THE CONCEPT OF EMPOWERMENT AS A FRAMEWORK FOR QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN SOCIAL WORK
Keywords:
social work, empowerment, quality and effectiveness of social workAbstract
Empowerment is defined as a term that has broad application in many scientific and societal fields. For the past several decades, much research has been conducted in the field leading to conceptual clarification and development of both theory and practice in the field of empowerment and social work. Different understandings, applications and tools to assess of empowerment are available. It is defined as a goal, a process and an outcome and a model involving different levels of realization: individual, organizational and community, which are interrelated, dependent and complementary.
The theme of empowerment is intensely present in discussions and policies in the social sphere, globally and nationally. Current changes in social legislation are directed and focused on achieving high quality and efficiency of social work. This raises the question of the relationship between the implementation of an empowering approach and the effectiveness of social work. Both concepts are debatable in terms of nature and evaluation.
The article presents the results of a theoretical analysis of normative documents and literature on the subject. The aim is to examine the essence of empowerment as a conceptual framework in social work and outline the main characteristics of quality and effectiveness. This directs research inquiry into both the theory and practice of empowerment and the criteria for quality and effectiveness of social work. The results of the study define the empowerment approach in social work as the basis for achieving quality and efficiency. The analysis identifies the principles and conditions for the implementation of quality and effective social support for vulnerable individuals, groups and communities. The application of an empowering approach is based on the fundamental rights of the client in social work, namely to be the subject of his own life and an active participant in the process of planning, providing and evaluating his care. In an organizational and managerial aspect, this determines the need to change the focus - from the quality of care to the quality of life, which is related to overcoming various challenges and requires both a thorough analysis of the specific conditions and the construction of relevant evaluation criteria and measures
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