The Significance of Fieldwork with Older Persons Placed in Institutions from the Perspective of Social Work Students/Važnost terenske nastave u radu sa starijim osobama u institucionalnom smještaju iz perspektive studenata socijalnoga rada

Abstract

Abstract
Many national and international documents emphasise the need to prepare students
to care for older persons. Social work students’ knowledge about the ageing process,
methods of working with older persons, as well as field practice, have an impact
on their attitudes towards older persons as future social work clients. Students’
perception of ageing and older persons has significant consequences for the quality
of interventions. Therefore, our aim was to examine students’ opinions on their
experience of fieldwork with older persons in order to gain insight into the meaning it
has for them. The research results show that fieldwork is important for the development
of a positive attitude towards older persons as it increases gerontological knowledge
among students, as well as their interest in future gerontological work. The presented
results can be an incentive for further quantitative and qualitative research, which
should aim at improving and developing fieldwork with older people as part of a basic
education for future work in gerontology.
Key words: fieldwork; gerontological education; older persons; social work students.

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Sažetak
U mnogim nacionalnim i međunarodnim dokumentima naglašava se potreba
pripreme studenata za brigu o starijim osobama. Znanje studenata socijalnoga
rada o procesu starenja, metodama rada s osobama starije životne dobi kao i praksa
na terenu, imaju utjecaj na njihove stavove prema starijim osobama kao budućim
korisnicima socijalnoga rada. Percepcija studenata o starenju i starijim osobama
ima značajne posljedice na kvalitetu intervencija, stoga smo htjeli ispitati mišljenje
studenata o iskustvu terenske nastave u radu sa starijim osobama kako bismo saznali
kakvo značenje ima za njih. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je terenska nastava
važna za razvoj pozitivne percepcije prema starijim osobama, povećava gerontološka
znanja studenata i njihov interes za budući gerontološki rad. Navedeni rezultati mogu
biti poticaj daljnjim kvantitativnim i kvalitativnim istraživanjima koja trebaju imati
za cilj unaprjeđenje i razvoj terenske nastave sa starijim osobama kao temeljnoga
obrazovanja za budući gerontološki rad.
Ključne riječi: gerontološko obrazovanje; starije osobe; studenti socijalnoga rada;
terenska nastava.