Information and communication technologies in interventions of Czech social workers when dealing with vulnerable children and their families

ABSTRACT

The topic of informatization and digitization of social work is a new phenomenon bringing new challenges that need to be dealt with. However, in the Czech Republic, the processes of informatization, digitization and e-social work may still look like grey zones. This article presents the result of one of the first Czech studies whose aim was to find out how social workers interpret the impacts of the use of information and communication technologies on social work. The goal of the research was to find out how the ongoing process of informatization permeates the Czech social work aimed at the target group of vulnerable children and their families. The authors have applied a qualitative research strategy in this research project using semi-structured interviews as the technique of data collection. The utilization of this technique has enabled them to obtain information from 25 social workers. The interviews have been analysed using the procedures of situational analysis. When interpreting the results, the authors focused on the area of communication where information and communication technologies are used, which social workers considered crucial.

SHRNUTÍ

Téma informatizace a digitalizace sociální práce je novým fenoménem přinášejícím výzvy, na které je nutno reagovat. V České republice je však proces informatizace, digitalizace a e-sociální práce dosud tzv. bílým místem. Příspěvek předkládá výsledky jednoho z prvních českých výzkumů, jehož cílem bylo zjistit, jak sociální pracovníci interpretují dopady využívání informačních a komunikačních technologií na realizaci intervencí sociální práce. Cílem realizovaného výzkumu bylo zjistit, jak probíhající proces informatizace prostupuje českou sociální práci zaměřenou na cílovou skupinu ohrožených dětí a jejich rodin. V rámci výzkumu byla uplatněna kvalitativní výzkumná strategie. Za využití techniky sběru dat polostrukturovaných interview byly získány informace od 25 sociálních pracovníků. Interview byla analyzována za využití situační analýzy. V rámci interpretace výsledků byla pozornost zacílena na oblast komunikace s využitím informačních a komunikačních technologií, která se v získaných datech jevila pro sociální pracovníky jako klíčová.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• informatization
• digitization
• information and communication technologies
• children and families

KlÍČOVÁ SLOVA:

• Sociální práce
• informatizace
• digitalizace
• informační a komunikační technologie
• děti a rodiny

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Adéla Recmanová is a PhD student in the field of social work at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. In her research, she deals with the consequences of modernization for society and social work, and specifically with the process of informatization.

Soňa Vávrová works at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava, where she is the vice-dean for science and research and coordinator of the postgraduate study subject of social work. Her research focuses on the role of social work and status of social workers in social services, quality of social services and the process of their transformation associated with deinstitutionalization.

Notes

1 By intervention we mean, in a general sense, any professional intervention of a social worker for the benefit of the user of social services.

2 We selected three topics of semi-structured interviews: (1) how social workers use ICT in their work with users of social services; (2) how ICT influences the way of communication between social workers and users of social services; (3) what is the role of ICT in shaping relationship between social workers and users of social services.

3 In Figure 2 and the following text, we use the term ‘user/s’. When talking of ‘user/s’, we mean user/s of social services.

4 We marked individual informants with capital letters (A through Y). After the authentic sayings in italics, we have placed an abbreviation of the informant and the number of the paragraph in the transcribed text.

5 The searched key words : informatization, social work, information society, ICT, information and communication technologies. The period: 2012–2016

6 The sources: Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA); WorldCat; EBSCO Discovery Service

7 The sources: ANL – articles in Czech newspapers, journals and anthologies; Jednotná informační brána (JIB).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the project University of Ostrava - studentská grantová soutěž specifického vysokoškolského výzkumu (SGS02/FSS/2017).