Doctoral thesis “The digital transformation of Basic Social Services: a challenge of the present for the future of the social sector”, by the Doctoral Program in Social Work at the University Rovira i Virgili (URV)

(2021-2024)

The digital transformation is one of the great challenges facing the Social Services of Local Administrations today. A transformation necessary to adapt to a rapidly evolving society and an increasingly digitalized citizenry, and which at the same time can act as a lever for other deeper transformations that Social Services also need, such as the personalization of services, empowerment of users, streamlining response times, simplifying administrative processes or having the necessary information for management, planning or prevention.

This is the object of the doctoral thesis “The digital transformation of Social Services: a challenge of the present for the future of the social sector”, which is part of the Doctoral Program in Social Work at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and which has been under development since May 2021 in collaboration with the iSocial Foundation.

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the processes of digital transformation of all sectors of society, and in Social Services it has become more evident that it is an unstoppable, dynamic transformation and not without fears, difficulties and even contradictions. A transformation that must contribute to advancing the sector in the strategic changes it needs: person-centered and data-oriented intervention models, the personalization of services, administrative simplification, or the homogenization of processes, among others.

The Social Services of the territory must be the protagonists of their particular change, and through this doctoral thesis the URV and the iSocial foundation offer to the Basic Areas the opportunity to analyze how to face this transformation, and to do so taking into account all the agents involved in the fivefold helix: administrations, private sector, world of research, civil society, and territorial environment.

Exchange of good practices in the use of technological tools for the social and labor inclusion of young people with mental or emotional health problems.

(2021-2023)

Erasmus + project for the exchange of good practices between European organizations specializing in the socio-labour inclusion of young people with mental or emotional health problems, in relation to the use of technological tools that improve the effectiveness of interventions and taking into account the lessons learned about this matter during the health crisis of the Covid-19.

StepForME (Steps Forward to Meaningful Employment of young people with emotional well-being problems after the Covid-19 pandemic) seeks to share different models of community intervention with these young people, and to do so with the participation of both professionals from NGO that support them as young people themselves.

The employability of young people with mental health or emotional well-being problems has always been lower and more complex than that of the general youth population. Emotional well-being problems, which often lead to diagnosed mental health disorders, lead to deficiencies and barriers of all kinds that make it difficult for many young people to enter the job market.

To this existing difficulty must be added the impact that Covid-19 has had, which has aggravated this type of problem in the young population throughout Europe. At the same time, however, the health crisis has also allowed a sudden acceleration of the digital transformation and has led to greater awareness of the potential of technology to achieve more effective socio-labour interventions for young people with fewer opportunities.

StepForME aims to address this challenge by making available to youth workers and young people themselves a set of innovative practices supported by the use of digital tools that have been shown to be effective in improving their well-being and employability, before, during and after the pandemic.