The Digital Exclusion of Vulnerable Children: Challenge for Sustainability Issues in Czech Social Work Practice
Soňa Kalenda and
Ivana Kowaliková
Additional contact information
Soňa Kalenda: Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava, 709 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Ivana Kowaliková: Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava, 709 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-25
Abstract:
The aims of this study are (1) to draw attention to the digital exclusion of vulnerable children as a systemic (socio-ecological) problem that is gaining momentum during emergencies; (2) to reflect the subjectively perceived readiness of social workers as one of the actors in the system, whose task is to contribute to the mitigation of risks arising from digital exclusion of the target group and to ensure the sustainability development of society; (3) from the position of the target group, to reflect the situation of their digital literacy and thus exclusion; and (4) to make recommendations to public policy makers and social workers to mitigate these risks and to promote sustainability. We draw on the socio-ecological model of social work which views a person in the context of their environment. The aim of the research was to analyze the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social work with vulnerable children and their families and to detect system deficits contributing to digital exclusion. Based on a questionnaire survey (N = 105), interviews with representatives of the target group (N = 20), and expert interviews (N = 4), both the main shortcomings in the digital skills of employees and the needs of the target group were identified and systemic measures were proposed.
Keywords: digital exclusion; ICT; social work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9961/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9961/ (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:9961-:d:452882
Access Statistics for this article
Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu
More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().