| Abstract [eng] |
The aging of the society in Lithuania is developing rapidly like in many other countries in the world. The society should respond adequately to the growing number of elderly people and their specific needs during the period of senescence as the number of elderly people takes up a large part of the society that needs a respective amount of social support. The main goal of social politics for elderly people is ensuring the possibility to live independently as long as possible and to receive social care services of the best quality. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the social support opportunities for the old and the elderly provided by non-governmental organizations as a manifestation of professionalization of social work by completing these tasks: to reveal a theoretical discourse of opportunities of social support for disabled people of this age group analysing the manifestation of professionalization of social work and the role of non-governmental organizations, to carry out an empirical study detecting the opportunities of social support provided by NGO for the old and the elderly emphasizing individuals in the situation of disability. Hypothesis: social support provided by non-governmental organizations employing competent and qualified professionals of social work properly responds to the need of support of old and elderly people. Master’s thesis includes 2 main chapters. The first chapter analyses the theoretical discourse of opportunities of a provision of social support to the old and the elderly from a side of non-governmental organizations and studies the manifestation of the professionalization of social work and the role of non-governmental organizations in the field of the provision of social support. The second chapter presents the methodology, organization and results of the research of opportunities of provision of social support of non-governmental organizations to the old and the elderly.10 specialists of social work of NGOs in Lithuania and Ukraine were selected by the principle of expert sample and interviewed using the method of a structured interview. The theoretical analysis of a social support to old and elderly individuals and the analysis of scientific literature revealed that in the face of a rapid aging of the society organising and provision of social services in order to respond to specific needs of elderly people and to create conditions for active and healthy aging is perceived as one of the most important issues to be addressed. It is important to organise and provide social services oriented to the maintenance of independence, social and physical activity of a person and respond to the needs of social custody and care. A quality of social services is highly dependent on occupational readiness and professional competence of social workers. According to the results of a qualitative research, current support provided by NGOs is free, flexible, and versatile, it responds to specific needs of old people well, reduces social exclusion, and induces maintenance of independence. A voluntary work chosen by individuals with a strong internal motivation is one of the advantages of non-governmental organizations. Empathy is stimulated and the society is excited through involvement of the community to the process of assistance The theoretical analysis and the results of the research confirm the hypothesis of the research. NGOs have a considerable experience in the area of activity of social services; they seek operational efficiency and are equal partners of the state institutions. After having addressed such problems as a lack of material resources NGOs could become the main providers of social services. |
