of life of the physically handicapped.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to depict the uniqueness of a person suffering from alcoholism, including a self-reflection of his own life before joining the AA group and after. Moreover, the thesis focuses on the perception of a person's addiction and especially his search for sobriety. The next objective is the identification of specific kinds and sources of social support for each individual in the context of AA group. The theoretical part concerns the concept of social support, the topic of self-help and self-helping groups, focusing on a self-help AA group. This part of the thesis also includes the characteristics of addictive behavior with the specifications of alcohol addiction. A qualitative research and a method of semi-structured interview have been chosen for the purposes of the empirical study. The analysis and interpretation of the data was inspired by the principles of the grounded theory. This empirical study is based on primary research areas: a description of active alcoholic's life perception, a strategy of the struggle with addiction, a way to abstinence through the self-help groups of AA and a reflection of the alcoholics' lives in sobriety.

The master thesis System of peer support at the Police of the Czech Republic deals with peer support as a kind of social support for the security corps. The thesis summarizes the foreign practice (especially the USA) and the European guideline recommendations for the successful introduction of peer support in the organization. It also describes current Czech practice and offers its comparison with foreign practice. The research was conducted through semi- structured interviews with nine peer support providers in the Central Bohemia Region. Analysis of the interviews brought findings on the current state of collegiate support, barriers and other recommendations for the successful development of peer support within the police force. Keywords: peer support, social support, police

The thesis, entitled "Human behaviour in crisis situations", is focused on the issue of floods as a specific emergency situation. The theoretical part analyses the emergency situation itself, its initiators and development. Subsequently, it describes crisis interventions and fundamental strategies, which help to successfully overcome the crisis. Furthermore, the first part deals with stress, its impact on our health, stress responses and possible strategies how to control it. Consequently, it describes forms of social support, which are important for people affected by the emergency situation. The partial conclusion aims to theoretically summarize the issue of floods. The practical part is based on a quantitative research method, specifically questionnaire survey, which was targeted on people, who have experienced floods, and thus help to characterize their behavior. The second partial conclusion summarizes the questionnaire responses and the hypotheses will be either verified or falsified at the end.

The following thesis addresses unemployment, focusing on its psychological and social effects. The first, theoretical, section describes the labour market and how it works, and then defines unemployment, including a discussion of its various types and methods of its measurement. The importance of social implications of unemployment is stressed, including the description of its various psychological and social effects. The thesis also explores the tools the government employs to eliminate unemployment. The second, empirical, section includes primary research conducted by surveys. Asserted hypotheses are evaluated using statistical analysis of collected data. The thesis conclusion presents the research outcomes and recommendations.

The dissertation offers the most accurate picture of "defenders as the key players" in the elimination of bullying. The research and the findings are based not only on a number of foreign studies, but also on the practical experience of the research team members who participated in the data collection and evaluation. The research brings a lot of new information that has never been investigated and presented in the Czech school environment.

TITLE: International trends in reading strategy instruction and their possible aplication in Czech schools. AUTHOR: Ladislava Whitcroft DEPARTMENT: Primary Education, Faculty of Education SUPERVISOR: prof. PaedDr. Radka Wildová, CSc. ABSTRACT: This study focus is based on detailed analysis of reading strategy instruction abroad and possible strategies for application in Czech schools. The theoretical part of the study brings definition to the term reading strategies, and it maps different approaches to reading strategy instruction on the basis of relevant international studies. The empirical part is based on qualitative case study research methods. It presents a description and analysis of two Czech teachers; both are distinctive advocates of reading strategy instruction in the Czech Republic. The study shows how their values get reflected in their approach to reading strategy instruction and how they influence the way these teachers scaffold comprehension of their pupils. The US programme CORI was chosen for detailed analyses as an example of an international research-proven programme. In the concluding part, the study summarises practical recommendation for future teachers' preparation (inclusion of systematic reading strategy instruction methods as well as drama teaching methods and instruction in...

The subject of this thesis is teacher-parent communication and cooperation with school management within this communication. The research took place in two Prague schools, high school and grammar school. Qualitative methods were applied for the analysis. Data were acquired via in-depth interviews with six teachers and two school psychologists. The main goal of the empirical research was to map how teachers perceive communication with parents and assess cooperation with school management in this communication. The results of the analysis suggest that there are many similar elements in teacher-parent communication. The communication usually takes place during formal class meetings with parents and via group e- mails. In case of problems teachers contact parents by phone or meet them individually in person. The variability in the category content of one teacher and in the frequency profile of the other teacher seems to be closely related to the risks associated with communication. One of the risks is crossing the boundaries of school competence by parents. In the latter case, there was a vague delineation of boundaries and the confluence of school and family competences. KEYWORDS School, family, socialisation, communicarion, competences, support

This diploma thesis deals with the burnout syndrome in primary school teachers. The field of interest of this thesis is the relation between the burnout syndrome and the social support offered by individual schools. It primarily focuses on formal activities at schools that assist with the social support which works as a prevention of the burnout syndrome development. The submitted work consists of two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part defines the most important terms linked with the burnout syndrome. Primarily stress, one of the main causes of the burnout syndrome and its effect on the human health. Secondarily the burnout syndrome itself, the concept thereof, causes and symptoms and lastly its phases. In the next chapter, stress and the burnout syndrome in the teaching profession are described, followed by possibilities of their prevention. The last chapter of the theoretical part is then concerned with the specific formal activities for assistance with the professional social support. The results of research in two schools, chosen based on the different number of formal activities, are presented in the practical part. Teachers in these schools were given a questionnaire, the first part of which provides a general information, the second part uses the standardized...

Patients with chronic kidney failure, given that it is impossible to undergo transplantation, have to be treated by lifelong hemodialysis (HD) via extracorporeal circulation machine 3 times a week in hospital; or by peritoneal dialysis (PD) performed by patients at home. There were a number of studies comparing quality of life between HD and PD, but there have been fewer studies covering other psychological variables. The aim of this study was to examine whether HD and PD patients differ in social support, locus of control, coping and depressive symptoms. 143 HD patients (average age 65,56; 48,3 % men, 51,3 % women) and 48 PD patients (average age 63,79; 66,7 % men, 33,3 % women) were approached by random selection. Social Integration Survey (SIS) was applied to examine social support. Locus of control was depicted on visual analog scale. Coping strategies were mapped by a short version of COPE questionnaire - Brief COPE, which was translated to Czech language for this purpose. Beck's depression inventory (BDI - II) was used to evaluate incidence of depressive symptoms. Based on data statistical analysis there was no difference proved in social support, coping strategies, locus of control and depressive symptoms among HD and PD patients. Although HD and PD differ and cause diverse advantages and...