A szociális szakemberek digitális technológia és közösségi média használata

Abstract

The practice of social work has changed due to the opportunities offered by new technologies, which can be used to provide more efficient, more flexible, more easily accessible services that are better adapted to the needs of the clients. Using social media can make community work more effective, advocacy, NGOs and movements can have a big social impact. With technological solutions in elderly care, caregivers can be significantly relieved, the safety and autonomy of the elderly can be increased, and the number of days spent in hospital can be reduced. The use of social media can improve communication, help to develop professional relationships, knowledge sharing and make social work a well-known and respected profession. However, the use of infocommunication technology may raise legal and ethical dilemmas and its impact on social inequalities is not clear, and further research is needed to clarify them. In my dissertation, based on the literature and on the standards, guidelines and policies of the professional organizations, I presented the fields in which social professionals currently use technology and the preconditions for professional and ethical work in this new environment. I paid special attention to telemental health, which is one of the most dynamically developing fields of telemedicine, which serves the protection of mental health and includes mental healh care and services that are provided remotely using technologies. I presented good practices and described the characteristics of that online consultation, based on interviews with Hungarian online consultants and on the literature. I also examined the digital technology and social media usage habits (attitudes, needs, IT skills, digital literacy, social media usage characteristics, awareness) of those working in the social sector, using a quantitative method. Data collection took place in early 2020, with an online self-administered questionnaire, there were 337 respondents. According to my research results, the attitudes of social professionals are positive about the use of technology, they are interested in technological innovations, they are happy to try them. They also consider and use social media as an excellent tool for rapid knowledge sharing, learning, self-improvement, and professional activities. Every tenth professional provides an online consultation or operates an online group and every fourth social professional uses digital technology in advocacy and community work. Online contact with clients is common, a problem is that professional organizations in Hungary have not yet developed recommendations and methodological guidelines in this regard. Professional and ethical issues related to the use of social media should be examined, and the conscious use of media by professionals should be supported, as required by professionals. A number of needs for innovation were expressed by respondents, who see that these improvements could greatly increase the efficiency of their work. They would need tools and software, infrastructure, IT training. They would like to see solutions that simplify administration. Their skills in using digital technology are generally considered good, but the responses also shows that there are shortcomings, such as the fact that most workplace devices are not adequately protected and are often shared their private and professional communication, also when they use social media. 71.5% of the respondents was never attented to any kind of IT and digital competence development training. More than 70% of respondents share that view, that during their studies they did not get adequate training using infocommunication technologies. This is an important feedback for the higher education and for the trainers, organizers, it shows that more emphasis should be placed on the development of digital literacy.