Improving the Quality of Social Services as a Social Welfare Indicator

The issue of social protection of vulnerable categories of population (children in difficulty, the elderly, people with disabilities, people or families affected by poverty) is a topic of interest, largely in the context of the need to comply with international norms and requirements in the field, and this concern is reflected a constantly improved legal package in the field of social work. Along with the increase number and diversity of social services provided by institutions, control structures have been set up to monitor the quality of the respective services. The question that arises is to what extent the established standards, as an objective grid for measuring the quality of services, also ensure an increase in the quality of life and well-being of direct beneficiaries, as well as their subjective perception. To this end, we made an analysis of the degree of satisfaction of disabled persons institutionalized in a day care center. Our aim is to operationalize the concept of well-being for elderly people with disabilities. The analysis aims to balance the objective and subjective factors of assesing the quality of social services. Experience and studies in the field have shown that the outcome of the intervention is often correlated to the expectations of beneficiaries, their understanding of and compliance with the set objectives, their participation in the intervention and compliance with an established program. This endeavour ultimately justificaties the role of case management in social services as a determining factor for ensuring their quality.