Socialno delo on-line archive

Socialno delo, Vol. 52 (2013), Issue 6

ARTICLES

Nina Mešl
From understanding learned helplessness phenomenon to developing resilience in social work - 351, (Abstract) (Full text)

Mateja Nagode, Nadja Kovač, Lea Lebar
Social care at home within and exterior to the public service network - 361, (Abstract)

Tamara Narat, Anja Jesenovec
Importance and role of the working relationship concept in upgrading guardianship - 373, (Abstract) (Full text)

Duška Knežević Hočevar
Care for the older generation on family farms: Obsolete practice or current commitment? - 383, (Abstract) (Full text)

 
Nina Mešl
From understanding learned helplessness phenomenon to developing resilience in social work

(Full text)

Learned helplessness phenomenon has been for several decades a frequently discussed topic in different areas of working with people, but has not yet been much studied in social work in Slovenia. The research conducted within the framework of the project “Professional foundations for further development and implementation of concept “Learning difficulties in primary school” has shown that contemporary social work concepts in working with students with learning difficulties contribute to preventing and dealing with learned helplessness. Resilience presents possible protection from learned helplessness phenomenon. In social work processes of support and help resilience could be strengthen on two levels. On the first one it is about a new experience in relationship: we are working with people and co-creating good outcomes. On the second level conversation contributes to more transparency of the individual in the relationship network, so that the decision for maintaining or modifying relational processes in the direction of prevention of learned helplessness and the development of resilience is possible.

 
Mateja Nagode, Nadja Kovač, Lea Lebar
Social care at home within and exterior to the public service network

Help at home is a fundamental service in the field of social care, it takes place at a person's home and enables people to stay at home for as long as possible. Help at home can prevent moving to a nursing home (deinstitutionalisation) or postpone the relocation to a later period. The service started to be developed twenty years ago by centres of social work. These centres still provide most of the services in addition to nursing homes, other public institutions and private providers. The service as we know it today has passed through various stages of organization and implementation. In the paper the focus is on key trends and the challenges of organizing help at home within and exterior to the public service network: the gradual transfer of the service from centres of social work to other providers, unequal service accessibility, the increase in the number of older users, high proportion of users with dementia and the like. It is shown that the implementation and scope of help at home exterior to the public service network in Slovenia is extremely underperformed. What is also needed is a serious reflection on the reasonableness of the existence of a current regulation of social servicing.

Keywords: social security, services, help at home, social servicing, public service network, old age.

Mateja Nagode, BA in sociology, is a senior researcher at the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. Her work focuses on social policy, especially on social care programmes, and long-term care. Contact: mateja.nagode@guest.arnes.si. Nadja Kovač, BA in sociology, is a researcher at the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. Her work focuses on children and youth wellbeing indicators, evaluation in the field of social policy and social welfare and social protection programmes. Contact: nadja.kovac@guest.arnes.si. Lea Lebar, BA in social informatics, is a researcher at the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia. She is focused on social policy, evaluation in the field of social policy and social welfare. Contact: lea.lebar@guest.arnes.si.

 
Tamara Narat, Anja Jesenovec
Importance and role of the working relationship concept in upgrading guardianship

(Full text)

Three essential problems which occur with guardianship in practice are discussed, namely: existence of loss of legal capacity, overload of professionals employed at social work centres, and abuse of special guardianship. The outline of problem areas is summarized based on findings from the study of the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia entitled “The background for upgrading the guardianship system”. The article identifies problem areas analyzed with the use of the concept of a working relationship. Guidelines for further development and upgrading of guardianship are indicated on the basis of gathered findings.

 
Duška Knežević Hočevar
Care for the older generation on family farms: Obsolete practice or current commitment?

(Full text)

The article discusses the results of anthropological study on similarities and differences between farms, the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of setting up of young farmers and early retirement of farmers schemes, considering the care for the older family members. Conducted in predominantly agricultural region of Prekmurje in 2009, the study examined the result of earlier survey on generations and gender relations on Slovenian farms (in 2007) which had showed that the younger generation of the beneficiaries of both forms of aid had been more committed to caring for the older family members compared to the other observed farm and non-farm groups. The results of anthropological study show, however, that farms of both forms of aid do not differentiate as to the expectations and practices of caring for the older family members, since they are conditioned by the complex family events and circumstances.