The theoretical introduction to the Master's Thesis presents the concept of an emergency, continues with the description of natural and other disasters in Slovenia and defines the time when emergencies were already declared in Slovenia in the past. The central part of the theoretical introduction focuses on social work in emergencies. This chapter touches on the basic principles of social work during emergencies as well as theories and methods of social work applied during emergencies. The last part of the theoretical introduction describes the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a short chapter is dedicated to social work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Master's Thesis resulted from the participation in the Social Work during Covid-19 research, which was carried out at the Faculty of social work. The empirical part of the Thesis presents the findings of the qualitative research which deals with how the work at social work centres was carried out, how professional workers organised themselves and how they established contact with users. Interviews were conducted in 16 areal regions of social work centres that emerged after reorganisation. It was established that the manner of performing social work and availability of individual social work centres differed. Availability and performance also varied according to the first and second waves of the epidemic. Professional workers established contacts with users in various ways, most frequently via a telephone conversation or the use of ICT.
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