Supporting social workers in promoting adaptive skills in person with intellectual disabilities in a daily centre in Serbia: a case study in a psychosocial perspective.

Introduction.– The present contribution is part of a collaboration between an italian association of psychologists and a daily centre in Belgrade that teaches job skills to its10 guests with intellectual disability to help them become active participants in society and be responsible for their own life. Objective.– Elaborating qualitative evaluations of the10 subjects attending the centre, for helping it to face an empasse situation in the working process and answer to their growing needs. Methods.– Direct observation of subjects and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-II (Survey Form), given to social workers and to guests’ families, were used for investigating communicative, social and daily skills. Results.– An overview of limits and strengths of each guest was outlined. 5 subjects showed a higher functioning in Communication, 3 in Socialization and 2 in Daily skills. We observed different competences according to the context and people with whom they have significant relationships (parents, personal assistants), especially in “Community” area (Daily abilities). Families had more information about “Writing” (Communication) and “Personal” (Daily abilities) areas, while workers showed in general better considerations or more information as regards Socialization.Someof the respondents (both from families and daily centre) weren’t able to answer some items of Communication and Daily Abilities Scales, meaning that they were not aware of potential resources present in the subjects observed. Conclusions.– Apart from exploring the functioning and potentials of the subjects, discussion of results enhanced the possibility of reflecting on workers’ and relatives’ representations of them and on the close interdependence between the individuals and their contexts. A bio-psycho-social model that goes beyond diagnosis and considers more variables in a development perspective could be useful in present and future projects and actions, that started to be defined.