In this master's thesis, I studied challenges of personal planning in nursery homes. In the theoretical part, I presented the method of personal planning, its development through history, the formulation of a personal plan, personal planning in nursery homes, and the role of a social worker in personal planning. In the empirical part, I conducted interviews to study what challenges social workers face when adopting the method of personal planning in nursery homes. When examining the topic, I used the qualitative method, as described by Mesec, Rape Žiberna, and Rihter (2009). I wanted to determine how personal planning is conducted in nursery homes, what problems social workers face when implementing personal plans in nursery homes, and how they face this challenge. I also sought to find out what type of support social workers would require in relation to personal planning and what the role of social work is in nursery homes. The results showed that, in most of the cases, personal planning in nursery homes is conducted by filling in forms and that the role of users is insignificant. The goals of residents are normally modest and set within their nursery home. Social workers working in nursery homes face many problems, especially the lack of time and staff, from where stem some other difficulties, such as problems with setting and realising goals connected to personal planning. In addition, social workers face many difficulties when it comes to cooperating with residents, especially those who have problems with communication—for instance, residents with dementia—and problems related to the cooperation with relatives when necessary. Some social workers also pointed out that they have to perform tasks that are not essentially in scope of their work as social workers, which additionally takes a lot of their time that they could otherwise devote to social work and personal planning. During the COVID-19 crisis, they had to undertake even more tasks. The role of social work is still not fully recognised in some nursery homes, and in some, the role of medical staff prevails. I determined that many problems of social workers related to personal planning are connected with the lack of staff and the lack of time for work. Most of the respondents would want to take part in training related to personal planning, and some also pointed out that personal planning should be a mandatory subject on the Faculty of Social Work, as some of the respondents could not attend such subject while studying. Most of all, the respondents feel the need for additional staff, as this way they could devote more time to residents. I also determined that the establishment of centres for gerontology or regional entry points for applicants for nursery homes would disburden social workers in terms of managing application forms.
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