Pregled in analiza aktualnih konceptov socialnega dela z ljudmi z demenco
In: Socialno delo: časopis za teorijo in prakso, Volume 61, Issue 2-3
Overview and analysis of current concepts in social work with people with dementia
The article presents the research project "Long-term care of people with dementia in social work theory and practice", the first Slovene national study in the field of research on the social dimensions of dementia. The first part presents the conceptual background of social work, which is the link between social work with people with dementia and the paradigmatic changes in long-term care. The second part presents the importance of the development of long-term care for people with dementia, the third part presents the purpose and objectives of the research project, and the fourth part elaborates the conceptual background, which is the basic guiding principle of the research in the project. Particular emphasis is placed on the methodological selection of current foreign scientific articles dealing with the topic presented, which have been published in the last twenty years in English. The results of the analysis show that three conceptual orientations prevail in the field of social work with people with dementia: (1) exploration of needs, (2) destigmatisation and anti-discrimination of people with dementia, and (3) participation of people with dementia in processes of help and support. In the concluding part, the author relates the findings of the analysis to the contemporary starting points of social work with people with dementia in Slovenia.