The Role of a Social Worker in Preventing Risk Behavior in the Gay Community.

The topic of this thesis is focused on risky behaviour of the gay community and on the role of a social worker in preventing such a behaviour. Three goals were defined to make conclusions in the thesis. The first goal is to specify the most common risky behaviour in the gay community. The second goal is to sum up available services, which gay community can use in preventing risky behaviour. The third and the last goal is to describe client satisfaction with the social worker´s services and their role. The theoretical part is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, chosen socially-pathological phenomena alias risky behaviour such as drug abuse or bullying are described. The next chapter explains what does homosexuality mean - the causes, coming out, differences between the role of men and women in homosexual community and a term of homophobia. Finally the last chapter deals with the services, which are available for the LGBT community in preventing risky behaviour. The empirical part of this thesis shows results of semi-structured interviews with homosexual men. Eight residents of Prague and eight men from the South Bohemia took part in the interviews. Selection of the respondents was done according to pre-defined criteria. The criteria were - age over 18, Prague or South Bohemia provenance and homosexual orientation. The research results can be used in practice, or they can be presented in professional literature. Information may serve also to the facilities offering the prevention of risky behaviour and for experts and all the people with interest in similar topics as well