The central theme of the master's thesis is research into the quality of working life and the role of social workers in homes for the elderly. In the theoretical part, I initially touched on the topic of social work and the field of social work only. This is followed by a theoretical part about age and aging, social welfare services and institutional care. In the end, I focused on the role and tasks of social workers in homes for the elderly and the quality of working life, stress at the workplace and supervision.
I conducted the research with the help of a survey questionnaire. Social workers employed in homes for the elderly in Slovenia participated in the research. I found that the role of the social worker is important but still underappreciated. There are too few social workers employed in the homes to be able to perform the tasks that a social worker is supposed to perform. They devote most of their time to administration and thus lack time for the residents, who are a very important part of the homes. Social workers are to a greater extent psychologically exhausted, yet they successfully balance work and family life.
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