Research aimed at evaluating the activities of municipal social workers in relation to the structure and needs of their clients

Number:
IP70714
RILSA Principal investigator:
prof. PhDr. Libor Musil, CSc.
RILSA Co-investigator:
Mgr. Jana Havlíková, Ph.D., Mgr. Olga Hubíková, Ph.D.
Grant provider:
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic
Recipient:
Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs (RILSA)
Project start:
2022
Project end:
2024
Description:

Social workers of municipal authorities offer professional help and support to people in a wide range of unfavorable social situations. For some of them, the one-time provision of adequate information or help is essential, for others, longer-term (continuous) cooperation is needed. From a macro-level perspective, it is essential to monitor this activity in the context of the impact on clients, the involvement of various social workers and reporting.

Through the implementation of this project, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will obtain the missing data, which will be a basis for any proposals for changes and which can be used for methodological and conceptual work, as well as for the comparison of the performance of social work in the transferred jurisdiction in individual territories.

The deepening research and analytical works will also bring more detailed knowledge: about what social constructs of life situations the municipal social workers are based on, how the choosing of the method of assistance provided and its content depends on them; about the structure of clients’ needs (i.e. a comprehensive description of the situation of clients who turn to social workers in municipalities and with what needs); and about the approaches of social workers to keeping records of work with the clients, the degree of reliability of the records will also be addressed.

The research will therefore enable an evaluation of the performance of the social workers of municipal authorities, among other things, in relation to the structure and needs of their clientele. An integral part will be recommendations for keeping records and their further use beyond the scope of direct work with the client, e.g. for evaluating and determining the adequate number of social workers at the municipal office or determining the number of clients per one social worker.
 
 



 
Outputs

 

HAVLÍKOVÁ, Jana, Olga HUBÍKOVÁ & Robert TRBOLA, 2024. 10 years of struggling with the Standardized social worker record. RILSA Policy Briefs, 3.

HAVLÍKOVÁ, Jana & Olga HUBÍKOVÁ, 2024. Risks as an overlooked part of the social work profession. RILSA Policy Briefs, 4.

Conference Gratias “Social work as a profession of the future”. 19 March, 2024

Presentation “The situation of social work in municipal authorities: the incommensurability of the requirements and conditions of its performance” (only in CZE). Jana Havlíková, Olga Hubíková (RILSA)

Audiovisual recording of the conference.

 

HUBÍKOVÁ, Olga, Jana HAVLÍKOVÁ, Robert TRBOLA & Melanie ZAJACOVÁ, 2023. Social work in municipal authorities. Praha: RILSA. (only in CZE)

HAVLÍKOVÁ, Jana, Olga HUBÍKOVÁ & Robert TRBOLA, 2023. Standardized social worker record for non-anonymous clients. Suggestions for modifications to increase its usability in the practice of social work carried out in the delegated responsibilities at municipal authorities. Praha: RILSA.

Workshop of the project “Research aimed at evaluating the activities of municipal social workers in relation to the structure and needs of their clients”. 24 October 2023

Prezentation “Keeping records of social workers of municipal authorities” (only in CZE). Libor Musil, Olga Hubíková, Jana Havlíková, Robert Trbola (RILSA)