Elena Vitalijevna KRYSOVA In social services, the concept of “quality” refers to the content, conditions, and outcomes of the service. Social service is an instrument of social security.
According to E. Yarskaya-Smirnova, “quality” can be understood as the correspondence between the ideal image of service expected by all parties and the actual delivery of that service. Each person has their own understanding of “quality,” and therefore the creation of a shared definition or standards for quality service is crucial. The ideal image of quality service is an integrated process, outcome, comparability of objectives and results (effectiveness), and achievement of goals with the least cost (efficiency), including both economic and human costs [1].

The main activity in forming and developing quality management systems in social services is the introduction of standards at social service institutions, regardless of their organizational and legal ownership form.

Russian experience with efforts to improve management quality is reflected in the standardization and quality assurance process in social services. Practical standard development in Russia began in 1997, while the previous phase consisted of scientific research aimed at understanding social service conditions, analysing and reviewing legislation on social services and social security for different groups of people, and studying foreign experience.

The scientific preparation and development of standards were carried out by specialists from Russian State Social University (Moscow), the Family Research Institute, and experts from Technical Committee 406 “Social service.” A framework titled “State standard of quality assurance of social services” was established to plan standard development.

The standardization framework has three groups. The first group deals with basic standards. The second group covers standards for organizational activity, including criteria such as service volume, inspection of organizational work, and requirements for equipment and human resources. The third group focuses on social service quality standards and includes several standards, including “Quality control (quality audit) of social services,” “Order and conditions of social service,” and “Service of dispersal classes.” Authorities from different parts of Russia, delegates from local governments of the Russian Federation, and the social agency participated in creating the standards [2]. After their effectiveness was confirmed, the next stage was preparing social agencies to organize professional activity in compliance with the standards. Two levels of standards exist: national and regional.

Two main activities followed standard adoption: - quality assurance of social services, - and quality management of social services.

The central task of social workers in providing quality services is creating an Agency Quality System. The national standard GOST R 52497-2005, “Social Service. Agency Quality System,” sets requirements for such a system as an institution, identifies the main factors affecting service quality, and prescribes their use in building quality systems within institutions. According to the standard, an Agency Quality System is the totality of its organizational structure (the distribution of responsibility for service quality among employees), rules and methods for ensuring service quality, and processes and resources (human, logistical, informational, and others) used to implement quality administration. The main document of the Agency Quality System is the Quality Manual.

Another important direction is the quality management of social services in social security institutions. Common and specific features of social service quality management include: - Planning and forecasting social service quality; - Accounting for the quality of social services; - Monitoring the quality of social services; - Analysis of social service quality [3].

Quality management of social services includes the following components: 1. Quality planning - determining which quality standards are used in the provision of social services and how to implement them; 2. Quality assurance - carrying out regular comprehensive evaluations to determine whether services meet established quality standards; 3. Monitoring service delivery outcomes to determine compliance with established quality standards and to address the causes of unsatisfactory performance [4].

In some regions of the Russian Federation, ways are being sought to optimize and test technologies aimed at improving the quality of social services. These can be grouped into several areas: 1. Home care by a team of social workers.
This approach uses several social workers, as well as home health care workers and psychologists in state departments of social services, to support elderly and disabled persons. The benefits of home care by a team are clear: - Services tailored to the individual needs of the elderly person; - Creation of conditions that make it possible for elderly people to remain at home longer; - Increased accessibility of social services for older and disabled people; - Improved organization of social workers’ work (better caseload assignment and better working conditions) [5]. 2. Mobile technology for social services - one of the resources for increasing access to social services for older people. Its development plays a significant role in ensuring the rights of older people in remote rural areas to social services [6]. 3. Elderly care within the family.
When developing and implementing strategies for care of older people, great importance is attached to the changing role of the family in providing elderly care and support. In social services this means developing family-based forms of care and providing maximum support to families wishing to care for their elderly relatives at home (psychological support, counselling, and temporary care organization by social workers during family leave periods) [7]. 4. Creating a Methodical Council.
To create conditions and coordinate the development effectiveness of forms of work, as well as to systematically analyze and study the implementation of projects, rehabilitation and psychological programs, and methodological areas in establishing social services for citizens, a methodological council can be created. The council considers proposals from the institution on priority areas of work and develops recommendations and proposals for development projects and methodological directions of the institution [8]. 5. Technology for social services to citizens using the “single pass.”
This technology provides a rapid response to citizens’ complaints and gives them the fullest possible information about available social services in the city. The “One Pass” contains much information on how a social service can be provided quickly to a citizen and is active in all city social service organizations [9]. 6. The technology of the “one window.”
The “one window” technology is a means to improve social service quality and implement the principle of targeted social protection. It involves creating a shared information space that includes all levels of structures involved in social support, from district to regional. Introducing a single application form also means implementing a single workflow system, allowing one set of supporting documents to be used for multiple types of assistance [10]. Under the “one window” principle, this can include not only the provision of social assistance but also coordination of social service delivery. Integration of core urban services - the so-called “Circle of Care” - will strengthen information exchange about the client and provide comprehensive social services by all city agencies [11].

Improved quality is inseparably linked to the updating of social work technologies with clients. Review of regional experience, based on articles in specialized journals, shows that in most cases it is about improving or developing new technologies in social services, rather than purely organizational or administrative aspects.

Summarizing the material reviewed in this paper indicates the difficulties professionals in social work face when aligning activities with quality standards. These include the difficulty of assessing quality categories, because service quality is often dominated by subjective judgments of clients and social workers; a lack of clearly identified criteria for evaluating quality; absence of numerical performance indicators for social workers; and poor material and technical equipment in social service institutions. Nevertheless, it is clear that organizing quality work has helped streamline social service documentation and clarify distribution of responsibility and authority among staff. Future tasks in this area are the development and practical testing of an optimal model for assessing social service quality.

Author: Elena Vitalijevna KRYSOVA
Mari state technical university, Russia
Aspirant Slovak university of technology, Slovakia References:

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[10] Nikonova L.S. Targeted social protection: the experience of municipalities. - Moscow: The Institute for Urban Economics, 2003. – p. 53.
[11] Nikonova L.S. Targeted social protection: the experience of municipalities. - Moscow: The Institute for Urban Economics, 2003. – p. 74.

The lecture was presented at the scientific conference Sociálne služby v regióne. Zborník z vedeckej konferencie, held on 18 November 2010 in Skalica and published in the proceedings of that conference:
MÁTEL, Andrej – KOVAĽOVÁ, Mária – ŠTEPANOVSKÁ, Martina (eds.)
Vydala Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety v Bratislave, ISBN 978-80-970567-0-4, EAN 9788097056704