Recovery : indications for the practice of social work oriented to human needs

The research focus of the article - based on Aaron Antonovsky’s sense of coherence - is the analysis of recovery from the perspective of clinical social work. The methodological approach adopted in the study is based on the co-creation of knowledge together with 29 people experienced in deep mental health problems who agreed to participate in the process of intersubjectively defining mental crises, the possibilities of overcoming these and thus the ways of understanding recovery. The results of the study show that the basis of the recovery process is meeting a set of five needs: (1) effectiveness, (2) emotionality, (3) connectedness, (4) coherent identity and (5) affirmation of the past. A certain pool of individual experiences acquired during this process is a source of the formation of internalised beliefs that can be linked by a sense of ‘manageability’ (resulting from the satisfaction of the first three of the aforementioned needs), ‘comprehensibility’ (related to the need for ‘coherent identity’) and ‘meaningfulness’ (related to the need to ‘affirm the past’)

Rozpowszechnienie spożycia alkoholu wśród pacjentów szpitali ogólnych po 60. roku życia

Background. In specialist literature more and more frequently we can find the reports about significant percentage of elderly people addicted to drugs and alcohol. The goal of present research was to describe the prevalence of using alcohol and the percentage of people drinking hazardously among general hospitals male patients at the age over 60. Material and methods. In the research the following tools were used: Sociodemographic Questionnaire, Health Screening Survey (HSS), and the CAGE questionnaire. To the study involved 882 elderly men being hospitalized in Warsaw general hospitals. Men at the age of 60 and more were qualified to the research. Results. Upon the received results it can be claimed that the prevalence of using alcohol among general hospitals patients at the age over 60 amounts to 46%. The most people using alcohol occurred in the age group of 60–65. Among elderly male patients 16.5% were drinking alcohol riskily. Conclusions. General hospital stay can be used to identify older people with alcohol problems, in order to give them appropriate assistance. Gerontol. Pol. 2011; 19, 1: 47–52Wstęp. W piśmiennictwie przedmiotu coraz częściej pojawiają się doniesienia na temat znacznego odsetka starszych osób uzależnionych od leków i alkoholu. Celem niniejszego badania było określenie rozpowszechnienia używania alkoholu oraz odsetka osób pijących ryzykownie w grupie mężczyzn po 60. roku życia będących pacjentami szpitala ogólnego. Materiał i metody. Badaniami objęto 882 mężczyzn powyżej 60. roku życia hospitalizowanych w warszawskich szpitalach ogólnych. W badaniu wykorzystano następujące narzędzia: Kwestionariusz Socjodemograficzny, Health Screening Survey (HSS) oraz test CAGE. Wyniki. Na podstawie uzyskanych wyników można stwierdzić, że rozpowszechnienie spożycia alkoholu wśród pacjentów szpitali ogólnych powyżej 60. roku życia wynosi 46%. Największe spożycie alkoholu występuje w grupie wiekowej 60–65 lat. Spośród wszystkich pijących alkohol w sposób ryzykowny używało go 16,5%. Wnioski. Pobyt w szpitalu umożliwia lepsze zdiagnozowanie problemu alkoholowego wśród starszych osób, co pozwala na udzielenie im odpowiedniej pomocy. Gerontol. Pol. 2011; 19, 1: 47–5

Mental crisis : recovery, social support, social work

The book presents essential issues defining mental health and mental dosorders. Authors focus on describing the functions, goals and tasks of social workers and other social professionals in the field of working with mentally ill people and their families. They attempt to outline the synthetic characteristics of treatment, therapy, rehabilitation and environmental support for this group of people. An important part of the monograph is the description of currently discussed in Poland and worldwide issues in the field of mental health. Authors predicate the book on the idea of searching for a balance between selected theoretical issues - necessary for understanding the practice - and the knowledge following from the experience of people with specific development needs, belonging to minorities, who are the victims of social stigmatization