Helping families in community: co-creation of desired changes for reducing social exclusion and strengthening health

Project facts

Project promoter:
University of Ljubljana
Project Number:
SI05-0009
Target groups
People at risk of poverty,
Students and trainees in all forms of higher education level education and training
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€358,345
Final project cost:
€311,307
From Norway Grants:
€ 251,381
The project is carried out in:
SLOVENIJA

Description

The number of Slovenian families facing social exclusion is growing. The challenge is to establish collaboration with families that cannot find suitable help in existing programmes. The aim of this project is to mobilize family members' resources to take a more active approach to solving the situation at hand. The goals are: to develop a model for helping families in a community; to educate professionals and prepare them to work in the field of family social work, kinesiology and physiotherapy; to cooperate with families to create the desired changes; and to implement knowledge into practice. The project will benefit 20 participating families, 50 adults included in the exercise to increase mobility and promote an active lifestyle, and 37 students participating in the project. The project will also benefit other professionals and students by transferring the results into educational programmes. The Norwegian university Høgskolen i Sør-Trøndelag, will participate with knowledge and experience which will help implement the model of social work with families in Slovenian communities. The partnership also opens up the opportunity for long-term cooperation between faculties.

Summary of project results

A growing number of Slovenian families are facing social exclusion. The main aim of the project was to mobilize the existing resources of family members to attempt a more active approach to solving the situation at hand. The professionals in the social work, kinesiology and physiotherapy are lacking knowledge in order to successfully respond to the complexities of multi-challenged families. The sustainability of the project results will be ensured by implementing the developed knowledge into the curricula of all participating faculties, including Norwegian partner NTNU, and university. The project connected into collaboration many Social work, Kinesiology and Physiotherapy students, multi-challenged families, teachers, professional workers and others. The collaboration contributed to forming a lot of empirical data that was analysed and results were presented in scientific monographs, articles, seminars, 3 conferences etc. All objectives of the project (to develop a model in social work for helping families in the community; to train professionals in social work with families, kinesiology and physiotherapy; cooperating with families to bring changes in reducing the differences in health) were reached. The project was beneficial for all target groups: 49 multi-challenged families managed to achieve the set goals; the economically challenged adult family members participated in the exercise; older family members participated in a research; students involved in this project for learning purposes; professionals and students by transferring the results into educational programs.

Summary of bilateral results

Cooperation has contributed to the sharing of experiences, good practices and implementation of training programs. We have learned from one another how we understand social work with families in order to further implement the model of supporting and helping families. We also shared experiences that we have gained in the field of social work with families and by teaching students and in this way we have strengthened the cooperation and contributed to the development of social work practice. Through cooperation with Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet we have strengthened our contact with each other and learned more about the work of everyone involved. In this way we got a chance to expand the network of contacts and discuss possible further cooperation. Bilateral partnership made possible to transfer and include Norwegian knowledge, good practices and experiences in the field of family social work in Slovenia and to implement the model of social work with families in community. Collaboration has brought a greater diversity of outcomes and contributed to a greater diversity of chapters in monograph and of lectures at conferences.