Social work, Vol. 50 (2011), Issue 5
ARTICLES
Analysis of the concept of family centres and selected cases of best practice for implementation in Slovenia - 297, (Abstract)
Co-creation of preventive projects in school environment together with pupils - 307, (Abstract)
Role of school in detecting the exposure of children to domestic violence - 317, (Abstract)
How the quality of work of the employees influences the empowerment of the users in day care and work centres - 329, (Abstract)
ABSTRACTS
Abstracts
Metka Kuhar
Analysis of the concept of family centres and selected cases of best practice for implementation in Slovenia
The article presents the concept and characteristics of family centres as community meeting areas for parents with children and as public living rooms. Family centres are highly diverse community practices supporting families with preadolescent children in many European and non-European countries. It then compares three models of good practice of family centres: in Germany, Sweden, and Belgium. Despite the differences between the analysed models, the main emphasis in all three of them is on a place for the families to meet and socialise. The presentation and analysis are followed by reflections on the implementation of family centres in Slovenia.
Keywords: family, children, parents, parenting, local community
Metka Kuhar, PhD in Communication Studies, is an assistant professor of Social psychology, lecturer and researcher at the faculties of Social Sciences and Social Work. Her work focuses on the psychology of interpersonal communication and relationships, as well as on youth studies. Contact: kuhar.mojca@gmail.com.
Tadeja Kodele, Ines Kvaternik
Co-creation of preventive projects in school environment together with pupils
School is an interesting place for prevention activities, because we can reach a lot of pupils at the same time. In the article, a project is presented in which preventive workshops were implemented in a way that enabled active involvement of pupils. Pupils were important coworkers. The evaluation in the middle of the project showed that leaders of preventive workshops established co-creative working relationship with pupils. When planning the workshops, leaders derived from pupil’s wishes and needs and together they researched answers on risk situations that were important for pupils. Results have shown that pupils were mostly satisfied with the implementation of preventive workshops. They were satisfied because they were able to influence the content and the way of functioning of preventive workshops, since they could express their opinions and dilemmas.
Keywords: prevention, school, co-creative working relationship, pupil’s involvement
Tadeja Kodele, BA in Social Work, works at the Faculty of social work, University of Ljubljana, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana. Contact: tadeja.kodele@fsd.uni-lj.si. Ines Kvaternik, PhD in Political Sciences, works at the Institute of Health Protection Koper, Vojkovo nabrežje 42, 6000 Koper, and at the Faculty of social work, University of Ljubljana, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana. Contact: ines.kvaternik@fsd.uni-lj.si.
Ksenija Domiter Protner
Role of school in detecting the exposure of children to domestic violence
In recent decades, the scale and complexity of the exposure of children to domestic violence have been increasingly evident, and accordingly, many different disciplines have been paying growing attention to it. However, numerous cases of such violence still remain hidden. Slovene cultural environment, characterized by a high respect of family privacy, is marked by a rather stereotyped conception of family as a safe and loving community, making it harder to detect, and react properly to, cases of domestic violence. In the article, a short overview of characteristics, forms, and different consequences of the exposure of children to domestic violence is presented. Opportunities and limitations in detecting signs of domestic violence in school environment are described. It is argued that school professional staff (counsellors and teachers) should be well trained and supported to be able to cope with domestic violence. Also, an interinstitutional approach to solving this problem is strongly advocated.
Keywords: child, violence, family, protective factors, school
Ksenija Domiter Protner works at the First Grammer School Maribor and is a doctoral student in Sociology at the Faculty of Art, University of Maribor. Contact: ksenija.protner@guest.arnes.si.
Mitja Krajnčan, Urška Emeršič
How the quality of work of the employees influences the empowerment of the users in day care and work centres
The purpose of this paper is to present "empowerment" as a modern concept in the treatment of adults with mental disabilities who are included into day care and work centres, and to stress the role of employees in identifying, exploring and emphasizing the strengths, resources and participation of choice and promotion of users' self-determination. The project examined whether employees implemented the concept of "empowerment", what they thought about the concept in general, and if there were any troubles in praxis. The project also focused on the employees’ viewpoint of some factors related to quality of working life and empowerment. The findings revealed that the concept of "empowerment" was being realized and the quality of work of the employees was of a high standard. The employees exposed some weaknesses, particularly the lack of taking an active part in planning and performing some services together with the users, their insufficient involvement in various stages of individual programmes, lack of employees’ collaboration with parents, of teamwork and supervision of employees. The concept of "empowerment" is well known to a high percentage (approximately 40%) of employees; it is best known to the employed, highly educated women working on leading positions.
Keywords: participation, self-determination, quality of work, employees
Mitja Krajnčan, PhD, is an assistant professor of didactics and methodics of social pedagogical work at the Faculty of Education, University in Ljubljana. Contact: mitja.krajncan@pef.uni-lj.si. Urška Emeršič holds a Master degree and works in the Training, Occupation and Care Centre Matevž Langus Radovljica, Cesta na Jezerca 17, 4240 Radovljica, Slovenia. Contact: ursa.emersic@gmail.com.