Model of the Self-Care Strategies Among Slovak Helping Professionals – Qualitative Analysis of Performed Self-Care Activities

Abstract

The primary aim of the article is to describe a qualitative analysis all of the self-care strategies and concrete self-care activities among selected slovak helping professionals - social workers. The next objective of the authors is on these bases is to develop a methodology for measuring the level of selfcare designed for helping professionals in social practice. The primary method of this analyse is a group interview with active helping professionals from various areas of social work practice in Slovakia. Specifically, the findings reflect the importance of self-care strategies related to the working environment (as Intervision, supervision) for managing working conditions resulting from social practice. All other individual self-care activities (at physical, emotional and social area) are practice performed only in case of high level workplace self-care activities. The workplace self-care is for slovak active helping professionals the predictor of individual self-care.

Keywords: Self-care activities, Professional self-care, Individual self-care, Helping professionals