Socialinis Darbas (Dec 2018)
QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE ELDERLY PEOPLE SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTIONS
Abstract
Social care providers need to ensure quality services to service users. The problem is characterized by insufficient attention to the quality management of service provided by social care institutions, quality assessment and indicators of service quality assessment, which are important when evaluating principles of service quality by the managers of institutions and employees of different positions. The purpose of the research is to reveal the approach of the management of social care institutions towards the results of the quality assessment of the services provided. In order to collect empirical data in 2017 quantitative study was carried out. The SPSS data processing program is used to analyze the research data. The specific efficiency of quality indicators of social care institutions are calculated in accordance with the 10 qualitative principles of the EQUASS system: leadership, personnel, rights, ethics, partnership, participation, orientation to person, complexity, performance orientation and continuous improvement. Research Subjects: Employees of social welfare institutions providing long-term / shortterm social care services for the elderly in Lithuania according to the list of occupations of employees in the field of social services (2014). The research involved 105 heads of institutions, 122 social workers, 36 employment specialists and 78 social work assistants working in social care institutions providing services for the elderly people. Results of the research: The research results revealed that, according to the subjective opinion of the research participants, the service quality level in social care institutions working with elderly people is rather high. The research ascertained that managers of social care institutions are familiar and they are implementing the criteria of leadership principle. The overall results of the respondents‘ responses revealed that there should be a more active promotion of staff for satisfaction and motivation (66%), while managers' opinion on this criterion did not differ from the assessment of other criteria (77%). The research showed that the subjective assessment of managers in implementing the partnership principle should inform employees about partnerships with other institutions and to maintain closer cooperation with external organizations (77.1%). The EQUASS quality principles which were used in research by dividing them into sub-criteria of quality, allowed to reveal specific performance indicators that indicate the available performance‘s effectiveness of the managers of the company in accordance with the quality criteria and ascertain the approach of the management of care institutions towards the results of the quality assessment of the services provided.
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