| Abstract | Suvremeni svijet prate dvije univerzalne tendencije: stalan rast stanovništva i proces starenja stanovništva. Proces starenja manifestira se povećanjem prosječne starosti ukupnog stanovništva, porastom duljine trajanja prosječnog ljudskog života i porastom udjela osoba starije životne dobi u određenoj populaciji u relativnom i apsolutnom smislu. Crna Gora postaje država sa sve starijim stanovništvom te spada u europske zemlje s visokim indeksom starenja. Starenje sa sobom nosi brojne nove izazove i nije samo problem pojedinca i obitelji, već sve više i šire društvene zajednice. Zbog toga je sve istaknutiji problem u osiguravanju adekvatne podrške i zaštite starijih građana u području socijalne zaštite.
S obzirom da do sada niti jednim istraživanjem nisu znanstveno utvrđeni specifični izazovi i poteškoće u radu socijalnih radnika u domovima za stare u Crnoj Gori, svrha ovog istraživanja je da se temeljem dobivenih podataka utvrdi dostupnost resursa (vještina, znanja, organizacijske i socijalne podrške) u odnosu na potrebe uzrokovane demografskim starenjem stanovništva te predlože intervencije s ciljem unaprjeđenja kvalitete rada socijalnih radnika.
Hipoteza istraživanja je da postoji raskorak između resursa (vještina, znanja, organizacijske i socijalne podrške) s kojima raspolažu socijalni radnici koji rade u sustavu institucionalne skrbi o starima u Crnoj Gori i novonastalih potreba uzrokovanih demografskim starenjem stanovništva (veća opterećenosti sustava starijim osobama, promjene u geronto-patologiji).
Opći cilj istraživanja je utvrditi s kojim poteškoćama i izazovima se susreću socijalni radnici u domovima za starije i nemoćne osobe u Crnoj Gori. Istraživanjem će se utvrditi usklađenost opisa poslova socijalnih radnika u domovima za stare sa stvarnim potrebama korisnika, odnos administrativnih poslova socijalnih radnika i izravnog rada s korisnicima, identificirati problemi u radu socijalnih radnika s obiteljima korisnika domova, procijeniti na koji način inter-personalni odnosi sa ostalim zaposlenicima u domu utječu na rad socijalnih radnika te prepoznati mogućnosti profesionalnog osnaživanja socijalnih radnika. Istraživanje je provedeno kvalitativnom metodologijom. Uzorak obuhvaća osam socijalnih radnika koji su zaposleni u domovima za stare i nemoćne osobe u Crnoj Gori. Podaci su prikupljeni polu-strukturiranim upitnikom koji se sastoji od dvije cjeline. Prva cjelina sadrži pitanja kojima se utvrđuju socio-demografska obilježja ispitanika. Drugi dio upitnika sadrži otvorena pitanja u skladu s „a priori“ definiranim kategorijama kojima će biti procijenjeni izazovi i poteškoće socijalnih radnika u domovima za stare i nemoćne osobe. U obradi podataka je korišten princip utemeljene teorije (engl. grounded theory) kvalitativne metodologije.
Dobiveni rezultati pokazuju da socijalni radnici kao najznačajnije izazove/poteškoće izdvajaju opsežne administrativne poslove, specifičnosti usluga koje zahtijevaju individualni rad s korisnicima, nepostojanje institucije koji bi pomagala u slučaju problema, nesuradnju i prevelika očekivanja članova obitelji, loš položaj socijalnog radnika u sustavu i loša promocija struke te premali broj socijalnih radnika u odnosu na broj korisnika. Također, istaknuta je potreba za izradom standarda za rad socijalnih radnika u ustanovama te potreba za specifičnom edukacijom u području palijativne skrbi te za rad s osobama oboljelima od Alzheimerove i psiho-organskih bolesti kao i rad s nepokretnim osobama. |
| Abstract (english) | The modern world is characterized by two universal trends: a steady growth of the population and aging of the population. The latter is manifested by an increase in the average age of the total population, an increase in the length of the average human life and the growing share of elderly people in a given population, in relative and absolute terms.
Montenegro is becoming a country with increasingly aging population and is among the Europe’s countries with a high aging index.
Aging brings many new challenges, which are not just an issue of individuals and their families, but rather of a wider community. Therefore, it is all the more important to deal with the problem of providing adequate support and social protection of senior citizens.
The overall objective of the research paper is to identify the difficulties and challenges encountered by social workers in the nursing homes for the elderly and infirm in Montenegro. The research will
determine the compliance of the scope of work of social workers in the nursing homes for the elderly with the real needs of their clients, establish the ratio between administrative tasks of social workers and direct work with clients, identify problems of social workers while working with the clients’ families, assess how interpersonal relations with other employees in a nursing home affect the work of social workers, and identify opportunities for professional empowerment of social workers.
The survey was conducted by using qualitative methodology. The survey sample has included eight social workers employed in the nursing homes for the elderly and infirm in Montenegro. Data were collected by semi-structured questionnaire, which consists of two parts. The first section contains questions that determine the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. The second part of the questionnaire contains open questions in accordance with the "a priori" defined categories that will be used to assess the challenges and difficulties of social workers in the nursing homes for the elderly and infirm. Grounded theory was used for data analysis.
The hypothesis of the research is that there is a discrepancy between the resources (skills, knowledge, organizational and social support) at the disposal of social workers who work in the system of institutional care for the elderly in Montenegro and the emerging needs caused by the demographic aging of the population (higher burden on the system by the elderly, changes in gerontological pathology).
The results show that the most important challenges/difficulties identified by the social workers are huge administration, specific services that require individual work with clients, lack of institutions that could help in case of problems, lack of cooperation and high expectations of family members, poor position of social workers in the system and poor promotion of the profession, small number of social workers compared to the number of clients. Moreover, the respondents underlined the need to create work standards for social workers in the institutions and identified the specific training needs for palliative care and work with people suffering from Alzheimer's and psycho-organic diseases, as well as work with disabled persons.
The survey was conducted in February and March 2015 in three institutions accommodating the elderly and infirm persons in Montenegro (Public Institution "Grabovac" Risan, Public Institution "Bijelo Polje", Public Institution "Komanski most ").
Given that so far no research has scientifically identified specific challenges and difficulties faced by social workers working in nursing homes for the elderly in Montenegro, based on the data obtained this research paper will identify the gap between the available resources (skills, knowledge, organizational and social support) and the emerging needs caused by demographic aging of the population and detect opportunities for the implementation of interventions that aim to improve the quality of work of social workers. |
