Summary

This paper examines the care of older persons in Muslim communities and its significance for social work with Muslim families. Family life in Muslim communities is religiously informed by Islam and culturally impacted by patriarchal family and social relationships. In Islam, the intergenerational family is considered the ideal family form. In this arrangement, family members are expected to care for older people, including parents and older relatives, in the home. This religious and cultural practice, as an informal system of care, shares features of informal care in general, such as being largely unpaid domestic labor, unregulated, and primarily undertaken by women. These arrangements place a burden of care on women, which has several implications for them, including negative impacts on their health and well-being. In Muslim communities, where patriarchal family structures are maintained, these conditions are reinforced. When working with Muslim families, social workers need to be aware of the unique challenges that come with caring for older persons in the family. The paper assesses these circumstances and identifies interventions to promote gender justice in the intergenerational care of older persons in Muslim families

Keywords (separate with commas)

Intergenerational care, Islam, older persons, Muslim communities

Summary

Georgia is an ageing country, ranking 95th in the world. According to the latest census, 14.3 percent of the population is over the age of 65, 3.1 - is aged 80 or older. With increasing number of older adults, promoting the QoL becomes a priority for healthy and active aging. QoL is a complex phenomenon, and it is considered as a central concept in ageing research. According to WHO QoL is an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. QoL is measured using objective and subjective indicators and pre-defined life domains. This abstract presents the study of the new service and its impact on the QoL of older persons. The study highlights three domains of QoL, which are knows to influence each other and have a significant effect on healthy ageing (health, social inclusion and participation).\ A mixed method research design in the context of quantitative interviews (N=45, mean age 72.69) and qualitative focus groups (N=4, 27 participants) were used to study two healthy aging centers in Georgia.\ 32.5% of the respondents showed high levels of\ social inclusion, 13% - high level of health, 11% - high levels of participation.\ Qualitative data were analyzed using a qualitative interpretative thematic approach. Five major themes were identified\ - "satisfaction with services," "satisfaction with life conditions," "access to social, health and legal services," "security" and "hope." The participants showed that their inclusion was increased by attending the service.\ The study contributes\ to a paradigm shift towards evaluating service use outcomes using older persons' judgments of their QoL and promoting QoL concept. This can inform the development of needs-based policies, services and academic curricula for social workers, promoting active and healthy aging of older persons.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Quality of Life, older persons, outcomes of service use, Georgia

Summary

This particular article presents an innovative development of a team consisted of social workers, psychologists and systemic psychotherapists that tend to support schools and families to maintain pupils within school environment despite obstacles and challenges tha may lead out of school. The poject has been running for two years and based on systemic approach and interdsciplinary collaboration tries to develop a network of professionals in order to bring together schools teachers,school counsellors, other professionals and families as to understand why pupils are at risk of being out of school and how important is for professionals within school systems to comprehend the difficulties that lead students to dop out.Aim of the project is twofold: a) to prevent escalation of factors that may put at risk the school career of the target population and b) to develop an interdisciplinary culture amongst schools for safeguarding the Best Interest of the Child. Qualitative data will present views on the benefits of the project, hilight challenges for such a project and draw on the results of these two year on how the future can be with the presence of social workers within schools. Concluding this abstract the project has shown positive outcomes where social work case management was well received by all involved stakeholders and where professional differences were put aside for the Best Interest of the Child. Case Vignettes in successful and non successful cases will justify the above preliminary results.

Keywords (separate with commas)

interdisciplinary collaboration, systemic approach, school social work, Best Interest of the Child

Summary

As a part of the MSW curriculum reform, our School of Social Work developed a specialization on Global Social Work Practice. This specialization grew from three core principles adopted by the faculty. These principles included advancing social justice, raising awareness of the world around us, and recognizing the global dimension of social work.\ Incorporating a global perspective is an essential component of social work education as globalization and neoliberal forces continue to widen the gap between the Global North and Global South in income, wealth, and health disparities and exacerbate social issues tackled by social workers. Global issues, such as COVID-19, climate change, migration, technological advances, continued wars, ethno-religious persecution, and the persistence of racial injustice, pose new and ongoing challenges to social work education. To prepare students for working with diverse and contending with historical and structural inequalities globally, we must go beyond teaching about cultural competence and provide future social workers with the skills for meaningful dialogue, critical thinking, reflexive practice, and transformative leadership.\ In developing this new specialization, we engaged students, faculty, field instructors, and the larger community to better understand the challenges faced in global social work practice. The Global Social Work \ Pathway is for students interested in dedicating themselves to global issues. Students take 12 credits of global-focused courses including the two required courses focused on Power in the Global Context\ and Critical Reflexive Global Practices. Specifically, this pathway aims to problematize global social work pedagogy that is ethnocentric and Western-centric and calls attention to issues of power and positionality within global social work pedagogy in its micro, mezzo, and macro dimensions.This oral presentation will share how this process emerged and the way the coursework was conceptualized to capture the values and principles at the center of our practices.

Keywords (separate with commas)

social work education, MSW curriculum, global social work pedagogy