| Abstract [eng] |
The existing system of social support organizations is not rational and effective enough to ensure the social support, social justice as well as the high quality of the provided services to the elderly and old people. The object of the research could be defined as the interaction of structural elements (human and material resources, welfare recipients) of the social support network to satisfy needs of the elderly. The hypothesis of the research indicates that it is likely that facilities provided by the social support network established to satisfy needs of the elderly are realized insufficiently because of the ineffective interaction of the structural elements. The aim of the research is to identify the opportunities that would optimize the social support network established to satisfy needs of the elderly in the context of the interaction of the structural elements. The tasks of the research are as follow: 1. To analyze and systemize the scientific literature (pedagogical, psychological, literature of social work, social policy, etc.) in order to systemize theoretical knowledge with regard to the topic of our work. 2. To establish a hypothetical model of the analyzed issue (as the research instrument basis) referring to the results of scientific works and the research, which would identify the peculiarities of the interaction of the structural elements of the social support network established to satisfy needs of the elderly. 3. To project the educational trends in the interaction of the structural elements of the social support network established to satisfy needs of the elderly. 150 randomly chosen social workers and social teachers have participated in the research. The research has disclosed that such factors as respondents’ age, nature of the gained education (social pedagogy or re-qualification) and social teacher’s working place are significant and reflect the motives of a social teacher’s choice of work as well as personal features used in their activities, skills and knowledge in social pedagogy that have been gained or those that are still lacking; a perception of what changes would enable the better functioning of the social support network; and trends in qualification rising. It became obvious that social pedagogical work is usually performed by 20-35 year old women whose work is related to social support arrangement and provisioning. While men are usually engaged in the fields of social support administration, organization and management and in the institutions of inner affairs and are less satisfied with their professional career than women. Only one third of the respondents have a degree in social pedagogic; the older a respondent is the more likely he/she is re-qualified from the previous profession. Though social pedagogical activities are usually perceived as a self-express opportunity and are based on the desire to help people in difficult life situations, however, young social teachers are not satisfied with their work; the older a respondent is the more usually this activity is understood as altruistic and chosen purposefully as a profession. It is indicated that there exist a statistically significant relation between the social teacher’s personal characteristics applied at work and motives while choosing a career. The most essential personal characteristics in social pedagogical work are those that reflect the specialist’s professional competence (responsibility), attitude to others (patience, communicativeness, tolerance, justice, tactfulness) as well as features indicating the person’s organizational skills (self-discipline and ability to plan). The main background for social pedagogical work efficiency refers to an opportunity to improve the skills (analytical, organizational, communicative, pedagogical, self-expression and applicable ones) and to deepen the knowledge in trainings and seminars as well as in consultations with various experts gaining the special skills that are crucial in this field. There was a following problem aspect defined in the interaction of the structural elements of the social support network: though the closer inter-organizational collaboration, initiatives to exchange the information and resources were defined as the major measures assuring the efficiency of the work process, however, the existing situation does not satisfy the specialists operating in this field as they usually collaborate with their colleagues, public administration institutions and people who address them in pursue of the support. The research results prove that the above hypothesis - that it is likely that facilities provided by the social support network established to satisfy needs of the elderly are realized insufficiently because of the ineffective interaction of the structural elements, has been confirmed. Therefore, the interaction of structural elements of the social support network is essential to ensure the optimization of the processes in the system of the social support to the elderly as well as the effective existence of the social network itself. |
