engleski

SELF-PERCEIVED COMPETENCIES AND TRAINING NEEDS OF SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS FOR WORKING WITH BEHAVIOURAL ADDICTIONS

Youth behavioural problems are complex, and their occurrence has increased together with the emergence of new risks, especially related to technology and behavioural addictions. Consequently, social welfare professionals (SWP) working with youth have been faced with the need to continuously improve their competences. The main objective of this paper is to explore what youth risky behaviours SWP mostly encounter, how they assess their own competences for providing interventions and what their training needs are. The specific emphasis is put on behavioural addiction problems (gambling problems, internet addiction and excessive video-gaming), as new forms of behavioural problems, as well as differences with regards to types of interventions (in community or institutional). Study involved n=123 SWP (F=88.6%, M=11.4% ; Mage=40.78 ; SDage=10.10) who by vocation are social workers, social pedagogies, psychologists and pedagogues. A Check-list of youth behavioural problems was used to measure (a) the frequency of encountering different youth behavioural problems, (b) the perceived importance of competencies for those problems, and (c) self-perceived competency for providing interventions. The results show that SWP often encounter various externalizing behavioural problems, particularly those working in the institutional setting. Internet addiction and excessive video gaming are moderately encountered as risk behaviours, while youth gambling problems are not assessed as frequently as expected. On the other hand, the highest training needs were found especially in this area. The findings have been interpreted in relation to practical implications and guidelines of ensuring an adequate response to contemporary risk behaviours, professionals’ training needs and principles of life-long learning.

behavioural addictions ; youth risk behaviour ; social welfare ; competencies ; training needs

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