Adolescents - target group?

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Jana Bajusová - Dušan Šlosár

The integration of immigrants into society is currently of interest to many professionals and to the general public. Immigration is a consequence of a variety of factors, mainly due to political, social, economic or security conditions in the countries of origin. Immigration is subsequently linked to the process of integrating immigrants into the host country. The integration of immigrants into society or integration, as this process is called in the monograph, is a complex phenomenon that extends to many spheres of everyday life for the citizens of the receiving country, and at the same time is often difficult for immigrants. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations are involved in the process of social integration of immigrants, who develop different strategies and mechanisms to streamline the outcome of this process.

In relation to immigrants, the Slovak Republic is bound to provide social and legal protection and therefore it is necessary to deal with the issue of social services, which could potentially significantly contribute to their social integration into Slovak society. From the legislative point of view, however, these services are unified and do not take into account the differences of immigrants resulting from their culture, religion, social, ethical or other characteristics. That is why the monograph focuses on social integration of immigrants in Slovakia in the context of provided social services.

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Magdaléna Hovanová (ed.)

The collection of works originated from the event of the eighteenth annual nationwide Student Scientific and Professional Activity (ŠVOČ) in the field of social work, which took place on May 12, 2022. It was organizationally overseen by the Department of Social Work of the Faculty of Arts at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.

Every year, this event provides an opportunity for selected top students—future professionals in social work—to meet, as well as a chance to present the level of their knowledge and their ability to apply theoretical insights and acquired skills to future social work practice.

The contributions in this collection address topics such as the risks of modern technologies in the context of social work, social support and risk factors within families in the context of adolescent radicalization processes, the issue of cyberbullying in elementary schools, Ukrainian student migration in Slovakia, factors influencing job satisfaction among social workers, and the social support of families as clients of social work during the current pandemic situation.

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Vladimír Lichner - Dušan Šlosár

The scientific monograph focuses on the issue of adolescent risk behaviors on the internet in the form of its problematic use in the context of valid theories and practices of a social work. Text of the monograph is divided into four parts.

The first part focuses on the multidisciplinary definition of a risk behavior on the internet. It offers an up-to-date literary overview of the issue through the latest, especially foreign, theoretical knowledge.

The second part focuses on the problematic use of the internet in contexts of valid origins of the social work. The third part focuses on the presentation of the most important psychosocial factors correlating with the problematic internet use in the adolescent´s group. The theoretical knowledge is supplemented by the authors research into the present factors.

The final part is application-oriented and focuses on the possibilities that the social work offers at the praxis level to prevent and solve the presented problems.

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Soňa Lovašová

If we were to conduct a study on the popularity of subjects among social work students, the subjects of Research Methodology and Statistics would likely rank low on the list. It is precisely the lack of popularity of research methodology among students that led to the preparation of this textbook. The stylistic approach of this text was chosen with the intention of introducing the fundamentals of methodology to students encountering it for the first time, without alienating methodologists. The text primarily serves as a teaching aid for the course "Exercise in Research Methodology" and the seminars "Bachelor Thesis Seminar" and "Master's Thesis Seminar." Throughout the entire textbook, examples and case studies are interwoven and visually highlighted. The text endeavors to address the fundamental question that is key to motivating and understanding the essence of research methodology: why is research necessary for social workers? The aim of the textbook is to facilitate students' preparation for the Research Methodology course and to enhance their understanding of the basics of research methodology.

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Lucia Tóthová - Dušan Šlosár

The publication "Manifestations of Radicalism and Extremism in Social Relations" is an input analysis of the individual areas that the authors want to focus on in their research activities in the study of radicalism and extremism. The context of the study is in the possibility of social work in influencing radical and extremist tendencies in those areas that we can designate as working fields of social work.

The authors of the individual papers focus on the theoretical definition of extremism and radicalism, types and forms of extremism, factors affecting the formation of the radical and extremist thoughts, focusing on specific target groups (especially youth) and the role of social work in the issue of radicalism and extremism, and they also represent the results of research in the field.

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Dušan Šlosár - Vladimír Lichner

This university textbook aims to provide readers with knowledge of the philosophical foundations, meaning, and purpose of mediation, based on research and analysis of mediators' activities. In countries where mediation services operate, their staff often include graduates of social work departments.

An individual approach to both the perpetrator and victim of a criminal offense requires knowledge and skills from social work, psychology, sociology, communication, and related fields tied to social work. The principles of social work apply not only in social policy and social care but also in justice. A mediator’s mission is to facilitate alternative resolutions to unlawful acts while preserving the purpose of legal proceedings as defined by valid legal norms. They fulfill this mission through specific methods of individual social work applied in the justice sector. The mediator’s focus extends beyond the current conflict to uncover related issues, activate parties to resolve disputes, and prevent new conflicts.

Special attention is devoted to the philosophical foundations of mediation in Slovakia. We provide an overview of mediators’ core activities and mediation types used to uphold justice in Slovakia. We analyze mediation goals, the roles of parties involved, and procedural steps. In applying mediation, we explore its potential and implementation in both legal and social work contexts.

As indicated, mediation cannot be understood solely as a specialized activity in criminal justice, as it has broader applications in non-judicial dispute resolution, such as family or community work, which are often overlooked by the public. The mediator’s approach to diverse target groups is grounded in theoretical frameworks. From this foundation, we derive activities expected of mediators in the future. Expanded activities arise from concrete situations encountered during mediation.

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Lukáš Šutor (ed.)

The proposed anthology represents for many doctoral students their first entry into the publishing environment of scientific genres. The studies in such cases contain the essence of future dissertation works, which represent the creative pinnacle of doctoral studies. In addition to providing doctoral students with the opportunity to publish scientific outputs, we also consider the anthology a space for interdisciplinary encounters and mutual enrichment. However, interdisciplinarity is not merely a characteristic of the anthology as a whole but also of some studies.

Most notable interdisciplinary approaches are observed in literary studies. The traditional subject of research into artistic texts is enriched in individual studies by examining theatrical and film works (Peter Getlík), linguistic aspects of phrasemes (Ivana Hudiková), musical elements (Terézia Kulíková), visual art (Dominika Petáková), and digital spaces of new media (Alexandra Popovičová). From other disciplines, we highlight Miroslava Süčová Vernarská’s study, which extends psychological research into sociological and linguistically communicative contexts (the concept of metaphor), or conversely, Zuzana Šoltésová and Dušan Šlosár’s contribution, analyzing eating disorders from their disciplinary background in social work.

Both mentioned disciplines also include contributions with traditional research subjects. Nikola Fabiny from psychology analyzes consequence expectations in the context of goal selection and achievement. Jana Plavnická and Dušan Šlosár’s co-authored study from the Department of Social Work presents a multi-perspective analysis of integration barriers for immigrants in Slovakia. Within their own disciplines, both philosophy contributions operate: Juraj Brenišin interprets the ethical aspects of Avicbron’s Fons vitæ, while Michal Kručko examines Edmund Husserl’s unfinished work through a comparative lens of his students Jan Patočka and Roman Ingarden. The anthology concludes with Lukáš Lukačín’s study (written in English), which explores the semantic-grammatical category of modality in the verbs MAY and CAN within legal-administrative documents of the European Union.

The representation of academic disciplines and doctoral students’ individual creative outputs in Doktorandské miscelaneá 4 is thus appropriately diverse. We present this publication to the broader academic community as a representative overview of trends in young scholars’ thinking across the spectrum of humanities and social sciences doctoral programs at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ in Košice.

Lukáš Šutor

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Lenka Pčolinská

The university textbook "Social Economics and Social Entrepreneurship" presents the issue of the social economy from a complex point of view and it is the first university textbook focused on the topic of social economy in Slovakia. Its aim is to contribute to the understanding of the concept of social economy, its development, basic conceptual apparatus, legislative anchoring and practical realities of social economics and social enterprises in Slovakia. The textbook discusses the basic legislative principles that need to be known when establishing a social enterprise.

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Stanislav Hvozdík 

Obdobie staršej dospelosti je aj pre psychológiu príležitosť urobiť syntézu svojej prírodovednej tradície a filozofickej tradície. Psychológia sa takto môže lepšie napojiť na mentálnu prácu ľudí žijúcich toto vekové obdobie staršej dospelosti usilujúcich v rozličnej miere o  komplexicitu vo svojom živote. Psychológia môže pomôcť tomuto úsiliu, pretože celistvosť človeka je aj programom jej rozvoja. Publikácia rozpoznáva seniora  nie len ako objekt, ale aj ako subjekt usilujúci o svoju podmetovosť na jeho celoživotnej ceste. Priatie veku hľadá svoje optimálne vyjadrenie a je možné najmä v súvsťažností psychologického a spirituálneho vývinu človeka. Psychológia staršieho človeka objavuje starobu nie ako totalitu vyraďujúcu človeka  z cyklu života, ale ako obdobie výberu pre život dôležitých domén spojených s preladením do vnútra, ktoré doceňuje pokoj. V tejto optike sa selektujú veci a javy tak aby nerušili, ale harmonizovali. To nie je odmietnutie vonkajšieho, ale rozlíšenie kedy dáva zmysel. Staroba preveruje aj spoločnosť , verejnosť, ktorá by mala odrážať úroveň procesov starostlivosti o duševno. Aby svet urobilo užitočným pre človeka, ale je aj dôvodom ako to vyjadril Patočka samotnej starostlivosti o toto duševno. Pozícia starého človeka v spoločnosti je obrazom toho akú váhu spoločnosť prikladá duševnému životu ľudí. Publikácia prináša poznatky psychologickej povahy o tomto vekovom období a v špeciálnej časti informácie okolo pomáhania a poradenstva. 

Autor

E-book

Katarína Šiňanská

The presented university textbook deals with various views on the issue of youth work in the non-governmental non-profit sector, with which the area of social work or other helping professions is closely connected. It offers theoretical analysis as a basic theoretical framework of the issue, which is necessary to know during the study and in the performance of the practice in the helping profession.

It also offers an application through practical demonstrations. The area of youth work is frequent in the non-profit sector. Many diverse activities and projects are being developed based on the basic concept of empowerment. Their aim is to involve young people as much as possible in public life. In addition, with a specific focus on those young people who are struggling with some form of disadvantage.

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Pavol Kačmár - Jozef Bavoľár - Ladislav Lovaš (eds.)

This publication introduces a body of papers presented at scientific conference Work And Organizational Psychology that took place on May 23 and 24 in Košice. The theme of the conference was Past, Present, and Challenges to the Future. All papers were peer-reviewed.

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Magdaléna Hovanová - Dušan Šlosár

The monograph deals with the issue of social protection of the family, where the basis is a view of the family as a natural part of human and social life. The starting point is provided by the institutes that create and structure it, influence its value orientation, the development of social relations within the family, but also relations to the social environment.

In broader contexts, the monographic treatment of social protection provides the results of transdisciplinary knowledge. It deals with the work of helping professionals with functional and non-functional families and families with special needs. It offers problem solving through tailored methods, techniques, procedures and measures used by various helping professions in the field of social protection and social guardianship.

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Katarína Šiňanská, Lucia Tóthová, Tomáš Šeďo

Každý človek má potreby – od tých najzákladnejších, ako je jedlo a bezpečie, až po potrebu lásky, uznania a sebarealizácie, teda rozvoja svojho potenciálu. Tieto potreby boli zoradené do tzv. Maslowovej pyramídy, kde na seba nadväzujú podľa toho, ako veľmi sú pre náš život nevyhnutné. Ak máme uspokojené základné potreby, začneme túžiť po tých vyšších – napríklad po blízkych vzťahoch, spolupatričnosti, rešpekte a možnosti rozvíjať sa.

Ľudia so zdravotným znevýhodnením majú rovnaké potreby ako ktokoľvek iný. Rozdiel je často len v tom, že ich naplnenie je pre nich náročnejšie – nie preto, že by ich menej chceli, ale preto, že im v tom často bránia vonkajšie prekážky. Chýbajúca podpora, bariéry v prostredí, nedostatok informácií či predsudky spoločnosti spôsobujú, že sa na ich potreby zabúda. Niektoré potreby sa potom stávajú „neviditeľné“ – nie preto, že by neexistovali, ale preto, že ich okolie nevníma.

Sociálne potreby, ako je láska, priateľské vzťahy, pocit spolupatričnosti, možnosť komunikovať a byť súčasťou komunity, sú pre ľudí kľúčové. Ak nie sú naplnené, vznikajú pocity samoty, smútku, bezmocnosti či frustrácie. Z výskumov vieme, že osamelosť alebo pocit odmietnutia môže bolieť rovnako ako fyzická bolesť. O to dôležitejšie je vnímať, že každý z nás túži po tom istom – po prijatí, rešpekte, priateľstve, láske.

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Lucia Tóthová - Katarína Šiňanská - Eva Žiaková

Here is the translation of the provided text into English: A guide to oncological treatment was created at a time when the importance of health became even more emphasized, becoming a kind of mega-value for the new modern "pandemic" human. The use of the term "pandemic" person arose, of course, in connection with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic worldwide, but primarily because other dangerous long-term diseases that threaten contemporary humans are somehow being pushed into the background.

The severity of such diseases (including cancer) does not diminish just because attention has shifted to something more acute. It is very important to realize this and not fall under the illusion that if we overcome an acute danger, then automatically improve conditions for chronic diseases as well. We believe it's quite the opposite; prolonged stress and social negative factors constantly affecting us—among which undoubtedly includes pandemic situations—worsen not only psychological but also somatic states.

The guide to oncological treatment aims precisely at highlighting those psychological and social factors that negatively "support" cancer development in any form and can positively influence treatment and coping with illness. The guide offers opportunities for social engagement with groups of people undergoing similar oncological treatments, allowing them to share psychologically as well as professionally similar situations with those facing similar problems in treatment. The authors hope that this guidebook will reach those who will become more self-sufficient in overcoming such a formidable enemy as cancer.

Authors

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Soňa Lovašová a kol.

Violence in the workplace has been a problem that has received attention for fifty years. Client violence is one of its forms. These are cases where the aggressor is a person coming to an institution to use its services. Client violence affects all helping professions. This monograph deals with the specifics of client violence in social work.

In addition to theoretical outputs, it also offers research results conducted on a sample of 1170 respondents, frontline workers in selected entities providing services in the social field in Slovakia. The monograph represents a summary of three years of work by eight experts. Each author contributed within their area of expertise and brought a different perspective to the issue. The main aim was to bring a variety of views on the issue and attempt to combine them into a cohesive whole. Thus, a monograph was created that contains interesting theoretical foundations included in six theoretical chapters, starting with the introductory chapter on the position of client violence in the area of workplace violence.

The following chapters address the risk and riskiness of social work, ethical aspects, the personality of the social worker, and risk areas of social work. The research chapter presents the research project to the reader and three subchapters of findings processed in tables and described in detail.

The final part of the monograph deals with prevention and group work. An important part is also the appendices, which include a questionnaire battery, a program implemented for social work students, and a proposed program for workers in the social field.

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Vladimíra Žofčinová (ed.)

Reviewed Proceedings of the 3rd Annual International Doctoral Student Conference, February 15, 2018

On February 15, 2018, the Faculty of Public Administration at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice hosted the second annual doctoral student conference on the theme of "Theory and Practice of Public Administration." For the first time, this academic event took on an international dimension, with participants from partner universities (faculties) in the Czech Republic and Poland, alongside representatives from six Slovak faculties.

The conference, following a brief opening session addressed by the Dean of the Faculty, Assoc. Prof. JUDr. Mária Hencovská, CSc., PhD, was organized into three sections: political science, legal, and socio-economic. Each presenter shared the results of their research, aligning with the title and content of their contribution. The event maintained a scientific-discussion format, with moderated discussions following each presentation or group of thematically related presentations.

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