The focus of the study in the master's thesis is the analysis of the situation in the protected wards and the review of work with people admitted in the protected wards of social welfare institutions. In the theoretical introduction, I present the concept of mental health followed by the legal basis for implementing institutional care in protected wards. Through related literature, I discuss methods and concepts of social work with people with mental health problems. Furthermore, I discuss a more detailed composition of the individual plan which is the basis for the implementation of activities aimed at pursuing the goals of the admitted person.
In the research, I included social welfare institutions (retirement homes and special social welfare institutions) with protected wards under the Mental Health Act (2008). The research I made is descriptive and quantitative. I obtained the answers with the help of a questionnaire and processed and presented them with graphs and tables. The thesis contains nine sets: general information, admission, and admitted people, staff, the concept of work, individual plan, daily activities, cooperation between institutions, dismissals, and proposals.
It turned out that social welfare institutions with departments for people with mental health problems are busier than departments for people who need partial or complete help and supervision due to the consequences of a decline in cognitive functions. In most cases, people are placed in protected wards by a court decision. In most cases, social welfare institutions cooperate with third parties in the placement. Social welfare institutions express a small need for additional staff in protected wards. Social welfare institutions participate in training, consultations, and congresses once a year. They exchange information about users very differently – from once a week to once a year. In inter-institutional cooperation, most times once to twice a year. Most social welfare institutions operate according to the concept of normalization and more than half of them are evaluate individual plans at least every six months. Only half of the social welfare institutions provide different activities during the stay in the wards and before the dismissal. Most of the people went to the open ward of the same institution after being released from the protected ward.
Proposals include verification of all protected wards, consideration of the development of protected wards, the increase of the influence of people on personal development, socialization outside the institution, and sexual life. There should be an individual plan in a partially structured or open manner. Social welfare institutions could also include the macro level of the user's life when preparing the plan. The possibility of carrying out daily activities outside the institution should be improved. Social welfare institutions should participate in training and consultations more regularly. They should also exchange information on users more regularly and be more consistent with inter-institutional cooperation. Above all, it turned out that dementia should be addressed in a special chapter of the Mental Health Act.
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