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Perceptions of families with children and the social professionals working with them on services promoting the well-being and social mobility of families
3-28Views:576In our study, we investigate how families with children living in a disadvantaged sub-region of Northern Hungary, in areas of different settlement size and in settlements belonging to the Budapest agglomeration, perceive the available educational,
education, childcare, health and social services, whether they have any information about them, and what professionals working with families with children think about the education, childcare, health and social services and services available to them.
the professional content and quality of the services provided, and whether
the extent to which they can contribute to the well-being and social mobility of families. Our research included a population questionnaire survey and interviews with professionals and families with children. Our results indicate that children's abilities
the lack of services to develop their abilities, develop their talents and promote their well-being, the
existing education, health and social services with very limited capacity and therefore low quality, and limited access to cultural and recreational opportunities
mobility opportunities for children growing up in disadvantaged families are severely limited. Child welfare social work tools are scarce and social interventions are based on fire-fighting. -
Investigation of working conditions and risk factors for burnout of social and pedagogical professionals
3-29Views:503The study scrutinizes the relationship between professional working conditions and burnout among Hungarian social and pedagogical professionals. Despite the fact that burnout and occupational well-being have been extensively researched abroad among professional helpers – primarily health care workers –, no quantitative survey has been conducted in Hungary so far in the target group we examined. Another added value of our study is that, besides work and organizational factors revealed by previous burnout studies, it points to the role of client- and fieldwork-related difficulties in the prevalence of burnout symptoms. In our exploratory, crosssectional survey, 261 social and pedagogical specialists participated from Baranya County. Our results suggest that job and task matching problems, and difficulties related to the fieldwork and clients lead to emotional exhaustion of professionals and decreased work efficiency. Deficiencies related to work motivation cause loss of efficiency as well. The results also indicate that out of the three occupational groups involved in the research, professionals working in the field of child protection are most at risk for emotional exhaustion, and the symptom of depersonalization is most relevant to child protection and family and child welfare workers. In addition, we have shown that longer professional experience can be considered a protective factor in burnout symptoms. Our results can make an important contribution to the establishment of individual and organizational level training, support, development, monitoring and evaluation programs and/or policy-level guidelines and interventions that can improve the working conditions of professionals and reduce their risk of emotional, mental and physical strain.
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Online activities of Alzheimer Cafes in the 6 months preceding and following the coronavirus outbreak
19-41Views:291Alzheimer Cafés may play an important psychosocial supporting role in the life of people living with dementia and of their family caregivers by providing a community of understanding, inclusion, solidarity and mutual support. They can promote policy-, professional- and social discourses, the recognition of dementia as a social reality, and overall awareness of this complex challenge. They can also foster transdisciplinary collaboration among professionals as well as between professionals and lay people affected by dementia based on mutual understanding, catalysing the formation and operation of acting communities and networks of interest.
The active and purposeful presence and activities of Alzheimer Cafés on Internet platforms, in the increasingly prominent channels and fields of social discourse and community life in the 21st century, can be an important tool in the realization of these benefits.
This two-part paper analyses the publicly accessible online footprint and behaviour of Alzheimer Cafés from this perspective as measured by a list of 10 possible functions. It scrutinizes the realisation of possible benefits and advantages offered by Internet platforms between September 2019 and August 2020, with a special focus on technology-based adaptive responses to the coronavirus-outbreak midway through that period.
This first part of the paper, which briefly overviews the Alzheimer Café concept and its history in Hungary, and then presents the methodology of the study and the first half of the research results. The second part of the paper will continue to present the results, and will make recommendations for making more effective use of the potential of online platforms to realise the goals.
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Online activities of Alzheimer Cafes in the 6 months preceding and following the coronavirus outbreak
42-64Views:276Alzheimer Cafés may play an important psychosocial supporting role in the life of people living with dementia and of their family caregivers by providing a community of understanding, inclusion, solidarity and mutual support. They can promote policy-, professional- and social discourses, the recognition of dementia as a social reality, and overall awareness of this complex challenge. They can also foster transdisciplinary collaboration among professionals as well as between professionals and lay people affected by dementia based on mutual understanding, catalysing the formation and operation of acting communities and networks of interest.
The active and purposeful presence and activities of Alzheimer Cafés on Internet platforms, in the increasingly prominent channels and fields of social discourse and community life in the 21st century, can be an important tool in the realization of these benefits.
This two-part paper analyses the publicly accessible online footprint and behaviour of Alzheimer Cafés from this perspective as measured by a list of 10 possible functions. It scrutinizes the realisation of possible benefits and advantages offered by Internet platforms between September 2019 and August 2020, with a special focus on technology-based adaptive responses to the coronavirus-outbreak midway through that period.
The first part of the paper (Kucsera – Holpert 2021) briefly overviewed the Alzheimer Café concept and its history in Hungary, presented the methodology of the study and the first half of the research results. This second part of the paper presents the rest of the results, and makes recommendations for making more effective use of the potential of online platforms to realise the goals.
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Family perspectives for young people growing up in child protection care
67-87Views:381The study examines the factors of family perspectives among vulnerable youths – children and youth living in alternative care – with qualitative method. The target group is children who live in the Hungarian child protection system as juveniles. Children and young people experiencing different family substitute arenas may result in various family perspectives. These family perspectives are examined within a theoretical framework of family sociology and human ecology.We used a complex approach to describe the experiences and changes of these structural and family-replacer dimensions together with their impacts on the family perspective. We have found that the family perspectives of the young people are diverse and their narratives about their visions of the future are often linked to dominant family and life events previously experienced in family milieus and forms of care. At the same time, the complexity of life events and the diversity of future plans are not necessarily reflected in the institutional background and the professional-young relationships that could support young people’s autonomy. Based on the interviews, the family and community levels of the human ecology model can also be a significant factor in young people’s family perspectives, so cooperation between family and community, institutional actors can be one of the keys to providing adequate support for young people. In order to realize future plans for family perspectives, professionals need to focus more on individual needs and the diversity and variability of family perspectives.
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Effectively influence on people: or are helping professionals free to utilize manipulative impacts?
78-108Views:251The economic and political crises of the last two decades have been greatly influenced by the fact
that, impacted by manipulative effects, instead to follow their rational judgements people have
made their decisions under the influence of emotional and instinctive temtation, deception and
manipulation. So far, these manipulative influences dominate contemporary commercial or populist political communication. The paper below shares the author’s hesitation that, while
non-rational factors bias from rational arguing and reasoning, both in decision-making and in
communicative impacts on the other person inevitably present, is it acceptable to manipulate
the users/clients by assisting professionals/social workers while exercising influence on decision-making of their clients? And if so, under what conditions, what specific constraints could be
exercised such impacts and „professional power”? Likewise, when and what can and should be
done to immunize clients against manipulation, to mitigate manipulative effects, to „gain back”
rational mind and „empower” clients to follow rational consideration and make wiser decisions?
The article does not undertake to provide „only” true and correct answers, rather gives insights
and tries to provoke its reader to contribute to clarifying this important issue. -
Reification, child protection in lock-ups
34-46Views:378This paper examines how the child protection system can address the problems of children and young adults, compensate for childhood disadvantage and promote successful social integration. To what extent are the professional means available within the state structure to achieve all these goals - as declared in the Child Protection Act of 1997. The interpretation of solidarity as a value in child protection is clear, since child protection aims to improve the situation of families affected by child protection problems and to promote their healthy personal development. The study, based on interviews with professionals and experts and a short case study, draws attention to the shortcomings and limitations of the system.
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Help professionals in schools and in local communities, with a particular focus on mental health
161-185Views:185This study was conducted as part of a larger research project aimed at gaining a detailed understanding of rural elementary schools in disadvantaged areas and their environment to formulate recommendations for their development. This paper summarizes international and Hungarian literature that presents the work and methods of professionals working in small settlements, as well as programs targeting disadvantaged children and young people living there, with a particular focus on mental health and school inclusion. The target group belongs to the most vulnerable in society, as they have to face complex problems at a very early age. With this in mind, we have divided the study into two main sections. In the first part, we emphasize the power of community cooperation in and outside of school, presenting practices on both national and international level. In the second section, we present a specific problem that strongly affects the target group, namely alcoholism and substance abuse, and its impact on children’s lives and mental health. The main conclusion of the study is that if we want to improve their living conditions, school performance, and mental health, we need complex, multi-professional cooperation and intervention as early as possible.
