Annual of social work, Vol. 17 No. 1, 2010.
Review article
SIGNIFICANACE OF SEXUALITY ISSUES IN SOCIAL WORK
Ana Miljenović
orcid.org/0000-0002-3486-0696
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Department of Social Work, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The paper provides an overview of sexuality issues by presenting the manifested and latent level of its occurrence in the field of social work as well as social workers’ possible approaches to these issues. In social work, the manifested level of sexuality refers to sexual violence, prostitution, various forms of sexually inappropriate and risky behaviour (such as paraphilia and incest), homosexuality and sexually transmitted diseases. The latent level refers to the fact that sexuality is an important aspect of human life, although the focus is on some other life needs. Therefore it includes various aspects of social work with members of all age groups (children, youth, adults, families and the elderly), in various unfavourable living conditions (people with disabilities or chronic diseases) and living under care (in homes, penal institutions, and hospitals). When dealing with these issues, social workers need to pay special attention to clients’ rights to self-determination, confidentiality principle and limitations of professional competences. The social workers’ activities can be aimed towards the following: recognising and integrating clients’ sexual needs, protecting and promoting this aspect of clients’ human rights, supporting and strengthening, creating and recovering social networks and providing information on other social services related to sexuality issues. In conclusion, further practical and research questions are proposed.
Keywords
sexuality; social work; manifested sexuality issues; latent sexuality issues
Hrčak ID:
52502
URI
Publication date:
10.5.2010.
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