Author: Lucia Drotárová
Publisher: Nakladatelství Epocha, Prague
Year of publication: 2016
Pages: 166 p.
ISBN: 978-80-7557-003-1.
At the beginning, the structure of the monograph
- Possibilities of socio-psychological support for the development of personality of students in helping professions.
- Problems of measuring the effectiveness of activities aimed at developing students’ personalities.
- Personality development within university studies — what do students want?
- What do students truly need?
- Verification of the possibilities of socio-psychological support for developing the creativity of social work students.
- Methodical sheets.
- Course examples.
- List of bibliographic references.
- Information about the author.
There are people in the world who, through their publications, show a gift for creation by not only being able to present their own unique understanding and vision of the investigated reality, but by primarily thinking about the welfare of other people. They write for the elevation and benefit of many minds and spirits.
Such an author is, in our view, Mgr, Lucia Drotárová, PhD, from the Department of Christian Anthropology and Social Work, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Prešov University. Whatever she does in university-level pedagogical, research, and scientific activity, she does it spontaneously and selflessly for the development of students. In her publications, she expresses her own professional and scientific level as well as human warmth and spontaneity. For this reason, it is only natural that her publications address many readers among both professionals and laypeople. The author of the reviewed book has the ability for creative and effective practical counseling and therapeutic work, which she also puts to use in social and psychological counseling for students of the Social Work study program.
With the book that is the subject of this review, the author created an important portfolio for scientific research in the field of social work and likewise for higher-education preparation of professionals in helping professions, especially social work. Her authorship and pedagogical contribution to the preparation, implementation, and evaluation of numerous practical teaching hours for students is invaluable. The goal of the author’s educational activities analyzed in the publication is to shape students’ professional competencies. Systematic and purposeful university professionalization of students, whose integral part is personality development, follows from the requirements of work in social work and other helping professions.
We can express the scientific, research, pedagogical, and social significance of the monograph in words that the author herself states at the beginning: “Becoming a teacher or social worker is easy. Training teachers or social workers is also. Becoming a good worker in a helping profession means meeting and continuously developing throughout life the difficult-to-measure demands placed on personality. Being such a good worker is a great effort, striving, and a gift. To train and to shape good social workers too.” We share this view.
The monograph by Mgr. Lucia Drotárová, PhD, can be classified among the most necessary, sophisticated, and erudite works in the field of social work and university pedagogy. The text is empathetic to university teachers working in helping-professions preparation and, above all, to students as future professionals. Through research findings, the author demonstrates that students are interested in activities focused on personality development — from optional tasks in regular class hours to long-term targeted courses. For this purpose, she created unique methodological sheets and has also designed and long-term implemented social educational and psychological courses for students at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Prešov University, with a focus on developing professional competencies for the social work field. The course concept is also suitable for preparing specialists in other helping professions.
The creative work of Mgr. Lucia Drotárová, PhD., evident from both the content and the way of processing the reviewed monograph, is testimony to the author’s exceptional talent in preparing and implementing innovative and original teaching and scientific-research contents and methods in higher education. Likewise, it is worth highlighting the professional work and educational context of the publication’s creation. We do not doubt that both the author’s scientific and pedagogical activity and her experiences in providing socio-psychological counseling through the Psychological Laboratory at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Prešov University, in Prešov are reflected in its content and form.
We consider the monograph by Mgr. Lucia Drotárová, PhD., to be a significant innovative authorial contribution to the portfolio of science, research, university teaching activity, and practical instruction of students in social work and also other professionals in helping professions. The activities are sought out by students and have a strong impact on them.
The author presents original scientific-research justification, content, procedures, implementation and assessment methods of psychological educational activities within university professional preparation for helping professions. She empirically verified socio-psychological support for the development of creativity in a cohort of university students in social work and justified, designed, and used creative methods and content in teaching. She then evaluated and analyzed their impact on both personal and socio-psychological competence of university students. These competencies are significant for qualified performance in helping professions.
The monograph by Mgr. Lucia Drotárová, PhD., is an exceptionally creative and erudite realization of the integration of theoretical, research, and educational models of preparing students for performing a profession in helping professions. It introduces original innovations into university preparation and the professionalization of specialists for helping professions.