Socialinės globos įstaigų, dirbančių su senyvo amžiaus asmenimis, teikiamų paslaugų kokybės vertinimas

After having analyzed the quality assessment models, it has become clear that EQUASS quality system in the EU countries is recognized as the most suitable one in the social sector. In order to collect empirical data, in 2017 quantitative study was carried out. The method of the research was a questionnaire survey. The quality of social services is assessed and the questionnaire is based on the EQUASS methodology. This methodology reveals the strengths and weaknesses of services. EQUASS system and the questionnaire prepared includes 10 quality principles: 1. Leadership; 2. Personnel; 3. Rights; 4. Ethics; 5. Partnership; 6. Participation; 7. Personal orientation; 8. Complexity; 9. Performance orientation; 10. Continuous improvement. All the principles enlisted are based on the European Quality Assurance System in Social Services. Research subjects – employees of social welfare institutions providing long-term/ short-term social care services for the elderly in Lithuania according to the list of occupations of employees in the field of social services (2014). The research involved 105 heads of institutions, 122 social workers, 36 employment specialists and 78 social work assistants working in social care institutions providing services for the elderly people. The SPSS data processing program is used to analyze the research data. The results of the research showed that according to the subjective assessment of the research participants, in general the overall level of service quality in social care institutions working with elderly people is quite high. The quality of social care home care services is mostly related to orientation to person, leadership, rights and ethics, and, to a lesser extent, to complexity, personnel, performance orientation, continuous improvement and participation, and the least to the partnership. Care homes employees of different positions similarly evaluate the overall quality, the response rates vary slightly. The vast majority of respondents indicate that social services provided in their care institutions are sufficient. A majority of respondents evaluate the general and special services very well and well. The analysis of the results of the research revealed that according the vast majority (85.6%) of the research subjects, the quality of the social services provided by the institution can be improved; the heads of the institutions hold this opinion considerably more often than the employees of other posts.