Il Processo d'aiuto nel servizio sociale: una ricerca empirica su vissuti, percezioni e valutazioni di ex-utenti degli Uffici di Servizio Sociale per i minorenni

Title: The Help Process in Social Work: An empirical research on the experiences, perceptions and evaluation of ex-clients of the Sardinian Juvenile Social Work Offices The aim of this research is to explore and understand the impact of social work on the lives of young clients. In particular, regarding adolescent offenders, clients of the Sardinian Juvenile Social Work Offices of the Ministry of Justice. The research looks to reconstruct the meaning and evaluation that those interviewed attribute to their social work experience, and therefore the orientation of the research is considered constructivist. The relative theory deals with the social action in relation to the help process in social work. The sample for the research is made up of a group of 25 subjects, men and women, italian and foreign, who had been clients of Juvenile Social Work Offices in the years between 1996 and 2000, for a period not less than 6 months, each having had an individual programme. The subjects were identified and contacted through the collaboration of their ex-social workers, as a more formal attempt – by a letter invitation – proved ineffective. Some of the subjects were interviewed in prison. A qualitative-type method was chosen, using partially-structured-type interviews. The interviews were transcribed completely, and categorized based on the relative theory and the expression of each client. An hermenutic approch was used in the analysis and interpretation of the interviews.