I have always had an interest in working with children and adolescents, which was confirmed during my internship at the CONA Most Day Centre. I have noticed that the surveys used for evaluations often do not reflect the actual needs of the users, as the answers are mostly positive. Therefore, in my master’s thesis entitled 'The needs of children and adolescents in the CONA Most programme', I decided to explore the needs of children and adolescents in this day centre and to identify which areas would need more support in order to improve the programme and create a more pleasant environment for the users. In the theoretical part, I first introduced what adolescence is and what characterises it. I then focused on the protective and risk factors that characterise childhood and adolescence. Next, I touched on social protection and social policy, describing social work centres and their tasks and roles. Later, I also describe social work with youth, with a special mention of prevention programmes for youth. In this chapter, I also describe the CONA programme itself. Finally, I have explored human needs, drawing on the theories of Maslow, Alderfer, Max-Neef and McCelland. The methodology of my research was qualitative and empirical, based on verbal descriptions of non-probability convenience sample of children and adolescents attending the CONA Most day centre. I used semi-structured interviews, which allowed me to tailor the questions to the age and language ability of the users, which in turn contributed to a deeper understanding of their needs. I analysed the data using a qualitative method that involved categorisation and coding (open, axial and relational), but the results were specific to the CONA Most programme and could not be generalised to a wider population of children and adolescents. The analysis showed that users mostly found out about CONA Most through friends or family members and attended the programme with varying frequency. For the majority, attendance at the day centre contributed to improving school performance, developing social skills and making leisure time more enjoyable. Users were satisfied with the staff, students and volunteers and the facilities, but also pointed out many shortcomings, such as conflicts and unequal selection of participants in activities. The needs that were the focus of the discussion were illustrated through Maslow's eight-stage hierarchy of needs and interpreted through relational links across the three age groups. I divided the suggestions themselves into two groups. The first group addressed the findings of the analysis, where I highlighted the need for more user involvement in the planning of activities, regular discussions about user needs, improving the individual approach to learning support, fairer selection of participants in activities and the need for an outdoor garden to improve the well-being of the children. The second group was based on my own experience as a volunteer in a day centre, where I suggested closer cooperation between parents and the day centre, improving the use of online communication channels and the participation of CONA Most in open days to learn about professions.
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