Socialno delo, Vol. 40 (2001), Part 6
ARTICLES
Informal Caregivers of Older Adults: Caregiver Burden and the Benefits of Support Groups - 323, (Abstract)
'Gluing with People': An Assesment of Therapeutic Effects on Volunteers from the Point of View of Attachment Theory - 335, (Abstract)
Voluntary Work with Addictions: The Case of Kranj Centre of Social Work - 355, (Abstract)
ABSTRACTS
Abstracts
Vito Flaker
Voluntary Work: Work for Others and for Oneself
Voluntary work is an invention of the 20th century and differs considerably from charity of previous times. It is no longer the activity of the ruling elites but the participation, particularly of the youth, at solving some social problems. In Slovenia it has developed mainly as a response to the contradictions of the professionalism and the bureaucratic operation of institutions in the field of social action. The activities called voluntary are manifold and have several dimensions. They may have formal or informal frame, they may be designed for actual persons or abstract receivers of help, they may be organised as repetitive or as single actions, and they may be performed for others or for oneself. One of the attractions of voluntary work is precisely that what is done for others may also be work for oneself. Voluntary work is still, despite being non-paid, non-professional and intended for the benefit of others, dominated by wage-labour. Yet, in spite of its instrumental and utilitarian dimensions, it also possesses an aesthetic and ethical one, if it mediates in power relations between experts and users.
Keywords: work in shadow, informal sector, wage, power.
Dr. Vito Flaker is associate professor at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work and Dean of the School.
Jože Ramovš
Voluntary Work With People and for the People
The paper is an attempt at a wholesome presentation of the modern voluntary social work. It draws from the author's insights on social immunity system of self-help and solidarity. In his view, voluntary work is a specific modern form of solidarity, and to a great extent of self-help as well. A discussion on the pertinent Slovenian terminology is followed by a presentation and definition of post-modern voluntary work. Several dilemmas of professional help for people in distress are extensively analysed, such as the pathology of working with people and for them and the protection against it. The specific voluntary organisational paradigm, as distinct from the professional one, is presented for all stages: in recruiting volunteers, in their training, in the performance of voluntary work and actions, and in concern for maintaining the condition of volunteers. The final part of the paper presents several insights from the rich experience with voluntary work in the field of social gerontagogy.
Keywords: voluntary work, solidarity, self-help, social immunity system, professional hygiene.
Dr. Jože Ramovš, anthropologist and social worker, is Principal of the Anton Trstenjak Institute and Associate Professor at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.
Charles A. Elmet
Informal Caregivers of Older Adults: Caregiver Burden and the Benefits of Support Groups
Informal caregivers, such as spouses, daughters and daughters-in-law, provide the vast majority of care to impaired elderly persons. The demands of care giving can lead to various types of burden, including physical, psychological/emotional, social and financial. Support groups for informal caregivers have been shown to be effective in helping caregivers increase feelings of well-being, improve relationships with care receivers, decrease depression and anxiety and ultimately lower rates of institutionalisation. Support groups may be professionally or peer led and may focus on specific disease processes, i.e., Alzheimer's disease, or be designed for caregivers of older adults in general.
Keywords: caregiver, burden, support groups, elderly.
Charles A. Emlet, Ph.D., LCSW, is Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Washington Tacoma and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, University of Washington (Seattle).
Bojana Mesec
The Emerging Generation of Volunteers
People and organisations are linked through new technology and new ways of communication. They are a means of obtaining new knowledge and adopting new, better, faster and more efficient techniques. But the change commits us to hard work. The use of new technology requests investment in equipment, people with knowledge, training, and last but not least, the will for progress. Not-for-profit organisations, public and private, are very modestly equipped for their work. The information media brought about by globalisation has changed the operation of both profit and not-for-profit organisations, but due to their lack of means not-for-profit organisations have been left behind. The only way for them therefore is to accept the technological challenge on the level achieved by the profit sphere. Not-for-profit actions must become entrepreneurial to the extent that it will be able to communicate its social and humane ideas to the profit-oriented society on an equal footing, and react to its needs.
Keywords: virtual volunteers, virtual identity, community, new technologies.
Bojana Mesec, M. A., is research assistant at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.
Leonida Kobal
'Gluing with People': An Assesment of Therapeutic Effects on Volunteers from the Point of View of Attachment Theory
The author presents some findings of the research on therapeutic effects in the volunteers who have attended the socio-therapeutic summer camp 2000, organised by the association for psycho-social help and voluntary work 'Odmev'. By getting involved in the camp that demanded intense participation in relational network individuals reveal implicit, unconscious models of establishing closer relations, which may be explained and distinguished from the point of view of Bowlby's attachment theory. The sources of attachment theory, the research of attachment in childhood as the model of attachment styles in adulthood, and the significance of attachment theory for helping professions are discussed. On the empirical level the author finds that the majority of volunteers, with respect to their dominating attachment style, showed positive or therapeutic shifts on and after the camp.
Keywords: socio-therapeutic camp, volunteers, personal growth, attachment styles, implicit relational models.
Leonida Kobal, M. A., is a junior researcher at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work.
Nino Rode, Melita Žontar
Voluntary Work with Addictions: The Case of Kranj Centre of Social Work
The authors describe the work, position and the role of volunteers at Kranj Centre of Social Work. The Centre's approach to addictions is interdisciplinary, which also determines voluntary work. Volunteers have been included in the Centre's work with addictions since the very beginning. They have been sought mainly amongst the students of social sciences and the humanities. The procedures of selection, training and inclusion of volunteers at the Centre are described. The treatment of an addict involves the addict him/herself, his/her parents (family), friends and acquaintances, the therapist(s), former addicts, volunteers, the police, courts of law, and other actors. The intent of therapists and volunteers is to change the behaviour of the addict in the direction that leads away from addiction. The research conducted at the Centre tried to determine how volunteers and therapists define the role of individual actors in the process of getting off. It showed that due to the specific position of volunteers, there are differences between them and therapists, which can be noticed in the significance attributed by each group to individual actors.
Keywords: volunteers, family, friends, therapist, former addicts, courts of law, police.
Nino Rode, M. A., is assistant lecturer for research methodology at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work. Melita Žontar is a social worker employed at Kranj Centre of Social Work.
Nika Cigoj Kuzma
Voluntary Work of School of Social Work Students
The task of the School is to see to the constant development of the profession, to follow its trends in the world, and to transfer new concepts and methods into practice. This is carried out with the help of practice placements, practice tutors at the School, and counsellors on placements who are social workers. All the participants are interacting and work as a complex system for the joint attainment of the aim - a linking of theory and practice. The paper gives an estimate of the performance on placement in the academic year 2000-2001, based on a questionnaire distributed to all the participants: students, tutors, and counsellors.
Keywords: social work students, social work methods, voluntary work, practice placement.
Nika Cigoj Kuzma is a psychologist, assistant lecturer at University of Ljubljana School of Social Work, and member of the association 'Boetika'.