Revisiting the problem of poverty (referring to a dozen voices: eleven American and one Polish)

The goal of these paper it is to show diversified approaches to the key social problem of poverty. In particular approaches presented in selected American publications have been presented. Additionally one characteristic Polish source has been used. In general it is specific picture of the debate devoted to the research based and applied issues. The very term “revisiting” seems to be fully justified.

Institutionalization of intercolation relations ‒ the benefits of connecting guardians for seniors and children

The article has a descriptive character, and the object of the discussion is the idea of creating intergenerational homes, enabling establishing relationships between the younger and the older generation. Both in Poland and in the world there is a trend of population aging. In the near future, Poland will be at the forefront of the countries with the largest number of older people in the population. The changing social structure brings with it many changes visible in every area of human life. The main purpose of the articles was to show the specificity of old age in terms of social relations. On the basis of the literature analysis of the subject, available data and reports, an attempt was made to determine the importance of institutionalization of generational relations by combining care facilities for seniors and children. 

Rights of residents of social welfare homes and prevention and therapy of addictions and co-dependence

The liberal approach of the Polish society to people who consume alcohol changes dramatically when someone turns out to be addicted to alcohol. In relation to alcohol dependent patients moral rigidity along with judgmental attitude dominates. Alcoholism is not the only type of addiction. In relation to people addicted to drugs, the negative attitude in society is also expressed. Health harm and social problems, driven by alcohol and drug addiction, have been profoundly accumulated in the long term care social welfare facilities. Based on the Polish Constitution and relevant laws employees of social welfare homes are obliged to respect the rights of residents. Nonetheless, the Polish Ombudsman (the Commissioner for Human Rights) revealed numerous examples of violations of the residents’ rights. This phenomenon is particularly intensified in the case of addicted residents of long term care social welfare facilities. In addition, alcohol and drug addiction nursing facilities drives antisocial behaviours towards non-addicted vulnerable residents. Nevertheless, the rights of non-addicted residents to be protected from harm resulting from alcohol and drug addiction of other residents have been profoundly neglected. The aim of the paper is therefore to comprehensively describe the problem of addiction in social welfare homes, give the most striking examples of breaking the rights of residents and suggest some solutions aimed at better protection of the rights of both addicted and non-dependent residents of social welfare homes in Poland.  

Competences of social workers in the aspect of stress and coping with stress

One of the basic skills that a modern social worker should be equipped with is stress management. This ability allows you to constructively carry out professional tasks and can become a buffer to counteract stress and burnout. Are the appropriate competences an individual’s resource in counteracting stress? Do educated skills during education help a social worker deal with stress? The article is a presentation of the search for relationships and relationships between competences and stress. Particular attention was paid to coping with stress.

Emancipation as a utopia? The perspective of a Deaf person

When speaking about emancipation with disability people context, we can think of Utopia. In the article, I will analyze and interpret story of a person with hearing disability. Who life experience I see in symbolic process between emancipation, potential emancipation or utopia. In cultural terms, she is a Deaf person. Deaf people do not consider themselves disabled. Communication with hearing language is one of the limits for them, but all of the rest they can do successfully. As an example, my character shows us that the emancipation “from” and “to” do not mean to be utopia. Deaf people’s goals and dreams can be achieved in the same way as hearing people. The article is based about surdopedagogy, special pedagogy, philosophy literature. It shows that emancipation and utopia, when putting them on equal level those two can penetrate. Utopia is shown in two ways. First the accomplishing and secondly the accomplished, but also located in the sphere of idea and practice. Thoughts of utopia penetrate emancipation aims, and also leads to creation of utopia. 

Reviews

In permanently introducing this new section to our periodical, we wish to call the reader’s attention to a unique approach we are consciously taking. In a desire to identify impending foci in our field, we have invited the youngest of our colleagues – MA and PhD candidates in social work – to act as our reviewers. Furthermore, considering the vast multitude of scholarly articles published annually, we have asked our students to primarily focus on this segment which is more likely to reflect the most recent findings. That said, we have not set a strict date range in the hope that our reviewers will freely discover or recover studies which might have been overlooked heretofore.
 

Torronen M., Borodkina O., Samoylova V. (2013). Trust in reciprocal relationships – The construction of well-being. In: M. Torronen et al. (eds.), Empowering Social Work: Research and Practice. University of Helsinki, Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education, Kotka: 8‒19.
Reviewed by: Marzena Stachowicz 

Brodzinsky D., Singer L., Braff A. (1984). Children’s understanding of adoption. “Child Development”, 55 (3): 869‒878. DOI:10.2307/1130138.
Reviewed by: Marta Kamińska 

Lundgre L., Krull I. (2014). The Affordable Care Act: New opportunities for social work to take leadership in behavioral health and addiction treatment. “Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research”, 5 (4): 415‒438.
Reviewed by: Karolina Szafron

Fletcher J. (2017). Gender-specific pathways of peer influence on adolescent suicidal behaviors. “Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World”, 3 (1): 1‒10. DOI: 10.1177/2378023117729952.
Reviewed by: Katarzyna Strzałka