Socialno delo on-line archive

Socialno delo, Vol. 57 (2018), Issue 2

2018/2

ARTICLES

Nina Mešl
Solution-focused approach as a support to co-create desired outcomes in the working relationship - 91, (Abstract)

Tjaša Franko
Endometriosis: aspects of gender inequality, and discrimination on legal, and professional levels - 111, (Abstract)

Milko Poštrak
Reach of the social constructivist model of social work - 129, (Abstract)

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTION

Jovita Pogorevc Merčnik
Assessment of the impact of certain factors and activities of students of Slovenian Carinthia on the onset of domestic violence - 145, (Abstract)

INTERVIEWS

Borut Petrović Jesenovec
“If we want to do something for the Roma in Vorarlberg, we have to work with them in Romania” - interview with Erika Geser-Engleiter - 157

 
Nina Mešl
Solution-focused approach as a support to co-create desired outcomes in the working relationship

Solution-focused approach in social work, in which social workers take into account and respect the capabilities of their interlocutors to solve problems, and understand their role in creating the context for possible changes, has been developed at the Faculty of Social Work for two decades. Two generations of students of the Psychosocial Support and Help Module have tested the approach in the context of learning process on their practical placements. Skills of the approach were used in the context of the working relationship of co-creation with one or more interlocutors. A qualitative analysis of final assignments in which students presented the use of the approach and analysis of the work process showed that they perceive the approach as very supportive for social work. Most often students decided to use the element of exception-finding questions, scaling question, miracle question and relationship questions. When using the elements, they saw the greatest challenge in the persistent exploration of details and in the reframing of the problem-oriented speech to a speech that is directed toward solutions.

 
Tjaša Franko
Endometriosis: aspects of gender inequality, and discrimination on legal, and professional levels

The study addresses endometriosis, a frequently overlooked disease that affects women, and it is based on the development of critical social work which recognizes structures of oppression and privilege on social and individual level in the case of female reproductive health. The purpose of the research is to draw attention to social inequalities in the case of endometriosis, and to enable social work to open theoretical space for social work action and change, in order to increase the participation of the social work profession in health care. The author draws attention to the existing structural ratios of power, expressed on both legal and professional levels, and constructed on gender inequalities, misogyny and stereotypical behaviors.

 
Milko Poštrak
Reach of the social constructivist model of social work

In the decades of relatively stable economic development in Europe, social work could shift its focus of interest from ways, approaches, and methods of working from existentially endangered population groups to thinking about improving the quality of life and developing and complementing the forms and quality of social work relations between social workers and users. In Slovenia, too, we have relied heavily on the context set up by the social constructivist approach in social work, also called the postmodern approach. The paper presents the sources of this approach, ie its phenomenology and related social studies. In the last decade, due to the financial and, consequently, economic and political crisis, social work again had to face the basic issues that led to its formation over a century ago: the issues of social inequality and the issues of marginalization, discrimination, poverty and, consequently, questions of survival. The question arises whether so called social constructivist approach in social work, and related approaches, called constructive social work, narrative approaches, and so on, represent an appropriate basis for the effective confrontation of social work as a professional practice and science, that is, as an academic discipline, with the challenges of co-creating solutions with users who find themselves in a situation of existential threat.

 
Jovita Pogorevc Merčnik
Assessment of the impact of certain factors and activities of students of Slovenian Carinthia on the onset of domestic violence

In the first part, understanding of domestic violence within the framework of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act is presented, and later further expanded to other forms of domestic violence, such as intimate partner murders. Emotional violence is analysed in more details. Consequences of domestic violence are reviewed and legal basis for dealing with domestic violence is presented. Some risk factors that influence the occurrence of domestic violence, are presented, such as marital status, living environment, socio-economic situation and the number of children in the family. In the theoretical part, the correlation of the individual's views and the phenomenon of domestic violence is shown. In the second part, the results of a survey conducted among secondary school students of Slovenian Carinthia about their assessments of the impact of acts and factors on the occurrence of domestic violence are presented. The results show that students are more likely to deem as violent the direct acts (a slap, a threat, forcing into sexual intercourse, bullying, intimidation of a partner) rather than indirect ones (checking pockets, controlling financial resources, opening letters, verbal humiliation). Also, students assess alcohol as the most common factor affecting the onset of domestic violence, followed by illegal drugs, dissatisfaction with partner life, difficult childhood and problems at work.