Klaipėdos universitetas

A number of studies confirm that working in care for the elderly is seen as very unattractive, physically and psychologically demanding, badly paid, and lacking in career opportunities. As a result, few people choose to work in this field, and there is a growing shortage of labour in the provision of services for older people. Attracting young individuals to the field is an even greater challenge. The paper analyses the results of interviews with young people who provide care services directly for the elderly. The authors seek answers to the questions, what are the personal characteristics of young people who work with the elderly, what are they looking for, and what do they find in this work? The aim of the article is to highlight positive aspects of caring for the elderly. The results show that young people (the interviewees) construct a discourse of meaningful, inspiring and motivating activities when talking about their work. This image of care presented by young workers is different to the notion of ‘dirty’ work that is often reflected in the public discourse when describing work in care institutions for the elderly. The results of the study confirm that the research participants emphasise the congruence between their care work and their personal values and experiences, and strive for a positive career identity. The use of positive experience can serve to create a more positive image of care work for the elderly.

The aim of this article is to evaluate the changes of Lithuanian family with children support policy during the years 1996–2013. Using concept of change of policy paradigm we try to reveal which trends of Lithuanian family support policy reflects the changes of legal social security framework and expenditure on family social support in the period 1996–2013. It is made an attempt to answer the question can we talk about clearer directions of this policy, certain systematic, paradigmatic changes or only about inessential improvements of existing policy. In the context of path dependence concept it is discussed how new paradigms of family support policy are developing or why old paradigms remain. According to the analysis of legal framework and expenditure for family social risk, during the years 1996–2013 family support policy experienced various improvements, corrections, reformings. However, if the policy change understood systematically, as the unit of objectives, principles, instruments, resources and public support, we cannot identify paradigmatic changes in this policy in Lithuania.

Studies based upon surveys in different countries demonstrate that work-life balance (WLB) is one of important factors of job satisfaction (JS). The present article tries to reveal WLB as a factor of JS in social care services in Lithuania. This sector is interesting due to the fact that personal social services as a separate area of welfare, as well as the profession of social work, was established in Lithuania only after 1990 and, therefore, is little researched. The research findings showed that, if to build upon the overall evaluation approach, WLB is an important factor of JS in social care services in Lithuania. In other words, employees satisfied with WLB in their organisation are more likely to be satisfied with job in general. On the other hand, if to use the components approach, whereby WLB consists of multiple aspects that define the balance and give specific meaning to it, not all WLB factors identified in the research have been found significant for both overall assessment of WLB and JS. Therefore, the overall assessment of WLB does not provide basis to formulate recommendations for improving social policy. This requires creating a framework of WLB that is as detailed and systematic as possible, while restricted list of factors may produce incomplete WLB “picture” within the organisation.