Kontakt 2024, 26(2):183-190 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2024.030

The competencies and practical activities of social workers in Ústecký region in CzechiaSocial Sciences in Health - Original article

Dita Štyvarová ^*, Miroslav Barták

Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Usti nad Labem, Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, Department of Social Work, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic

Introduction: The main goal of the work is to analyze how social workers identify their specific competencies regarding the general characteristics of the workplace and how they subjectively evaluate their abilities and capabilities to fulfill these competencies in the Ústecký region in Czechia.

Methods: The data were obtained from a combined convenience online and paper-pencil survey. Respondents were employees of the 48 social services organizations in the Ústecký region: 101 females and six males. The one-factor analysis of variance comparing means and two non-parametric tests, the Friedman test and Kendall's W test, was employed, as well as Spearman's rank correlation coefficients for data analysis.

Results: The most significant part of the working time of the respondents is devoted to the administration working with clients. Social workers primarily use communication skills and knowledge of social work methods. On the other hand, they use language skills and research methods sparingly. Respondents recognize the essential skills to solve crises, make quick decisions, and control their emotions. On the other hand, they consider writing project applications, raising money, managing people, and creativity the least necessary skills. The respondents find demanding administration the most difficult. On the other hand, they have the most minor problems with identifying clients' needs, determining the goals and methods to achieve them, and working with clients from different cultural backgrounds. The respondents mostly solve the dilemmas of the number of clients and time constraints of the social worker, as well as practical problem-solving and legislative constraints.

Conclusion: The social workers' activities are divided into administrative and direct work with people. Communication skills and knowledge of social work methods are considered most important for fulfilling professional duties. The possibility of finding quick solutions in a crisis helps them to achieve these duties.

Keywords: Competence; Dilemmas of social work; Skill; Social services; Social work

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. Participation in the study was entirely voluntary. We obtained implied consent from respondents to participate in the research by completing the online questionnaire or returning the paper questionnaire.

Received: September 6, 2023; Revised: February 5, 2024; Accepted: May 6, 2024; Prepublished online: May 17, 2024; Published: May 31, 2024  Show citation