Tiltai

Scientific journal TILTAI/BRIDGES/BRÜCKEN published by Klaipėda University (established in 1991) is devoted to the issues of social sciences. The publications attempts at analysing and solving actual problems of economy, management, demography, social geography, geopolitics, political sciences, history, education, religious, regional planning and land use, other social problems. Science hasn’t borders. Therefore scientific cooperation is one of the most important elements in the progress of world’s community. Scientists from different countries of the world are kindly invited to write for and contribute to the journal.TILTAI/BRIDGES is the scientifical periodical magazine, which publications, by the decision of Lithuanian Science Council, are recognized as convenient for doctoral dissertations and pedagogical scientific names.

The article looks into the prospects of social work in the probation system. The probation system provides convicts with the opportunities of social integration in the conditions of freedom. The system is currently under intense development, projects appear, and the need for different professionals emerges. The goal of social work is to empower individuals to help themselves and their immediate environment by activating internal and external resources and promoting empowering collaboration. The article presents the discussion of the conceptions of the probation system in the convict resocialisation process. On the basis of empiric research, the opportunities of social work as a supporting profession and its place in the probation system in the pursuit of convict resocialisation is designed.

The paper focuses on the currently rather intensive process of the social work professionalisation and proposes to place a greater emphasis on the human dimension, i.e. social worker’s personality as a guarantee of professional success. The occupational burnout syndrome is discussed as a negative subjective circumstance of the profession of social work. The principal traits of the occupational burnout syndrome are revealed, and the dimensions of the occupational burnout syndrome are identified and characterised. On the basis of the works of Lithuanian and foreign researchers on the said subject, the discourse of the occupational burnout syndrome in social work is presented, and the factors that influence the emergence of the phenomenon (both individual and job-related / organisational) in professional activity are discussed. The empirical research by means of the so far the most popular Maslach’s Burnout Inventory (MBI) reveals the effects of the occupational burnout on social worker’s personality, practical activity, and the status of the profession of social work in the society.

The article aims to justify the relevance of communication competence in the process of professional development. There is taken into consideration the connection of concept “social” with trends and priorities of economy and policy, changes in social work practice, emphasizing the communication as possibility and source for professional action and experiential learning. On the basis of theoretical and empirical results of analysis there is discussed the helping process for the risk family and the possibility to develop the communication competence in the process of individual intervention or group intervention. At the first part of article the learning paradigm and social empowerment methodological guidelines, which emphasize the position of active and responsible character and the meaning of collaboration, which determine the success of professional activity. There is discussed the context of the social work, which impact interpersonal communication obstacles and arising problems, the necessity to develop communicative competence is emphasized. Analyzing theoretical assumptions for learning in practice construction with aim to develop empowering relationship with family, there is discussed experiential learning process, definition of its structure, reciprocal communication, construction of practice content, the creation of new knowledge. The results of qualitative research revealed the problems of communication between social worker and family as a client. Social worker with sufficient practical activity experience usually remains in the primary phase of help process – contact establishment. In one case family proactiveness is expected but it remains “invisible”. The research revealed the individual process of experiential process the necessity of practitioner-expert or supervisor coaching in the experiential learning process by self-assessing and combining practical knowledge which were gained by acting in practice placement, theoretical knowledge and created professional knowledge. Such coaching enables to systematize elements recurring in situations, develop their professionalism of social worker with the help of reflection.

The ar­ti­cle ad­vo­cates the prin­ci­ples of So­cial Econ­omy (SE) as pos­si­bil­ity to de­velop in­no­va­tive so­cial tech­nolo­gies for the so­cial co­he­sion of so­ci­ety in situa­tion of eco­nomic break­down. The con­cept of So­cial Econ­omy can be con­sid­ered as Eu­ro­pean tra­di­tion and chal­l­enge for ap­ply­ing and find­ing sus­tain­able forms of so­cial in­clu­sion on na­tional level. The purpose and the ob­­ject of the study is to in­ves­ti­gate, which spheres and prin­ci­ples of SE are evi­dent in the ac­tivi­ties of com­mu­nity ini­tia­tives in Lat­via thus es­tab­lish­ing the rec­og­ni­tion level of con­cep­tual un­der­stand­ing and prac­tice of So­cial Econ­omy in na­tional con­text among the Third Sec­tor ac­tivi­ties in Lat­via and spe­ci­fi­cally non-profit move­ments. The overview of selected community initiatives showed there are initiatives that could be (1) placed in the sphere of productive economy on the scale of a community (2) by the very marginal people involved in initiatives, (3) administered as small businesses, (4) controlled by the people involved with democratic means of decision-making and (5) supported by social services and social workers, in order to overcome social exclusion.

Current transition from agrarian societies to industrial ones around the globe carries shift of values along with – namely, from Traditional to Self-expression. The shift has been described by analysts of the World Values Survey Association (WVSA). In much described Inglehart-Welzel cultural map of the world Baltic States are positioned somewhere in the middle between the poles. The article sketches dangers arising from one-sided over-emphasizing benefits of democracy and self-expression. Societies undergoing fast transition between their former experiences and current challenges testify frictions and they may be described as torn societies. The author uses the term “plastic man” coined by Martin Heidegger – in whom the changing part of personality is increasing whereas the steady side is decreasing. As sociologist Arnold Toynbee puts it, the man of today is a “man running away from God”, consequently, his plasticity takes over and man is not in position to control his own choices and his changeability. The article offers Christian anthropological view of man in his relations with God. The reminder refreshes knowledge of European Christian roots and challenges current social development.

Research presented in the article reveals emotional expressions of early age children with developmental disorders who are brought up in families. In article discussed emotional state and factors that influence development of emotional expression. It is set up that character of relationships could vary depending on the active communication in the aspect of quantity and quality. Parents communication based on the close emotional interaction is not Always successful; and another implication supports idea that child’s closed environment must ensure satisfaction of basic emotional reactions in the process of forming and development child’s psychosocial needs.

Referring to research data of different authors, the article presents the Z generation characteristic by disclosing its essential features, which should be evaluated in modelling the perspective of this generation’s education/self-education. The article discusses the data of the qualitative research on the new generation, which was performed in 2014, by illustrating the Z generation features indicated by the representatives of the Y generation as well as their arguments on the attachment of some features to this generation. The insight of the Z generation’s education methodological direction discusses the sightings on the identification of the features of the new generation, which should be strengthened, by the Institute for Emerging Issues in North Caroline State, USA. The article also points out why in the education methodology it is necessary to highlight points of reference – educational references, grounded virtues, by means of them to substantiate educational interaction as well as to project all elements of educational system in the appropriate methodological approach. So it would suit to identify present characteristics of education actors as well as characteristics to be educated / self-educated.

Literacy is a concept, which almost has taken over and included concepts like reading, writing and inter human social communication in general. However, it has only recently been integrated into the AAC-fields connected to social work, special education and assistive technologies. This paper focuses on some key-questions regarding AAC and literacy, mentioning that the holistic approach of AAC in combination with a general linguistic theory as the one by Charles Peirce, creates a more whole or holistic perspective for thinking and looking for answers on these questions. The social model created by Uri Bronfenbrenner is also very applicable. Even though a holistic approach demands openness on the behalf of the teacher or interventionist as well as of the user her/himself, it is important to remember the need for good methods and methodology, based upon good practical evidence with the common target to acquire literacy.

Purpose of the article – to review features of psychological counseling at Aleksandras Stulginskis University (ASU) and possibilities to apply extensive scale of preventive measures within University. Student mental health is a concern of the whole university community. The paper presents the specific cases and features, according to which the faculty administration should direct the student to a career center (CC) psychologist. The paper gives specific recommendations on how to improve collaboration within the University in order to take care of students’ mental health. The article presents the student’s “XY” case study that illustrates the lack of communication and co-operation within the University. The paper discusses the need to change universities applying procedure in order to assess the student’s mental health to avoid serious problems in studying process.