Conceptualisation of family support in Slovenia: Good practices and development opportunities

Abstract

Family support is an important international topic, which is also relevant to Slovenia. In the framework of the COST Innovators Grant IG18123, QA[4]EuroFam, Slovenia participated through a national working group as one of nineteen Member States that collected data on the family support currently provided in the country based on the internationally developed Quality Assurance Protocol for Family Support. This protocol includes three areas—namely, the family support practice system, family support provision system and family support evidence system. An internationally designed exploratory mixed-methods study was conducted. Through participation in the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data and the analysis of the collected material, we have taken an important step towards the conceptualisation of family support in our country. The design of family support determines the types of services provided and the expected outcomes of those services. Research in Slovenia has shown that the existing family support provision system is well developed, whereas the family support evidence system needs to be strengthened in the future.