Social work is defined by the authors as the art of helping, the profession of solidarity and support. It explores the importance of relationships and human behaviour, and, in constant collaboration with the client, designs a unique working project. At each encounter, the project is renewed, reviewed, reflected upon and possible steps towards achievable goals are redefined. All this happens together with the client, who is an equally active participant in the process. The definition of the social work profession may seem meaningful, humane, and empathetic, but the social work profession in a way that meets all the criteria of successful practice can be burdensome or leave the professional in the dark about how to carry out successful practice.
In the theoretical section of the master's thesis, I will examine social work practice, the problems social workers encounter in their practice, and the criteria that are cited in the literature as requirements for successful practice. Later, I continue with strategies for maintaining successful social work practice, methods used by different institutions to explore and strengthen their successful work.
In the empirical part of the master's thesis, I present the results of a qualitative study. I explored a successful social work practice by interviewing 9 social workers from the Gorenjska region. I qualitatively processed relevant themes and obtained results on the factors, criteria and conditions for a successful social work practice, as well as strategies for evaluating a successful practice. The social workers mentioned the following factors for a successful practice: the relationship, the client and their potential for change, working methods such as strengthening the social network and a strengths-based perspective, the social worker factor, social changes, institutions, empowerment, and positive promotion of the profession. According to the research, the criteria for a successful practice are client feedback on the process and outcomes of the collaboration, and, conditionally, the final outcome of the collaboration. Conditions for a successful social work practice include professional growth, professional knowledge, professional work within the institution, supervision and intervision, as well as space and time for collaboration. Strategies for evaluating a successful practice include evaluation of professional work, official evaluation strategies of the institution, and supervision or intervision.
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