Petra Videmšek, Vesna Leskošek

The article is based on authors’ latest research “Evaluation of the institutional care system and the opportunities of NGOs to provide community-based services in order to achieve the process of deinstitutionalization” (2015) that was done for YHD (an NGO helping people with disabilities) and was financed by the Ministry of Public Administration of Slovenia. The starting point of the survey was to find out the possibilities for implementation of deinstitutionalization. Primarily we wanted to find out the number of persons with different kinds of disabilities aged from 18 to 65 who live in institutional care, and then explore the extent of deinstitutionalization. Further on we explored the possibilities of NGOs for implementation of the process of deinstitutionalization. We wanted to explore the users’ (we consider them as experts by experience) views on living in an institution. We researched how people with personal experience of living in an institution estimate their living, which are their needs and vision for living outside the institution. The article is based on the users’ point of view, on services people with disabilities receive in institutions, and on possibilities for their independent living, and what they need to achieve that goal.

Milko Poštrak

In the article the professional approach of social work with young people is put in the context of doctrinal principles of modern social work. A theoretical framework based on the so called systemic ecological and social constructivist models of social work is presented. The concept of life-world of youngsters and adolescence is explained and linked to factors such as gender, family, school, peers and values. The author mentions social vulnerability of young people and summarises existing paradigmatic approaches in working with young people. They have several names. We call them commanding approach, all permissive approach, and contractual arrangements approach. Key elements of any approach are: a type of communication, role definition, a form of authority, the resulting set of responsibilities, and understanding of measures. The deficiencies and consequences of inappropriate commanding and permissive approaches are listed, and contractual arrangements approach is presented. The contractual arrangements approach results from theoretical, doctrinal principles drawn mainly from system theory and phenomenology. Youths should be seen in the context of their life-world, while experts should be understood as their respectful and responsible allies.

Sandra Bregar

With global declining in fertility rates and millions of people suffering from infertility, assisted reproductive technology provides an important solution. Factors that contribute to high rates of infertility are in developed countries different than in developing countries. Developed countries are postponing childbearing and therefore facing high rates of primary infertility. Even though there is little voluntary effort to postpone childbearing in developing countries, there are high rates of secondary infertility. This is a result of sexually transmitted infections, unsafe abortion and poor maternity care (leading to infections). Cultural background has a significant impact on the extensive and long-lasting psychological and social consequences of infertility. Despite the fact that assisted reproductive technology procedures provide an important solution for the hardships of infertility, they remain too expensive or otherwise inaccessible for the majority of the world's population. Regulation, legalization and criteria of eligibility for the funding and reimbursement of reproductive technologies vary significantly across different countries. Consequently many are forced to use cross border reproductive care, which is not without danger. Global ensuring of safe, affordable and reliable assisted reproductive technology services in the 21st century is far from being realised.

Bojana Mesec, Bernard Stritih

In their operations, social welfare organizations depend on teamwork. The article tries to explain concepts that can be met in teamwork or may affect the quality of services provided by organizations in the social care. Here social workers can be key factors and it is important for them to carry out their work professionally. The approach to teamwork, developed by social work, is based on balanced participation of all members, on developing a team, on flexible division of labour and on primacy of tasks over roles. In this process, social workers often act as translators between the context of professional treatment and everyday context of the user. For social work profession, teamwork is a useful tool in areas where social workers are faced with decision-making, management and planning. The article attempts to clarify the issue of cooperation of various disciplines for the purpose of finding a solution to a problem. Here social work it is not independent of other subsystems such as justice, education, health, police, etc. However, none of these subsystems can interfere with development of professional identity of social work. It is therefore necessary that all disciplines contribute to a common dialogue, which must meet professional and scientific criteria for each of the disciplines, but must be theoretically and practically relevant for the achievement of specific objectives of social security.

Jana Mali

The main points of the Fifth Congress of Social Work that was organised in Ljubljana in September 2013 under the name »Social work and the importance of citizenship for welfare state« are presented. The conclusions of the congress can be summarised in three points: the need for interdisciplinary work, the need for introduction of concrete changes in practice, and the need for »humanisation« of social policy.

Črtomir Bitenc

The number of people with disabilities or people who have to deal with this or that handicap worldwide has been gradually increasing. However, the data show that people with disabilities have on average a much lower socio-economic status than others as a result of a more challenging entry into the labour market and thus more frequent unemployment. The report shows the extent to which providers of various services in Slovenia via various financial benefits relieve financial hardship of people with disabilities. Data collection took place during 2014 and mainly by help of municipalities and certain other institutions and organizations. Fields of benefits are divided into four categories: transport, culture, tourism, and sports & leisure.

Nina Mešl

Srečo Dragoš

Srečo Dragoš

In relation to the effectiveness and the efficiency of the Faculty of Social Work, the article focuses on two critical terms in the external environment of the faculty. These terms remain ignored in regular analyses of quality, prepared yearly by all members of the University of Ljubljana. The first aspect is the availability of financial and human resources. According to this criterion, the Faculty of Social Work is a highly efficient institution. But according to the second criterion, the impact of the faculty on social policy, the faculty has failed. The reasons for this critical assessment are analysed. They’re related to adverse trends in creating state regulation in the field of social security and its users. A policy of the neosocial is being strengthened, which is characterized by redefining the objectives of the welfare state, as was established after the second world war in the European countries. In this process, there is a teleological conveying of the meaning of social rights. The article deals with the economic doctrine of neoliberalism, which is the form of this process (penetration of economics into the social field) rather that its cause.

Darja Zaviršek

The author compares the position of social work students 60 years ago, when the formal education for social workers was established in Slovenia, and their position now. Using an intersectional analysis of poverty and gender as well as a mixed methodology (qualitative approach to a questionnaire, discursive analysis of visual and written material), it shows that, parallel to increasing unemployment, decreasing income, increasing of cost of living and lowering of social transfers, the pauperisation of students of the Faculty of Social has also been increasing. These circumstances affect the choice of study and study quality as well as personal expectations related to the period after the studies. Choices made by students in such a situation increasingly reveal retraditionalisation of society, as ways of thinking are concerned. The article analyses a case of repatriarchalisation of society and sexualisation of female students and at the same time looks at a form of rebellion of female activists who are challenging economical, social and gender hegemonies.

Bojana Mesec

In June 1999, the ministries of higher education from 29 European countries met in Bologna to sign an important agreement, known as the Declaration of Bologna. It initiated an important and irreversible process of harmonising various European systems of higher education: the so called Bologna Process. Its main objective is the formation of a European Area of Higher Education and the promotion of the European system of higher education on a worldwide scale in order to increase its international competitiveness. The aim was to achieve harmonization of the European university systems. In 2004, the Faculty of Social Work decided to join the process and developed new programmes on all three levels (undergraduate, master and doctoral). The process was long and difficult but also fruitful and focused. New programmes incorporated the science of social work, employment goals, social practice and students’ wishes. In 2015, we now have a modern study of social work, but we know that the process is far from finished. It is only the beginning of a long journey if we want to reach the high goals from the Declaration of Bologna.

Gabi Čačinovič Vogrinčič

An important, although still neglected topic in the science of social work is the development of the concept of help, creating of a theory for practice. The focus is on specific topics in processes of help and support: how do we do social work, how we create and maintain processes of help? What specific concepts, methods, tools and skills social work has created? What changes in the roles of professionals and users create helping processes? The key concept of the emerging theory of help and support is encapsulated in the word co-creation, a word that shows the importance of the new language in social work. Social work theory and practice is developing a new, autonomous and specific professional language, able to describe actions in helping processes, based on co-creating a helping relationship, on strength perspective and on the ethics of participation. Nordic social work intensively researches the creation of a needed new knowledge for social work science. The result is a new knowledge production for theory and practice in practice itself. New meanings and learning processes are co-created in practice. Social work science is defined as a new knowledge production.

Tadeja Kodele, Nina Mešl

Practical learning is an important support for future social workers as they integrate theoretical knowledge with practical work. For students, the Master programme “Social work with families” means an additional year of their education. It contributed to reflection on how to implement practice for the students who have already finished undergraduate study of social work. How to assure such a context of practical learning, that will help students get knowledge about their work and that they will be able to find words to describe users what they are doing to ensure their participation in working process? Practical learning for students, which was designed in the project »Helping families in community: co-creation of desired changes for reducing social exclusion and strengthening health«, enabled students to use concepts of social work in practice, with the intensive support of mentors, and to lead the conversation with family competently. They realized that the theory is useful in practice and that it is an important support for social work with families. Practical learning increased reflexive use of knowledge in practice.

Romana Zidar, Vesna Leskošek

Discourses about food and poverty are being created that directly influence our understanding of causes, consequences and ways of solving the problem of poverty. The article deals with two issues relevant for social work: the discourse about what to do with food surplus, and the discourse about food self-sufficiency in relation to our attitude towards the poor (the unemployed, precarious workers, the retired, the employed poor etc.). It is shown that instruments of public social policies are being replaced by food surplus distribution through the ecology rhetoric. This hides inequalities, encourages invasion of business practices on the field of social security, and divides people on the basis of consuming practices to consumers and non-consumers. The authors show that those who are more well-off can much easier affort to be food self-sufficient. Food production via gardening doesn't have very pronounced economic benefits (compared with buying cheap food in supermarkets), but has an important social, collective aspects. Gardening can also be understood as an ideological space where like-minded people meet. This can have some negative sides as well, as community gardens can become places with no physical borders, but with visible systems of exclusion and control.

Dino Černivec

Nowadays the future of students at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, is uncertain. The main problem is the Act on Balancing Public Finances, which prohibits the employment in the public sector, where social workers are usually employed. Another problem is the internship in the field of social care, the last tender for which, was in April 2013. The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities now intends to shorten or even cancel internships so it is particularly important that students gain more work experience and competences during their study. As part of my graduation thesis, I did a survey within the 60th anniversary of education for social work in Slovenia. The aims of the research are to determine how satisfied students are with the acquired knowledge during their study at the Faculty of Social Work, how qualified they feel for work in the field of social care, what their extracurricular activities are, what they intend to do after graduating, considering they know that it is difficult to get employed, and which work experience they gained during their study practice.

Bojana Mesec

The report deals with providing and following the quality of work and study at the Faculty of Social Work. It answers questions such as: how the quality of higher education is understood at the faculty, what was the quality of work before the development of Bologna curricular reform, and how the renovelation of the faculty looked like. The author describes the influence of guidelines and strategies of the University of Ljubljana on transformation of social work programmes at the faculty.

Marko Mesec

Practicum is the most important part of training for social work students. Here users, students, mentors and teachers of social work meet. The key role in practicum is performed by students, whose motivation and self-initiative are the preconditions for their successful work. The Centre for Practical Studies has been operating at the Faculty of Social Work since 2007. Its task is to provide support to learning process, integration of teaching contents, support to mentors and students, and co-ordination of practical placement. Its aims are to form competent graduates of social work and to contribute to the development of the profession.

Borut Petrović Jesenovec

Although the Faculty of Social Work is the smallest faculty of the University of Ljubljana, it ranks, if we consider mobility numbers, higher then many other, much bigger faculties. The number of in-coming students, for example, has been increasing for at least six years. The report tries to elaborate on some of the reasons why the Faculty of Social Work is doing so well, despite unfavourable conditions.

Borut Petrović Jesenovec, Mirjam ten Veen

Majda Hrženjak

While after the World War II, paid care work in private households has almost disappeared because of the rising welfare systems, in last decades it is again in steep increase all over the Europe given the restructuring of the role of state in social reproduction which leads to individualization and reprivatisation of care work. This work is marked by multiple peculiarities such as: location in private sphere of households; fragmentation, flexibilisation and informalization; feminization and etnicization; social devaluation, and at the same time it has no clear status in modern labour legislation. The article analyzes selected transnational and national strategies, including the Slovenian one, which promote regulation of home based care work from the perspectives of quality of employments and care services.

Klavdija Kustec

The use of expressive-creative media in the professions of help and support has been gaining grounds. The aim of the research study is to shed light both on the positive effects of the work with expressive-creative media and their potential negative effects or risk factors, with indicating some of the safety factors of work with expressive-creative media. The results of the qualitative research show that in practice professional workers of related helping professions have not encountered any negative effects in their work with expressive-creative media, while being very much aware of possible risk factors. Accordingly, they developed numerous strategies of alleviating, if not completely avoiding, potential risk factors.

Ksenija Domiter Protner

The article presents the connection between, on the one side, the problem of child and adolescent abuse in the family, and on the other side, the characteristics of the social environment of the family from the viewpoint of social ecological perspective of domestic violence and the phenomenon of resilience of domestic violence victims in relation to social capital. The findings obtained on the basis of secondary analysis of data of the researches are also presented. These findings demonstrate the characteristics of social capital of Slovene adolescents in relation to adolescent exposure to domestic violence. Elimination, reduction and resolution of risk factors appear as important as strengthening of protective factors, among which social capital plays an important role. It is established that social capital is a protective factor both in preventing violence as in reducing the impact which this violence has on the victim.

Maša Avsec, Nino Rode

Fairytales can help a social worker to bridge the gap between the child's and her way of thinking and facilitate the communication between them. For the child they have important developmental and healing powers. That is why stories are useful in counseling and psychotherapy. In social work they are useful principally as a mean of contact and mutual co-creation of solutions. Safe houses and maternity homes are the places where numerous opportunities exist for the use of fairytales. These organizations help mainly mothers, but working with their children is also important. When working with children, the fairytales are used in individual work (e.g. making first contact) as well as group work (e.g. workshops). They are told by a social worker or by a child, but there are also other modes of story use. Most of the interviewed social workers stated that they feel competent for the use of fairytales in their work, but they also expressed a need for further training. Story use is a creative cultural activity which besides general social work competencies requires some additional knowledge and abilities for working with children, ability to use different storytelling techniques and an overall feeling for working with fairytales. That is why additional training and education for this kind of work is needed.

Blaž Rojko, Nino Rode

Community projects addressing »target groups« mostly miss the needs of a real community, and are therefore not very welcome by the community. To solve this problem it’s good to organise the projects in cooperation with the existing communities. The choirs are among such communities. They are important in social work not only as the environment for the community projects, but also as a place where the emerging communal processes and social interactions act as the protective factors for the individual and enable spontaneous collaborative solving of the social problems. In the presented research the values and attitudes of the choir members were ascertained, and the impact of socio-demographic factors on them was explored. Based on the factor analysis, four scales of the attitudes toward the social processes in the choirs were determined. The intergeneration relations, the importance of singing, socializing and social network, and self-affirmation through the choir are the most important concerns for the choir singers. Among others, gender, marital status and employment influence these attitudes. They are also contingent on the choir status. It has been confirmed that besides the cultural organisations the choirs are important autopoetic communities, which can offer support and feeling of identity to their members. As such they are an important environment for the community social work, and therefore some financial resources dedicated for the social security should be invested in them.

Jana Mali

Jana Mali, Danica Hrovatič

Past and present development of gerontology and gerontological practice in Slovenia was marked by the principles of social gerontology agreed upon in the 1960s. They emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the science as a basis for the development of interdisciplinary gerontological practice. In the past, gerontological practice was directed by the Gerontological Institute and the Gerontological Association of Slovenia. After the abolition of the Gerontology institute, there was a considerable gap in the field of geriatric research, education and knowledge of health needs and lives of older people in Slovenia. The Gerontological Association of Slovenia filled up this gap by publishing numerous publications, organising seminars, courses and public debates on various questions relating to aging and old age, as well as by exploring issues of purely medical nature, that are a part of medical gerontology. The development of social gerontology had been taking place continuously at various higher education institutions. Since 2000, a number of socio-political documents were approved with planned and determined care for older people. Today in Slovenia, experts in various scientific disciplines explore age, ageing and intergenerational relations, they publish expert knowledge in this field and work in practice.

Marija Bukovec

The author presents the society, older people and demographic changes with projections which suggest that the population of older people will rise. The thesis outlines some stereotypes about older people and points to their stigmatisation, with special emphasis on social workers that should find answers for both - the label and stigmatisation. The second part of the article analyses interviews with residents who shared their experience according to our research questions regarding the course of their day, their influence on the services, the access to information, and the possibilities for personal development. The life of the interviewees is very monotonous, especially for immobile residents who daily face a dull routine. They are required to abide by the principles and house rules, therefore, they have very little influence on the life in the home for older people. The relations between the employees and the residents are not always respectful; the residents are often unable to influence the situation and have little privacy. As for the personal development, the residents are left to their own initiative.

Sandra Novak, Judita Sudec

Loneliness in old age can be dispelled in various ways, including with pets. It is not so important what kind of pet we have, the main thing is to share love with animals and to be willing to take care of them. Animals can be loving and loyal, consoling and entertaining. In the article, the focus is on dogs and cats, as they are most common pets, but other animals can also need good care and responsible owners. Influence of animals on the quality of life of older people is of interest to social work, as it brings insight into the positive effects of animals on people's lives. It is presented in the article, what kind of bond there is between a person and an animal, and what responsibility is involved. Having an animal can contribute to living more actively. It is also important for the profession of social work to connect the care of the animals and the care of the elderly in special homes for older people and to enable contacts between residents and animals.

Danuška Breznik

In Slovenia, the services offered to the elderly and provided by both public and private sectors do not meet the needs of a heterogeneous population of the older people and do not enable them to have good quality of life in their old age. The quality of life of the elderly in Slovenia is largely influenced by forms of assistance for the older people, intergenerational solidarity, and the financial situation of the elderly. The results of the research “Assessment of the needs of older people in the Municipality of Ljubljana” indicate that the forms of social security assistance for older people are basically financially unattainable for the majority of respondents. Sometimes relatives as a source of social support ‒ especially children ‒ need to help their parents covering the cost of the most basic needs. Personalized environment and increased access to services are two basic requirements that can improve the quality of everyday life. The task of social workers is to adjust help to the needs of the older people and to research their life-world. Therefore social workers should take into consideration older people’s heterogeneous needs, and respond with the individualized approach based on the user perspective and the concept of rights, where the users have influence over the design of their service.

Maja Ambrožič, Špela Mohar

Aging population requires new methods of work with older people, forcing us to discover new ways to cope with the challenges posed by aging and old age. The multidisciplinary integration of disciplines is very important because it contributes to the quality of aging and gives older people a voice. Working with the elderly is specific and, specifically in social work, encompasses an important space of research and interweaves theory with practice. In this context, it is necessary to rely on the concepts of social work, which direct the social worker towards personal work and throughout the working relationship. Methods of social work with the older people vary considerably. The method of personal planning is paramount and used increasingly in practice, its purpose being to preserve users’ influence over important decisions in their life. The authors present methods of working with people with dementia and offer a broader insight into the methods of personal planning and advocacy. At the same time they depict the history of the development of social work with the elderly.

Eva Urbas

Barbara Kresal

Jana Mali