IZVORI PROFESIONALNOG STRESA I POTREBE U ZAŠTITI OD PROFESIONALNOG STRESA STRUČNIH RADNIKA CENTRA ZA SOCIJALNU SKRB ZAGREB

SOURCES OF PROFESSIONAL STRESS AND NEEDS IN PROTECTION FROM PROFESSIONAL STRESS OF SOCIAL WELFARE CENTRE ZAGREB PROFESSIONALS ABSTRACT Social Welfare Centre is a key institution in the social welfare system and professional helpers employed in it are daily exposed to professional stress. Although research practice dealing with professional stress and mental health of helpers started in the beginning of the 1990s, there is still a lack of qualitative research in this area. Therefore, a qualitative research study was conducted with the aim of describing the sources of professional stress and the needs in protection from professional stress of Social Welfare Centre Zagreb professionals. 11 focus groups were conducted, one for each branch of the Centre, and the total of 85 professionals employed by the Social Welfare Centre Zagreb participated in them. The results identified five sources of professional stress: characteristics of work with clients, working conditions, work organization, interdepartmental co-operation and co-operation with other branches, and co-operation with other institutions. Additionally, three areas of needs in protection from professional stress were identified: the need to improve material and technical working conditions, the need to improve material and safety position and the need for support. The research contributed to the identification of the sources of professional stress and pointed to the weakest links in the operation of social welfare centres on the example of the largest Croatian centre. Therefore, in order to better understand the stressful nature of the job and the needs of professionals employed in social welfare centres, the recommendation is to conduct more qualitative research studies in the future and to encourage usage of the results for positive changes in the practice. Key words: professional stress; social welfare centre; professional; working needs