Policies and paradigms of social work. What have we inherited and what will we do with it? – collection of contributions from the conference. Zlín: Tomas Bata University, Faculty of Humanities, 2011. ISBN 978-80-7318-994-5. The Institute of Pedagogical Sciences of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Tomáš Bata in Zlín, in cooperation with the Department of Social Work, Social Sciences and Health Sciences of the University of Konstantin Filozof in Nitra, as well as the Department of Social Work of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague, organized an international scientific conference on the topic "Policies and paradigms of social work. What have we inherited and what will we do with it?". The conference took place on November 24-25, 2010 as the 4th Days of Social Work and continued the tradition established by the Department of Social Work and Social Sciences and Health at the University of Konstantin Filozof in Nitra. The days of social work thus became a traveling conference between universities in Nitra, Zlín and Prague.

The two-day work-scientific international meeting was organized for the purpose of developing mutual cooperation and passing on experience and knowledge from the given field. The main goal of the conference was to present the policies and paradigms of social work with an accent on the reflection of the historical view and the current vision for the next years. The work-scientific meeting consisted of lectures by qualified experts, university workers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the mentioned topic. The contributions presented described and reflected on changes at different levels and from different perspectives. The academic community and the wider professional public thus had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the reform paradigms of social work in its entire breadth. The knowledge and experience of experts were divided into three sub-areas:

  1. Reform paradigm in social work.
  2. International trends and tendencies of social work and social services in connection with the understanding of human dignity.
  3. Clinical social work with victims of domestic violence - practical experience and new challenges.

Social work is a broad field and focuses not only on the social field, but also on the field of education, healthcare, the execution of punishment and the like. The diversity of the contributions at the conference confirmed this breadth. The conference provided the academic community and other experts from the public with an important space for discussion in the field of theoretical starting points of social work in connection with its implementation in practice. Here is a list of the individual contributions presented, sorted by section:

INTRODUCTION

  1. Social workers today and tomorrow: Igor Tomeš
  2. Human rights – equality, justice and solidarity in social work Vojtech Tkáč
  3. Paradigms, theories and approaches in social work: Oldřich Matoušek
  4. Social work and paradigms of social pedagogy: Blahoslav Kraus
  5. Evaluation of psychosocial interventions: Eva Dragomirecká
  6. Continuity of health and social care in theory and practice: Martina Cichá, Zlatica Dorková
  7. Philosophy, ethics and social work: Jaroslav Balvín, Lucia Schwarczová

I. THE REFORM PARADIGM IN SOCIAL WORK

  1. Criticism of T. S. Kuhn's relativism: Alena Minárová
  2. Reform paradigm in the practice of Czech social work: Pavla Kodymová
  3. The way out of poverty: Peter Ďurkovský
  4. Therapeutic paradigm in work with elderly people addicted to alcohol: Ľuba Pavelová, Martina Hrozenská
  5. System of social services in Altavilla Centro Polivalente: Ľuba Pavelová, Martina Hrozenská
  6. Transfer of experience from the center for disadvantaged people Polis Nova, Padua. Italy in modeling approaches to employment of people with severe disabilities: Andrea Juhásová
  7. Work load in a selected group of social workers in connection with burnout syndrome: Anna Bérešová
  8. The relationship between social pedagogy and social work in historical cross-section and in the present: Eva Cisariková

II. INTERNATIONAL TRENDS AND TENDENCIES OF SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL SERVICES RELATED TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN DIGNITY

  1. Human dignity in social work: Jana Gabrielová
  2. Family members as an object of preventive care in the conditions of the Slovak Republic: Markéta Rusnáková
  3. Poverty and ethnicity (research of settlements in the Hornád valley): Michal Kozubík, Katarína Vanková
  4. History of social services in the years 1918 – 1945: Daniela Baková
  5. The issue of children's user rights in a low-threshold facility for children and youth: Eva Raková, Hana Toncrová
  6. Circumstances and conditions of social work with children experiencing domestic violence: Dagmar Marková, Lenka Haburajová-Ilavská, Denisa Juhásová
  7. Palliative and hospice care in the system of social and health services in Slovakia and Europe: Katarína Krellová

III. CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK WITH VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - EXPERIENCES FROM PRACTICE AND NEW CHALLENGES

  1. Social protection and social prevention of children at risk in the Slovak Republic: Michal Oláh, Ivana Mrázková, Jozef Bozik
  2. Child as witness and victim of domestic violence: Daniela Květenská
  3. Fundamental principles of helping survivors of domestic violence: Andrej Mátel, Ladislav Roman, Martina Štepanovská
  4. Civic association Náruč - providing comprehensive care to families at risk of domestic violence: Ľubica Malíková, Eleonóra Nekorancová
  5. Aggressive behavior of spouses from the perspective of a person-centered approach: Zuzana Ďurčeková, Richard Tekel
  6. Partner violence as one of the motivating factors in the treatment of alcohol addiction: Michaela Šavrnochová
  7. The issue of abused convicted women: Ivan Rác
  8. Trends in further education of social workers in the EU context: Emília Janigová, Angela Almašiová

The evaluated works are part of the collection of contributions from the international scientific conference "Policies and paradigms of social work. What we inherited and what will we do with it?", which became a traveling conference between the universities of Nitra, Zlín and Prague. It is held annually for the purpose of developing mutual cooperation and passing on experience and knowledge from the given field. The contributions are thematically dedicated to the given issue and the authors address very current issues in them. Their processing, as well as an individualistic and precise approach to the researched topics, is consistent. The conclusions of individual researches are also useful for theory and practice. It will be possible to view them in the collection, which is available in both printed and electronic form.

PaedDr. Zuzana Birknerová, PhD. FM PU in Prešov