Socialno delo, Vol. 43 (2004), Part 2-3
ARTICLES
Social and Economical Aspects of Accession to the European Union - 73, (Abstract)
Quality of Life and Satisfaction of OF Residents and Workers in an Old People's Home - 105, (Abstract)
Quality of Sheltered Employment - 117, (Abstract)
The Response of the Helping Staff of a Long-term Psychiatric Care Establishment to Changes - 125, (Abstract)
Abstracts
Andreja Kavar Vidmar
'Erased' Convicts
With changes and amendments to the law of state budget execution in 2003 and 2004, and later with changes and amendments to the law of pension and invalidity insurance, the convicts who work full time while in prison have been removed from the list of the insured. The changes do not provide a transitional period and are inconsistent with the law of execution of penal sanctions. Pension and invalidity insurance in Slovenia is based on work. The work of prisoners is arranged as a labour relation. The abrupt and unfounded abolishment of their insurance makes them suffer additional consequences of their conviction and in general diminishes confidence in the law.
Keywords: convicts, pension and invalidity insurance, legislation.
Dr. Andreja Kavar Vidmar is a retired professor of University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.
Liljana Rihter
Developmental Trends of the Welfare State
The welfare state is conditioned by many factors (globalisation, political relations, fiscal crises) to which it adapts in a variety of ways. On the basis of this adaptation authors try to identify the trends that suggest the future development of the welfare state. The presented ideas, concepts and theories about the development of the welfare state reveal two dimensions along which that development is conceived. The first dimension, on which the welfare state may be positioned with regard to availability of the financial resources that warrant social welfare, she calls pessimism-optimism. The other dimension, convergence-divergence, allows the positioning of the welfare state with regard to the similarities or dissimilarities of the schemes warranting social welfare. Since the arguments in favour of one scenario or the other are often merely theoretical, without an empirical basis (or vice versa), the direction the welfare state will take remains largely uncertain, and we must be ready for any scenario to unfold.
Keywords: convergence, divergence, pessimism, optimism.
Dr. Liljana Rihter is an assistant lecturer at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.
Bojan Regvar, Rok Ovsenik
Social and Economical Aspects of Accession to the European Union
The greatest single expenditure of public consumption in European Union and the majority of candidate states is the expenditure for social welfare. To balance it with what is materially possible and with the need to develop competitiveness is important for public finance stability in most European states. The changes that have been produced by globalisation, which are reflected in the changed structure and extent of who uses social welfare, need to be included in the analysis of risk involved in the accession of the candidate states, considering their level of economic development. Short-term statistical projections confirm that the number of claimants of social welfare in Slovenia and other candidate states will grow, which calls for changes also in other social sub-systems, because, if the conditions do not change, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain social stability, control the problem of unemployment, and provide resources for the system of social welfare.
Keywords: globalisation, social policy, social welfare, strategic planning.
Dr. Bojan Regvar is Secretary General of the Social Chamber of Slovenia. Dr. Rok Ovsenik is a researcher in the fields of tourism and management.
Anka Čufer, Aleksandra Tabaj
Employment of Invalids in Sheltered Workshops
States organise the employment of invalids in different ways. Some invalids are included in the open labour market, while others are included in special forms of employment. There are two forms of sheltered employment: sheltered workshops and day activity centres. National policies of sheltered employment differ with regard to the definition of the target group, but all definitions apply to those invalids who are unable to work under usual conditions in the open labour market. One of the instruments used by the state to stimulate the employment of invalids in Slovenia is the system of sheltered workshops. The interest in setting up sheltered workshops is high; in 1988, there were 11, but after transition and the restructuring of Slovenian economy the number has risen tenfold and more. However, there is no clear concept about their foundation, nor have their role, their mission and the public interest for their operation been defined.
Keywords: unemployment, labour market, sheltered employment.
Anka Čufer, M. A., is a social worker and the director of Posočje sheltered workshop in Tolmin. Aleksandra Tabaj, M. A., is a senior official at the governmental office for invalids and the diseased.
Miran Možina
Continued Community Care for Psychiatry Users: A Case Study
In terms of continued community care for psychiatric patients the Slovenian mental health care system is deficient. In the 90's Slovenian voluntary, non-governmental, and users' organisations have contributed much to the development of continued community care for psychiatric users. Conceptual differences between psychiatric (institutional) treatment and voluntary community care in Slovenia are presented through the case study of Klara who was diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic. The study shows the importance of community care in voluntary organisations for the reduction of disability associated with mental disorders. A dualistic view such as 'residential psychiatric care is bad, community care is good' is inadequate and should not be a guideline for changing mental health system in developing countries. The development of community-based services does not necessary mean the closure of psychiatric hospitals; the alternative is the inclusion of psychiatric (neuroleptic) treatment into continued community care as in Klara's case. The development of continued community care in voluntary organisations and community-based services has also changed the relationship between the helper and the user. Now the true challenge for the helper is how to bear and support the user on daily basis. The caseworker needed much support (provided mainly by supervision) to endure Klara's phase of dependency on her.
Keywords: volontary organisations, psychosocial rehabilitation, schizophrenia.
Miran Možina, a physician, psychiatrist and systemic psychotherapist, is an assistant lecturer at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.
Jana Mali
Quality of Life and Satisfaction of OF Residents and Workers in an Old People's Home
The author presents the results of a research on the quality of life of the residents and workers and their satisfaction in Old People's Home Preddvor. She examined the residents' satisfaction with nursing, the attitude of the providers of services towards the residents, and the shortcomings of institutional arrangement, by analysing interviews with the residents and questionnaires responded to by their relatives and workers. The residents seem generally content with the services, with the workers' attitude towards them and with the general arrangement of life in the institution. This however indicates that they have taken resort to a 'humble attitude', which made it possible for them to feel good in the institution. The workers, on the other hand, are very liable to the negative elements of emotional work.
Keywords: institution, emotional work, adaptation.
Jana Mali is a social worker, employed in Old People's Home Preddvor.
Ivica Matko, Slavica Marjančič, Jana Vogelnik Kranjc, Mirjana Česen
Quality of Sheltered Employment
The persons included in day activity centres have very little opportunity for self-realisation through employment. Every DAC in Slovenia organises employment in it own way, which entails very different levels of effecting and applying users' rights. In practice, persons with special needs in mental health get most frequently only the simplest, low value tasks to perform, even offensive to human dignity. To improve this situation, DAC's should embark on making and selling their own products, which might improve the quality of such employment. For that purpose the staff of these institutions (social workers, psychologists, special educators) should be trained in managerial, marketing and commercial skills.
Keywords: human rights, day activity centre, mental health, dignity, exclusion.
Ivica Matko, a social worker, is the director of the Day Activity Centre Kranj. Slavica Marjančič and Mirjana Česen, both social workers, and Jana Vogelnik Kranjc, a psychologist, are professional group facilitators.
Nataša Aničič, Viktorija Pečnikar Oblak
The Response of the Helping Staff of a Long-term Psychiatric Care Establishment to Changes
The employees of the Establishment Hrastovec-Trate have gone through a particularly difficult period in 2001, when innovations informed by the normalisation and deinstitutionalisation principles have been first introduced. Though they were aware about the necessity of changes, these were stressful and caused considerable discontent. They only reluctantly came to work, worried about the future, and felt that they were marginalised and that nobody listened to them.
Keywords: normalisation, deinstitutionalisation, innovations, resistance to change.
Nataša Aničič and Viktorija Pečnikar Oblak are students of University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.