Joint Problem Solving Research Articles

Peer-led recovery groups for people with psychosis in South Africa (PRIZE): Results of a randomized controlled feasibility trial.

The aims of this feasibility trial were to assess the acceptability and feasibility of peer-led recovery groups for people with psychosis in a low-resource South African setting, to assess the feasibility of trial methods, and to determine key parameters in preparation for a definitive trial. The design was an individually randomised feasibility trial comparing recovery groups in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) with TAU alone. Ninety-two isiXhosa-speaking people with psychosis and forty-seven linked caregivers were recruited from primary care clinics and randomly allocated to trial arms in a 1:1 allocation ratio. TAU comprised anti-psychotic medication delivered in primary care. The intervention arm comprised six recovery groups including service users and caregivers. Two-hour recovery group sessions were delivered weekly in a 2-month auxiliary social worker (ASW)-led phase, then a 3-month peer-led phase. To explore acceptability and feasibility, a mixed methods process evaluation included 25 in-depth interviews and 2 focus group discussions at 5months with service users, caregivers and implementers, and quantitative data collection including attendance and facilitator competence. To explore potential effectiveness, quantitative outcome data (functioning, relapse, unmet needs, personal recovery, stigma, health service use, medication adherence and caregiver burden) were collected at baseline, 2months and 5months post randomisation. Trial registration: PACTR202202482587686. Qualitative interviews revealed that recovery groups were broadly acceptable with most participants finding groups to be an enjoyable opportunity for social interaction, and joint problem-solving. Peer facilitation was a positive experience; however a minority of participants did not value expertise by lived experience to the same degree as expertise of professional facilitators. Attendance was moderate in the ASW-led phase (participants attended 59% sessions on average) and decreased in the peer-led phase (41% on average). Participants desired a greater focus on productive activities and financial security. Recovery groups appeared to positively impact on relapse. Relapse occurred in 1 (2.2%) of 46 participants in the recovery group arm compared to 8 (17.4%) of 46 participants in the control arm (risk difference -0.15 [95% CI: -0.26; -0.05]). Recovery groups also impacted on the number of days in the last month totally unable to work (mean 1.4days recovery groups vs 7.7days control; adjusted mean difference -6.3 [95%CI: -12.2; -0.3]). There were no effects on other outcomes. Peer-led recovery groups for people with psychosis in South Africa are potentially acceptable, feasible and effective. A larger trial, incorporating amendments such as increased support for peer facilitators, is needed to demonstrate intervention effectiveness definitively.

The Changing Unpolitics of Covid‐19 Vaccine Procurement

Populist governments engage in “unpolitics” when the electoral incentives for doing so outweigh the distributive risks from policy failure. Studying the joint procurement of vaccines against Covid-19, I show that a group consisting of mostly populist governments led by Austria negotiated in bad faith, rejected compromise solutions, and obstructed joint problem-solving. They deployed these “unpolitical” tactics only once the legal framework for joint procurement was in place and the roll-out of the jointly ordered vaccines had begun. At this point, populist governments no longer faced the distributive risk of having limited access to affordable vaccines. By contrast, the electoral incentives for hard-nosed bargaining in bad faith increased, as the distributive issue of vaccine allocation became more salient and as populist governments came under pressure to deflect responsibility for having ordered insufficient vaccine doses.

Soziale Logistik: Öffentlicher Nahverkehr als regionaler Verteiler von Gütern in ländlichen Regionen. Chancen für die langfristige Etablierung eines nachhaltigen regionalen Logistikkonzepts

This paper presents initial findings on the establishment of a social logistics project in a peripheral rural region in Germany. As part of a real-life laboratory, two services were developed and tested with the aim of improving rural supply: the delivery of regional goods and the return of online orders in cooperation with a regional public transport provider, regional retailers and parcel services. An evaluation team provided support to the project in identifying, monitoring, and documenting the societal impact of the services and promoted impact-oriented project management. The concept of providing services of general interest through social logistics and testing them in a real-world laboratory was based on preliminary work in the region. The results indicate that this approach can promote this type of social logistics in the long term. A social logistics approach does not focus solely on economic aspects but emphasises social and environmental benefits for the region. A real-world laboratory approach enables an environment that promotes open exchange, involvement of different stakeholders and joint problem solving in a reflective, iterative process. This methodological approach enabled the continuation and out-scaling of the service’s core offerings immediately after ending the test phase and is seen as an important prerequisite for establishing a long-term perspective.

Speaking Up and Taking Action: Psychological Safety and Joint Problem-Solving Orientation in Safety Improvement.

Healthcare organizations face stubborn challenges in ensuring patient safety and mitigating clinician turnover. This paper aims to advance theory and research on patient safety by elucidating how the role of psychological safety in patient safety can be enhanced with joint problem-solving orientation (JPS). We hypothesized and tested for an interaction between JPS and psychological safety in relation to safety improvement, leveraging longitudinal survey data from a sample of 14,943 patient-facing healthcare workers. We found a moderation effect, in which psychological safety was positively associated with safety improvement, and the relationship was stronger in the presence of JPS. Psychological safety and JPS also interacted positively in predicting clinicians' intent to stay with the organization. For theory and research, our findings point to JPS as a measurable factor that may enhance the value of psychological safety for patient safety improvement-perhaps because voiced concerns about patient safety often require joint problem-solving to produce meaningful change. For practice, our conceptual framework, viewing psychological safety and JPS as complementary factors, can help organizations adopt a more granular approach towards assessing the interpersonal aspect of their safety climate. This will enable organizations to obtain a more nuanced understanding of their safety climate and identify areas for improvement accordingly.

Understanding Collaborative Design Practice Through Self-Study

Designing online teacher professional development (oTPD) grounded in participatory practices is complex. An intense interdisciplinary collaboration of teacher educators, online learning experts, and instructional designers is needed. Achieving shared understanding is essential for successful collaboration, yet varied perspectives of interdisciplinary experts can cause tensions. Under the right conditions, conflict can be positive and productive. This study of collaborative design practice examined the process of aligning technology and pedagogy when designing participatory oTPD using the self-study methodology. Data analysis revealed relevant interrelationships and uncovered a consistent pattern related to purposeful use of technology. While self-study was an effective inquiry method and provided valuable insights into our practice, it also fostered an environment of trust and collaborative knowledge exchange necessary for successful joint problem solving, cognitive synchronization, and innovation in interdisciplinary design teams.

ІННОВАЦІЙНІ ЗАХОДИ В УПРАВЛІННІ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙНИМИ КОНФЛІКТАМИ НА ПІДПРИЄМСТВІ В У СУЧАСНИХ УМОВАХ ВЕДЕННЯ БІЗНЕСУ

The article analyzes the role of conflicts in the development of enterprises and their employees. The authors of the article point to the critical importance of understanding internal conflicts to achieve efficiency and innovation in management. They divide conflicts into constructive ones, which contribute to the development of new optimization projects, and destructive ones, which lead to a break in relations and violation of cooperation norms. The author offers two main directions of conflict management: for constructive conflicts – identification of common positions and coordination of interests for joint problem solving; for destructive – identifying the interests of the parties to reach agreements. Enterprise management must provide clear guidance on requirements and organizational procedures, promote coordination and cooperation among employees, and establish common goals to motivate employees to work together to solve problems. The article emphasizes the need to develop a program-targeted approach to conflict management, which includes the development of a management system, the creation of coordination subsystems at each level of management, and the planning of actions to reconcile conflicts. The analysis of conflict situations should include the determination of the causes of the conflict, the topics of mutual disputes, the motivation of the participants and the direction of their actions. The article emphasizes that effective conflict management involves an integrated approach that ensures not only the resolution of existing contradictions, but also the development of positive aspects in the activities of the labor team. An important role is played by preventive measures, which help to avoid the occurrence of conflicts, as well as the readiness of management to resolve the conflict. The scientific novelty consists in the development and testing of a complex approach to the identification, analysis and resolution of organizational conflicts, which includes the use of innovative management methods and technologies. This study goes beyond traditional approaches to conflict resolution, proposing the integration of modern communication tools, psychological techniques, and strategic analysis to create an effective conflict management system in an enterprise.

The Role of IT Applications on New Product Performance in the Digital Age: The Role of Supply Chain Synergy Mediation

Based on resource-based theory, dynamic capability theory and transaction cost theory, this paper analyzes the influence of IT application based on big data analysis on new product performance, the mediating role of supply chain collaboration and the moderating role of relationship risk between supply chain collaboration and new product performance in the context of supply chain collaboration in the digital age. The results show that IT advancement and IT consistency have significant positive effects on new product performance; Joint problem solving and information sharing in supply chain collaboration play a partial mediating role in the relationship between IT advancement and new product performance. At the same time, IT also plays a part of mediating role in the relationship between IT consistency and new product performance. Relationship risk positively moderates the relationship between information sharing and new product performance. The research conclusions not only enrich the existing theories, but also have important reference significance for the digitization and information construction and innovation development in the context of enterprise supply chain collaboration.

Unveiling the Influence: Exploring the Impact of Interrelationships among E-Commerce Supply Chain Members on Supply Chain Sustainability

This study explores the critical role of interrelationships among e-commerce supply chain members in shaping sustainability outcomes. It adopts a qualitative approach, drawing from Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) and Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) to gain a deeper understanding of sustainability within e-commerce supply chains. In a comprehensive investigation involving 35 key stakeholders from prominent e-commerce companies in China, such as Amazon, Alibaba, Suning.com, Shein, and Wayfair, this research examines how robust interrelationships, characterized by collaboration, knowledge exchange, trust-building, and joint problem-solving, facilitate efficient resource utilization, innovation, waste reduction, and enhanced social and environmental responsibility throughout the supply chain. The findings underline the practical implications for supply chain managers and practitioners, emphasizing the need to foster these robust interrelationships through effective communication, trust-building, collaboration, and information sharing as tangible strategies to elevate sustainability performance and gain a competitive edge in the dynamic e-commerce landscape. The insights are based on structured, in-depth interviews conducted in English with participants familiar with the language, lasting approximately 35 to 55 min.

Empathetic Conversational Systems: A Review of Current Advances, Gaps, and Opportunities

Empathy is a vital factor that contributes to mutual understanding, and joint problem-solving. In recent years, a growing number of studies have recognized the benefits of empathy and started to incorporate empathy in conversational systems. We refer to this topic as empathetic conversational systems. To identify the critical gaps and future opportunities in this topic, this paper examines this rapidly growing field using five review dimensions: (i) conceptual empathy models and frameworks, (ii) adopted empathy-related concepts, (iii) datasets and algorithmic techniques developed, (iv) evaluation strategies, and (v) state-of-the-art approaches. The findings show that most studies have centered on the use of the EMPATHETICDIALOGUES dataset, and the text-based modality dominates research in this field. Studies mainly focused on extracting features from the messages of the users and the conversational systems, with minimal emphasis on user modeling and profiling. Notably, studies that have incorporated emotion causes, external knowledge, and affect matching in the response generation models, have obtained significantly better results. For implementation in diverse real-world settings, we recommend that future studies should address key gaps in areas of detecting and authenticating emotions at the entity level, handling multimodal inputs, displaying more nuanced empathetic behaviors, and encompassing additional dialogue system features.

Transformation of marketing of agricultural enterprises in wartime conditions

The article presents the research results on the generalization and formation of features of management of marketing activities of enterprises of the agricultural sector of the economy in martial law conditions. The importance of marketing in increasing the productivity and competitiveness of agriculture is emphasized, which is recognized in countries with developed market economies as the central concept of managing a business entity in conditions of high competition. The specificity of farm products determines the peculiarities of marketing in agricultural enterprises due to their exceptional importance for society and increased demand for them. It is noted that in the Ukrainian economy, particularly in the farming sector, the role of marketing is insignificant and is associated with measures to increase sales and methods of increasing profits at the enterprise. In wartime, management is focused on growing sales in the here and now without considering the business's long-term prospects. Cutting costs for marketing and advertising under current circumstances is a wrong decision that will have negative consequences for the future development of enterprises. It is substantiated that during martial law, marketing transformed, changing its purpose, tasks, principles, main functions, and tools. At the same time, it remains relevant during the war, as it aims to reduce enterprises' risks, increase their competitiveness, and help entrepreneurs survive in difficult times. It was concluded that in the conditions of constant changes and uncertainties, the pandemic, and military operations in the country, marketing should be approached strategically and consciously, providing more purposefulness in business development. At the same time, for effective business activity, it is advisable to consider modern marketing trends: speed, flexibility in marketing decisions, maneuverability to respond to dynamic changes, situationally, appropriateness, humanity, social responsibility, Digital development, support of counterparties, consumers, and the country's economy, etc. In wartime, the emphasis in marketing shifts towards building relationships of trust, support, and care with buyers and customers. All marketing activities during martial law must be consistent with the humanitarian component of business activities, responses to the preservation of supply chains, sales, and market entry strategies. Modern marketing tools, suitable for rural businesses, are related to Internet resources and should cover the entire information space to achieve the company's goals. It is argued that marketing in the agricultural sector after the war will receive a new impetus for its development since the reconstruction of the country in the post-war period will provide new business opportunities, which means that there will again be a need for effective marketing strategies and tools that will ensure high performance of business entities and their competitiveness. Keywords: marketing, marketing activity, marketing management, marketing strategy, marketing tools, competitiveness of enterprises, agricultural business.

The social consequences of talking to oneself: The dialectical continuum of social and private speech

AbstractThe intrapersonal functions of private speech have been researched extensively. However, studies in interactive settings that focus on the interpersonal functions of private speech have been rare. Adopting a case‐study approach, I investigated the social consequences of private speech and how it contributes to the establishment of intersubjectivity during collaborative tasks. Data were collected through video recordings of participants collaboratively processing feedback on jointly produced texts, retrospective interviews that included stimulated recall, and collaborative writing tasks. Findings show instances of private speech acting as a tool that helps establish intersubjectivity, thus promoting joint problem solving and potentially affording interlocutors more opportunities to co‐construct knowledge. These opportunities for learning were made possible when interlocutors used the private speech of a peer as a resource to build upon when deliberating on a response to feedback. This indicates that the ability to understand the intra‐ and interpersonal functions of an interlocutors’ private speech is an important aspect of interactional competence in an additional language.

Integration mechanisms for material suppliers in the construction supply chain: a systematic literature review

The construction industry has long been criticized for its fragmented, inefficient, and uncoordinated supply chain. Thus, construction companies are actively looking for new strategies to overcome these issues and to improve their productivity. Supply chain integration is one strategy and many articles have addressed the mechanisms to help integrate the construction supply chain. However, little interest has been paid to material supplier integration despite their important role and their vast experience in the market. Hence, this study aims to identify the mechanisms that could contribute to facilitate material supplier integration in the construction supply chain. A systematic literature review was conducted to uncover the studies on this topic. A total of 310 articles were reviewed and analyzed to first reveal six integration mechanism categories: supplier qualification, supplier development program, contractual and relational policies, information sharing and integration systems, joint team working and problem solving, as well as supplier integration evaluation. Secondly, this study proposes a roadmap to illustrate when these mechanisms should be implemented in a construction project, according to both the project phases and the project delivery system. Finally, research gaps in the field are identified as well as future research directions that could be further explored by researchers and professionals.

The Role of IT Applications on New Product Performance in the Digital Age: The Role of Supply Chain Synergy Mediation

Based on resource-based theory, dynamic capability theory and transaction cost theory, this paper analyzes the influence of IT application based on big data analysis on new product performance, the mediating role of supply chain collaboration and the moderating role of relationship risk between supply chain collaboration and new product performance in the context of supply chain collaboration in the digital age. The results show that IT advancement and IT consistency have significant positive effects on new product performance; Joint problem solving and information sharing in supply chain collaboration play a partial mediating role in the relationship between IT advancements and new product performance. At the same time, IT also plays a part of mediating role in the relationship between IT consistency and new product performance. Relationship risk positively moderates the relationship between information sharing and new product performance. The research conclusions not only enrich the existing theories, but also have important reference significance for the digitization and information construction and innovation development in the context of enterprise supply chain collaboration.

The Concept of the Aerospace System in the Context of Training Specialists to Ensure the Complex of Its Management Tasks and the Application of Information Technologies

Background. The defining trends of technical progress are the development of information technologies and revolutionary approaches to the practical use of space. In aviation, there are breakthroughs in the creation of a variety of technical implementations of aviation equipment and its application. Increasingly close interaction between aviation and space systems at the level of service provision, joint problem solving. The transition to large aerospace systems connected into a single entity on the basis of information technologies and having the function of supplying information technologies is not far away. The training of specialists in the creation and operation of aerospace systems is becoming an increasingly urgent task and should be several steps ahead of the latest achievements in this direction. 
 Objective: conceptual developments regarding the creation of an aerospace system and educational programs for training specialists in solving the problems of managing its aircraft and their target equipment, this system management, application and production of information technologies in the system. 
 Methods. Results. On the basis of the analysis of the development of tasks and technologies in the field of space and aviation technology and the prospects of their combination, the concept of a single aerospace system is proposed with an emphasis on the complex of issues of managing such a system, on information technologies in this system. In the context of the creation, development and operation of the aerospace system, the features and common features of three types of educational programs are highlighted, grouped by preparation for the corresponding groups of tasks: management in space systems; management in aviation systems; provision of the aerospace system with information technologies and (or) providing information technology by the system. The content of the educational material within the framework of the mentioned educational programs is generally considered.
 Conclusions. The materials of the article are aimed at improving the mentioned educational programs.

ANALISIS KEPUASAN PERNIKAHAN PADA PASANGAN USIA DINI

Early marriage is a marriage carried out by teenagers aged 15 to 20 years, and there is no readiness to marry. Satisfaction in marriage is very important, because the fulfillment of household relations will be more harmonious. This study aims to determine marital satisfaction in early age couples. This research is a qualitative research using a case study approach. The subjects in this study were 5 couples who married at an early age, 3 of them married because of their own desires and 2 couples married because they were pregnant out of wedlock, as well as 5 informants. The instruments in this study were interview guides and documentation, while the analysis of the data that had been obtained from the interviews was then used as a transcript, and given a theme as a result of the findings and after that, the data was interpreted. The results showed that marital satisfaction was only found in sexual satisfaction, whereas in the communication aspect one group of subjects was found to be satisfied, because communication in the household of subject group 1 went well and understood each other, while in the aspect of joint activities, religion, problem solving and financial satisfaction were not found. Marital satisfaction is very important in a husband and wife relationship in order to create a harmonious relationship and early marriage does not guarantee marital satisfaction and happiness, so it is suggested that couples who want to get married should reconsider, so that unwanted households do not occur.

Buyer–supplier collaboration's commitment. An antecedent for procurement performance of large manufacturing entities in Tanzania

PurposeThis study was steered to establish how buyer–supplier collaboration's commitment attributes serve as an antecedent for procurement performance in large manufacturing entities in Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachA parallel, concurrent, mixed method was used in the study. Quantitatively, 52 firms were surveyed from Temeke Municipality, Tanzania, using questionnaire that specified 1 procurement manager and 1 store manager from those firms, totaling a sample size of 104 respondents. Qualitatively, expressive opinions to supplement the numeric data were gathered from supply chain managers using the saturation principle. Explanatory design analyzed the existing cause–effect relationship, and the null hypotheses were tested using binary logistic regression at p values < 0.05 and ExpB > 1.FindingsFidelity and enthusiasm to suggest improvements to suppliers and the duration of the collaboration antecede the procurement performance of the manufacturing firms in Tanzania, while devotion to invest resources and initiatives on joint problem solving have no significant impact.Research limitations/implicationsThe causality between buyer–supplier collaboration and procurement performance has been revealed. Since there might be third party logistics in collaborations, future research should center on their moderating effect.Practical implicationsA framework has been developed for liberating procurement performance in the context of large manufacturing firms in Tanzania.Originality/valueBased on Transaction Cost Economics and Resource Dependency Theories, the study revealed the root cause of procurement performance in the context of Tanzanian manufacturing firms, while also considering commitment to buyer–supplier collaboration as a prerequisit for the commendable target.

Contributions and limitations of relational governance towards the reliability of publicly procured air ambulance services

The interconnectivity of critical services, resulting partly from the megatrends of globalization, liberalization, and deregulation, comes in many shapes and forms, one of them being the procurement arrangement. For publicly procured critical services, the transition between two contract periods can create organizational stresses that affect reliability. This paper, drawing on empirical materials from a case study of the two most recent air ambulance service procurements in Norway, assesses how governance solutions can counter such stresses and contribute to maintaining organizational reliability. Specifically, we analyse the contributions and limitations of relational governance, using relational exchange theory as a starting point.Although contractual governance is fundamental for procured services, contracts cannot account for all future contingencies in long-term, complex procurements. In addition, contractual governance can shift the actors’ focus to procedural and contractual matters rather than total outcomes. Relational governance counters this effect by encouraging a holistic approach in which both flexibility and joint problem solving are important. We find that, in air ambulance procurements, the procurer has applied relational governance, with positive effect on organizational reliability. However, we also find that relational governance implies a difficult balancing act between flexibility-enhancing and stability-preserving approaches. Furthermore, when conflicts between a procurer and supplier are profound, neither contractual nor relational governance can necessarily provide adequate solutions. We argue that an implication of imperfect governance solutions is that procurer organizations and public policy makers need to take into account that the procurement of critical services can involve periods of reduced reliability in service output.

PERAN KOMUNIKASI KELOMPOK PADA KOMUNITAS BATIK SIDO ASIH DI MASA PANDEMI COVID-19

The existence of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the tourism sector hard, including tourist villages, where many tourist villages have been closed and do not accept tourist visits. One of these tourist villages is Giriloyo Tourism Village, where the closure of this tourist village has hit the economy of the batik craftsmen who are members of the Sido Asih Batik Community. The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the role of group communication in the Sido Asih Batik Community in dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research method used is descriptive qualitative with a case study approach. Data collection techniques used in this study were observation, interviews, and literature review. This study shows that the role of group communication is important, because group communication can act as a medium for community coordination and consolidation. Due to the pandemic, group communication is carried out virtually via the WhatsApp (WA) group. Group communication is also used as a forum for joint problem solving and produces a number of initiatives, such as selling batik cloth online using WhatsApp (WA) to a number of cities in Indonesia, and selling other products such as herbal medicine. Another role of group communication is to strengthen each other and work together in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic through traditions such as jimpitan, as well as a medium for making certain decisions, such as the decision to reopen the Giriloyo Tourism Village.

Sustainable mutually agreed development of entrepreneurship and territorial complexes

The growing need to ensure balanced and harmonious development of both entrepreneurship and territorial complexes, considering practical and strategic aspects of sustainable development, proves the relevance of the chosen topic. This approach involves aligning the interests of various parties, such as entrepreneurs, local authorities, public organizations, and other stakeholders, to promote sustainable progress and improve the quality of life in the territory. This study aims to create an effective interaction between entrepreneurial activity and the development of settlements, which will contribute to sustainable economic, social, and environmental development. The possibilities of sustainable, mutually coordinated development of entrepreneurship and territorial complexes were studied. The processes of power decentralization in Ukraine are characterized. The significance of cooperation between representatives of entrepreneurship, authorities, local self-government, and the public has been proven. The reasons and consequences of such collaboration are systematized. The social responsibility of business, inclusiveness, sustainability, and economic security of the development of entrepreneurship and territorial complexes are substantiated. Varieties of partnership relations within the mutually coordinated development of entrepreneurship and territorial complexes are characterized. The importance of partnership relations between various parties for effective joint problem-solving, ensuring development sustainability, and optimizing resource use has been proven. The interaction of businesses, authorities, and the public stimulates inclusive development, involving all population segments in decision-making processes and project implementation. Modern challenges and crises associated with the unprovoked invasion of Russia require even greater coordination and cooperation of representatives of the business sphere with local authorities and self-government bodies to ensure stability and adaptation to new conditions. Inclusive development of entrepreneurship and territorial complexes is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development of territories and improving the population's quality of life. Joint interaction, considering the interests of various parties, and developing partnership relations are essential tools for effectively solving modern challenges and ensuring sustainable development. Keywords: entrepreneurship, territorial complexes, territorial communities, sustainable development, decentralization, corporate social responsibility, economic security, inclusivity, innovation, and investment opportunities.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОЗВИТКУ МЕДІАТОРСЬКОЇ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТІ МАЙБУТНЬОГО ФАХІВЦЯ В ГАЛУЗІ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ РОБОТИ

The article defines the relevance of the problem of professional training of social work specialists capable of demonstrating mediation competence. The educational and professional program «Social Mediation» of the specialty 231 Social Work, created taking into account international standards and domestic experience of educational and training centers, providers of educational services in the field of adult education, which provide training in the field of mediation, organizations, unions and other associations of mediators, the State Standard of Social Services of Mediation, the Law of Ukraine «On Mediation», the Mediator's Code of Ethics and other regulatory documents. The purpose and main focus of the educational and professional program «Social Mediation» is revealed. In accordance with the training plan of the future specialist in social work with a focus on the formation of conflict-related competence, the study of a number of educational components from the professional training cycle is provided (social work in the community, theory of social mediation, supervision in social work, etc.). The list of professional competences and learning outcomes, which was formed taking into account the «Basic principles of teaching the basic skills of a mediator», is presented. The principles were developed within the framework of the project «Ensuring the quality of mediation services by standardizing the requirements for training basic mediator skills», implemented by the NGO «National Association of Mediators of Ukraine» with the support of the American people, provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is noted that the educational and professional program is intended for higher education graduates who are ready to provide assistance in conflict/dispute settlement as a mediator, to help the parties conduct negotiations with an attitude of partnership, joint problem solving, and to promote the healthy well-being of the population. Key words: social work, mediation, mediator competencies, social work specialist, educational program, development.