Do digital information and communication technologies in social work practice increase the quality and effectiveness of work?

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to familiarize readers with the contemporary questions and issues of ICTs in social work practice in Hungary. Exploring the question includes the ethical dilemmas involved, as well as potential answers to the following questions: How often do professionals use IT tools during their work? What tools do they use? How do clients accept these? Do professionals think it is necessary to develop their IT competencies? In addition to a comprehensive descriptive analysis of the data, comparative analyses were also conducted according to age groups, place of living and specialty areas.
 The article was received: 21. 10. 2022., revised: 14. 11. 2022., accepted: 27. 12. 2022.

Professionals’ digital competences and user profiles in social agencies and their impact on professional practice, family autonomy and wellbeing

“…This study has also allowed to explore the impact of the digital expertise and user profiles on the professional and family outcomes. Participants in general consider that using digital resources had a positive impact on their professional practice and contribute to improve family satisfaction with the service, confirming their positive attitude toward ICT (Tóth and Jávor, 2022). However, the influence of digital resources on the promotion of psychological and social wellbeing of child and families as well as on the autonomy of families in the exercise of their parental role is less clear.…”

“…We propose the following recommendations based on our results. First, the need for improvement of professionals’ digital competences can be fulfilled through the investment of time and effort in the social agencies, along with the development of quality standards and protocols aimed at supporting the effective, inclusive, and ethical use of digital resources ( Tóth and Jávor, 2022 ). There are three types of competences likely to raise their intermediate levels with formal training: (a) a specialized skill level for the competences required to communicate with the citizens at large to disseminate results or to deliver prevention or promotion campaigns; (b) an advanced skill level to integrate and re-elaborate digital content for developing and implementing online structured family intervention programs; and (c) an advanced skill level for safety concerns which ensure that interventions met ethical standards regarding the protection of personal data and confidentiality.…”