A Qualitative Study on the Rights of Access to Information on Social Service

The aim of the study is to examine the experiences and issues of the access to information of social services and explore ways to improve the right of access to information. In-depth interviews and focus group interviews were conducted with twenty participants which were composed of service users and experts in the service area for children, youth, single parents, the elderly, the disabled, community services. It is found that service users attempted to obtain social service information in a number of ways such as the access to public organization and searching in the internet by themselves. However, they experienced difficulties in acquiring the information since the contents and format of it was not provided in a proper way given the particular difficulties and needs of the users. Moreover, the systematic supports was not provided in the processes of using information. The study strongly emphasizes that the right of access to information should be understood as ‘social rights’ and suggests some policy measures, such as the provision of customized information service and the preemptive provision of information through case finding.