Pavlína Pospíšilová, Soňa Kalenda
Pavlína Pospíšilová is a PhD student at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. She is interested in the politics of active ageing and social work with the elderly. Population ageing and active ageing is an issue that is also addressed in her dissertation.
Soňa Kalenda is a professor of social work at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. Her professional focus is on qualitative approaches in social work research. Her research focuses on the social worker’s role, the digitalisation of social work, the quality of social services and their transformation process, focusing mainly on the target group of vulnerable children, seniors, and people with health disadvantages.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this article is to present the document analysis method and its application to social work research as a complementary data analysis technique and the procedures of this technique on the specific example of document analysis of the implementation of active ageing policy as a partial research output. THEORETICAL BASE: Active ageing is the basis for the current social policy onage ing in Europe, along with a number of changes that are reflected in social policy, and also in the practise of social workers. METHODS: We combined content analysis and deductive qualitative analysis (DQA) according to Gilgun (2020) as a complementary research technique. We analyse the overarching strategic documents at the level of the EU and the Czech Republic dedicated to active ageing policies. OUTCOMES: The analysis showed that the role of social work is rather implicitly defined in documents. Then we continue to deepen the analysis, and the results showed an essential connection to social work practice. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: Based on the results, we can say that the role of social workers is irreplaceable, though it is not clear. It is then necessary to overcome this at a local level, i.e., at the level of regions and municipalities, which should specify the role of various stakeholders.
Keywords
active ageing, social work, strategic documents, deductive qualitative analysis
p. 64-80
