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The aim of this article is to understand the nature of imagined interactions among social workers in the child protection and to determine the implications for their social work. In the current social work social workers do not have enough space for reflection and this takes place mainly in their minds, often through ideas about (past or future) interactions between the worker and the client, through imagined interactions. However, these imagined interactions have not received sufficient research attention in social work in the past. Within the framework of the qualitative research two basic missions of imagined interactions were discovered in terms of the constructivist grounded theory. They were the intersubjective-creative and the subjective-emancipatory missions, within which there were other specific functions. The discovered nature of the imagined interactions is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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OBJECTIVES: The aim of this article is therefore to understand and describe the interactions between sibling relationships in the population of homeless children and the sibling relationships in the specific context of the city of Ostrava. THEORETICAL BASE: Homelessness is a highly stressful situation for entire families, including children. Sibling relationships are a unique and powerful context for children’s development characterized by strong positive features, such as warmth and intimacy, as well as negative qualities such as an intense, potentially destructive conflict. METHODS: We used a qualitative research strategy. To collect data, we carried out a total of 16 semi-structured interviews; all in a parent-child set. The data was analysed using constructivist grounded theory. OUTCOMES: The needs listed below were identified as part of the sibling-saturated needs: the need for stimulation, the need for a meaningful world, the need for love and emotional security, the need for identity and finding one’s place in society, and the need for life perspective and open future. We also found that the specifics of sibling relationships can lead to either saturation or escalation of these needs, which further affects children’s resilience. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: The potential for social work interventions supporting the fulfilment of the need for love and emotional safety is opening up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imagined community of social workers provides a collective resemblance to the individual construction of the correctness of performance of social work. This paper aims to understand the influence of the imagined community and its shared social worker's metanarrative on the 'correctness' of social work in social and legal protection of children in Czechia. The data were created through a qualitative research strategy, more specifically through sets of three repeated interviews with eight well-experienced social workers from the office of social and legal protection of children. The data were analyzed using the constructivist grounded theory by Charmaz. The research conceived six roles of the imagined community that fulfill specific functions, plus two functions for which the informants did not create any specific roles of imagined community; making these functions in the informants' view unfulfilled. Specifically, this concerned self-organizing capacity as well as activation and protection of a social worker. The generated data are further discussed in the context of education and training designed for social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous authors have dealt with the definition of practice wisdom and its components. However, little is known about its formation. The submitted paper thus aims at analyzing and describing the dynamics of practice wisdom formation in social workers working with vulnerable children and their families in Czechia. The data originated within a thematic narrative analysis of repeated in-depth interviews with six participants, who were perceived by the expert environment as workers with practice wisdom. We created four constructs of practice wisdom: acquired knowledge as a prerequisite of the creation of practice wisdom in social work, practice wisdom as an implementation of external imperatives, practice wisdom practice as a process of continuous knowledge production, and transformation through the reflection of direct experience from the practice. The paper contains implications for education in social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work is an emotionally stressful profession and social workers are expected to cope with their emotions according to the practice requirements. Numerous authors anticipate that reflexivity in relation to one´s own emotions is absolutely essential for quality execution of social work. However, there are opinions that believe that even the ability not to reflect in some (primarily demanding) situations of social work practice is also essential to cope with them. In this context, the paper aims at understanding the use of reflexivity in the strategies of construction and reconstruction of emotions in social work with families. In order to meet this objective, a qualitative research strategy has been used, particularly semi-structured interviews with 30 social workers. The acquired data describes the strategies using emotions (re)construction (internal supervision, effective persona, reflexive obsession), as well as not using reflexivity (defensive self). The created data are inserted in the context of coping and defence mechanisms, and implications for practice, education and research in social work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Czech & Slovak Social Work / Sociální Práce / Sociálna Práca is the property of Czech & Slovak Social Work and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Czech & Slovak Social Work / Sociální Práce / Sociálna Práca is the property of Czech & Slovak Social Work and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The needs of homeless children living in shelters and hostels in the Czech Republic have been not sufficiently explored yet. The paper therefore aims to analyse and describe the needs of homeless children living in shelters and hostels in the Czech Republic, thus creating a basis for social work with homeless children and their families. As part of a qualitative research strategy carried out through interviews with parents, children and their social workers, five categories of homeless children's needs (based on Matějček's theory) were identified and described in detail based on a data analysis using Charmaz's Grounded Theory; these categories were the need for stimulation, the need for a meaningful world, the need for love and emotional safety, the need for identity and finding one's own place in society and the need for a life perspective and open future. Based on the identified needs, implications for social work with families were identified, strengthening a sensitive approach of helping professions to the needs of homeless children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Czech & Slovak Social Work / Sociální Práce / Sociálna Práca is the property of Czech & Slovak Social Work and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)