Challenges to Social Work Profession After the Economic Crisis in the Republic of Serbia

Suzana Mihajlović Babić, Milena Despotović, Marina Đaković

Abstract


The global economic crisis, which also affected the Western Balkans countries since 2008, in theRepublic of Serbia has resulted in an increase of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion rates. These changes caused the increase of social protection system users, especially those belonging to thegroup of materially vulnerable.The Center for Social Work represents the basic social service or institution of the social protectionsystem in the Republic of Serbia, within which the benefits and social services are provided to vulnerablepopulation. The overall aim of this research is to obtain deeper knowledge of factors that disrupt socialworkers tosecure these rights in the centers for social work.In the descriptive part of the research, using qualitative analysis we examined the scientific, expert and evidence documents on the subject of the research. Analysisof documents content in the first part of the paper has indicated the discrepancy between the normative acts and the practice of the social service functioning. Exploratory part of the research included application of a specially constructed questionnaire addressed to the centers for social work in order to collect information on the material and non-materia lconditions of work of social workers. The questionnaire was answered by 75 social workers, the resultsof the survey pointed out the necessity of improving the position of professional workers in social protection in the Republic of Serbia with the aim of more effective and more efficient provision of social rights.

Keywords


social service; social protection system; social work profession; challenges, economic crisis

Full Text:

PDF

References


Acker, Gila (2004), ˝The Effect of Organizational Conditions (Role Conflict, Role Ambiguity, Opportunities for Professional Development and Social Support) on Job Satisfaction and Intention to Leave Among Social Workers in Mental Health Care˝, Community Mental Health Journal 40 (1), str. 65–73.

Borzaga, Carlo, Ermanno Tortia (2006), ˝Worker motivations, job satisfaction, and loyalty in public and nonprofit social services˝, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 35, str. 225-248.

Calitz, Taetske et al. (2014), ˝Factors that affect social workers’ job satisfaction, stress and burnout˝, Social Work 50(2), str. 153-169.

Coffey, Margaret et al. (2004), ˝Stress in social services: Mental well-being, constraints and job satisfaction˝, British Journal of Social Work 34(5), str. 735-747.

Dominelli, Lena (2009), Introducing Social Work, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Džamonja Ignjatović, Tamara, Nevenka Žegarac (2015), ˝Potrebe za profesionalcima u socijalnoj zaštiti i oblasti društvenih delatnosti u lokalnim samoupravama u Srbiji˝, u: Nevenka Žegarac i Jelisaveta Todorović, ur., Obrazovanje u oblasti socijalnog rada i socijalne politike za XXI vek, Univerzitet u Nišu, Niš, str. 13-30.

International Federation of Social Workers (2014), Global definition of social work, dostupno na: http://ifsw.org/policies/definition-of-social-work/, pristupljeno: 13. 04. 2018.

Farmer, David (2011), ˝Increasing Job Satisfaction among Social Workers˝, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 1(18), str. 1-8.

Freudenberger, Herbert (1974), „Staff burnout”, Journal of Social Issues 30,nstr. 159–165.

Havelka, Mladen (1999), Zdravstvena psihologija, Medicinski fakultet Sveučilištan u Zagrebu, Zagreb

Jones, Chris (2001), ˝Voices from the front line: State social workers and New Labour˝, British Journal of Social Work 31(4), str. 547-563.

Kahn, William (1993), ˝Caring for the caregivers: Patterns of organizational caregiving˝, Administrative Science Quarterly 38(4), str. 539-564.

Kočović, Dragoslav (2007), Socijalna politika, Fakultet političkih nauka,

Beograd

Lloyd, Chris et al. (2009), ˝Social work, stress and burnout: A review˝,

Journal of Mental Health, 11(3), str. 255-265.

Maslach, Christina, Susan Jackson (1981), ˝The measurement of experienced burnout˝, Journal of Occupational Behaviour 2, str. 99-113.

Mijatović, Boško (2014), Siromaštvo u Srbiji 2011, 2012. i 2013. godine, Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva, Beograd

Mihajlović Babić, Suzana (2017), ˝Antipotčinjavajuća praksa u ostvarivanju prava na novčanu socijalnu pomoć – prepreke i mogućnosti˝, Godišnjak Fakulteta političkih nauka 17, str. 151-170.

Moriarty, Joet al. (2015), Literature review of roles and issues within the social work profession in England, Professional Standards Authority, London

Mrhálek, Tomáš, Alena Kajanová (2017), ˝Work satisfaction and mental pressure of social workers and workers in social services˝, Journal of Nursing and Social Sciences related to Health and Illness, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1212411717300685, pristupljeno: 20. aprila 2018. godine.

Payne, Malcolm (2005), Modern Social Work Theory, Third edition, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

Perišić, Natalija (2016), Socijalna sigurnost: pojmovi i programi, Fakultet političkih nauka, Beograd

Pravilnik o organizaciji, normativima i standardima rada centra za socijalni rad, Službeni glasnik Republike Srbije, br. 59/2008 i 37/2010.

RZS - Republički zavod za socijalnu zaštitu (2013), Sintetički izveštaj o radu centara za socijalni rad u Srbiji 2012. godine, Republički zavod za socijalnu zaštitu, Beograd

RZS - Republički zavod za socijalnu zaštitu (2016), Sintetički izveštaj o radu centara za socijalni rad u Srbiji 2015. godine, Republički zavod za socijalnu zaštitu, Beograd

RZS - Republički zavod za socijalnu zaštitu (2017), Sintetički izveštaj o radu centara za socijalni rad u Srbiji 2016. godine, Republički zavod za socijalnu zaštitu, Beograd

Spiker, Pol (2014), Socijalna politika: teorija i praksa, Fakultet političkih

nauka, Beograd

Strier, Roni, Sharon Binyamin (2009), ˝Developing Anti-Oppressive Services for the poor: A Theoretical and Oganisational Rationale˝, British Journal of Social Work 40(6), str. 1908-1926.

Tartakovsky, Eugene (2015), ˝Personal value preferences and burnout of social workers˝, Journal of Social Work 16(6), str. 657-673.

Terte, Ian, Christine Stephens (2014), ˝Psychological Resilience of Workers in High-Risk Occupations˝, Stress and Health 30(5), str. 353–355.

Tham, Pia (2018), ˝A Professional Role in Transition: Swedish Child Welfare Social Workers’ Descriptions of Their Work in 2003 and 2014˝, The British Journal of Social Work 48(2), str. 449–467.

Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva (2016), Mapiranje

usluga socijalne zaštite u nadležnosti lokalnih samouprava, Tim za socijalno uključivanje Vlade Republike Srbije, Beograd

Žegarac, Nevenka (2016), ˝Kompetencije za kvalifikacije u socijalnom

radu: izgradnja standarda˝, u: Nevenka Žegarac (ur.), Standardi za

obrazovanje socijalnih radnika u Srbiji, Fakultet političkih nauka, Beograd, str. 9-45.

Vinokur Kaplan, Diane (1991), ˝Job satisfaction among social workers in

public and voluntary child welfare agencies˝, Child Welfare: Journal of Policy, Practice and Program 70(1), str. 81-91.

Vinokur Kaplan, Diane et al. (1994), ˝Job Satisfaction and Retention of Social Workers in Public Agencies, Non-Profit Agencies and Private Practice˝, Administration in Social Work 18(3), str. 93-121.

Vlada Republike Srbije (2014), Drugi nacionalni izveštaj o socijalnom uključivanju i smanjenju siromaštva u Republici Srbiji, Vlada Republike Srbije, Beograd.

World Health Organization (2015), ICD-10: International Classification of

Diseases,World Health Organization, Geneva.

Zaharijevski, Dragana et al. (2015), ˝Studija o potrebama za znanjima i profesionalcima u oblasti pružanja socijalnih usluga˝, u: Nevenka Žegarac i Jelisaveta Todorović (ur.), Obrazovanje u oblasti socijalnog rada i socijalne politike za XXI vek, Univerzitet u Nišu, Niš, str. 31-60.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.