This master's thesis addresses the issue of working with PAS users in educational institutions and residential groups, since they are primarily intended for adolescents with emotional and behavioural disorders and thus do not use suitable approaches to work with PAS users.
The theoretical part is dedicated to statistical data on the use of PAS among the general population and the population of educational institutions, PAS legislation in Slovenia, the types of PAS use, as well as safety and risk factors. The characteristics of educational institutions, their population and their method of working are also presented. In addition, general methods of working with PAS users are presented, as well as how users within prisons and educational institutions are dealt with in Slovenia and abroad. I was particularly interested in how users of PAS are dealt with in Slovenian educational institutions.
The purpose of the empirical part of the thesis is to determine how the use of PAS affects the treatment of adoloscents in educational institutions, how they work with PAS users, what are the examples of good practice, how to work with external organizations, and what are the goals in working with PAS users. My goal is to raise awareness amongst social pedagogues and other professional staff of the issue of working with PAS users in educational institutions, to present opportunities for cooperation with external organizations and to find ways of how the current situation can be improved. I used a qualitative approach in my research, which included 6 educators from four different educational institutions and 2 external experts from organizations collaborating with educational institutions in working with PAS users.
According to the interviewees, the use of PAS is common among adolescents in educational institutions. This has a negative impact on working with the youths that use PAS, as well as other adolescents in the institution. The interviewees work with PAS users in educational institutions in different ways, but a concrete work program is set up in only one of the participating institutions. In addition to work within the institution, cooperation with external organizations is also present in most of the participating institutions. The external organizations offer individual or group treatment, work with the family or work with employees of the educational institutions. According to the interviewees, the ideal goal in working with users would be to achieve abstinence, but other goals such as harm reduction, safe use and the readiness of a youth to live outside of the institution are also present. Otherwise, according to the results of the research, there is no suitable program in Slovenia for the treatment of adolescents that are addicted to PAS.
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