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The social counseling during a divorce in the family
UHLÍKOVÁ, Jana
My choice of dissertation subject was influenced by the fact that there is a increasing number of divorces in recent years. This fact is supported by data from the Czech Statistical Office, which imply that every second marriage ends in divorce. It is impossible to define a clear-cut cause of the trend, because the decision to get divorced is influenced by many factors. These include the increasing pace of social changes, different approaches to problem-solving and to life in general, a specific argument between the partners that leads to a deep and lasting disharmony between them and many others. A divorce is a painful matter for all those involved. It influences broad areas of everyday life and has consequences for the adults as well as for the children (in the case of a divorce where children were born during the marriage). When the family situation is so unsettled that a compromise is difficult to find, it is possible to use an institution or a facility, which can offer social counselling according to law no. 108/2006 of the Collection of Laws on social services, in full wording. We differentiate between basic and professional social counselling. In the case of divorce, professional counselling is appropriate and can be accessed for example via counselling units for families, marriages and interpersonal relations which have this service properly registered within their remit. The extent of the use of these services was the research subject of this dissertation. The aim of this dissertation was to ascertain if families going through a divorce are accessing social counselling to resolve their situation and with what effect. To accomplish the stated aim, three investigative questions were chosen. 1.From what sources are the families informed about the possibility to take advantage of social counselling? 2.How does taking advantage of social counselling help families undergoing a divorce to resolve the life situation? 3.What do the families gain as a result of taking advantage of social counselling? A qualitative research strategy was chosen to collect the necessary information, using a survey method. Two techniques were used firstly the questionnaire containing closed questions and secondly the technique of in-depth interviews of selected respondents. The research was split into two phases. During the first phase a questionnaire with closed questions was used to establish which of the families took advantage of social counselling during divorce. During this phase the basic research set S1 was formed by the subset of respondents that went through divorce. This totalled 47 respondents chosen by the "snowball sampling" method. Using this method the chosen subject recommends further respondents that fulfil the conditions of the research. All 47 respondents agreed to fill in the questionnaire. The second phase of the research involved interviews with respondents forming the selective subset S2. This subset was created using quota selection from respondents who answered YES to the first question of the questionnaire.This select set was formed by 5 respondents. The interviews were transcribed into a recording form and the gathered data was further classified based on predefined questions or areas of the research enquiry, followed by analysis and comparison with the answers of other respondents. The purpose of this dissertation was to show, based on research carried out, if and to what extent the service of social counselling is used, which opportunities it offers and how it benefits the people taking advantage of these services. It was clear from the results, that the utilisation of these services is limited by the fact that a significant number of divorcing families, for whatever reason, does not look for this help. Conversely, the respondents that used social counselling benefited from this service whilst solving problems associated with their divorce, often simplifying the process.
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