Main Objective:

To understand the practices of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the professional practice of Corporate Social Workers, identifying the challenges, opportunities, and ethical impacts associated with its use.

Specific Objectives:

• To identify the level of knowledge and use of AI among Social Workers working in companies;
• To analyze professionals’ perceptions regarding the advantages and limitations of AI in the practice of Corporate Social Work;
• To identify the main ethical challenges associated with the use of Artificial Intelligence AI, particularly concerning confidentiality, data protection, and the helping relationship.

Scientific domain

Methodology

The present study adopts a mixed-methods approach, with a descriptive and exploratory design, combining:

• A quantitative component (online questionnaire);
• A qualitative component (semi-structured interviews). Participants will be recruited for data collection purposes.

Companies for data collection purpose

It is expected to identify the practices of AI integration by Corporate Social Workers, the recognition of benefits - particularly in terms of efficiency - and the existence of significant ethical concerns related to data, confidentiality, and dehumanization. A clear need for training is also anticipated, as well as the perception that AI should serve only as a complementary tool, preserving the centrality of human intervention.

Means of Dissemination

Project contribution to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The project contributes to the SDGs by exploring the integration of Artificial Intelligence into the practices of social workers operating in corporate contexts, highlighting its potential to promote more ethical organizations centered on workers’ well-being. It aligns with SDG 3 by supporting workers’ well-being; with SDG 4 by identifying training needs in digital skills; with SDG 8 by reinforcing safer and more inclusive working conditions; with SDG 9 by encouraging responsible innovation; and with SDGs 10 and 16 by addressing inequalities, algorithmic bias, and the importance of fairer and more transparent institutions.

Schedule

Project start date: 15/02/2026
Project end date: 31/07/2026

Keywords

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• To understand and characterize the impact on quality of life (physical, psychological, social and environmental), mental health indicators and the burden of informal caregivers;
• Analyze the perception of satisfaction with social support (family, friends, society and government);
• Identify needs and best practices among caregivers of the elderly.

3rd phase of the Porto Importa-se Project:

• Ensure a follow-up of the situations of elderly people already flagged as being at risk of social isolation in previous editions of the project (about 300 cases).
• Multidimensional evaluation of the needs of a set of 900 new participants in the project, according to previously defined age criteria (elderly people living alone over 70 and couples over 75), detecting situations of risk of social isolation.
• Forwarding these situations to the privileged partners in the territory, with emphasis on the Parish Council.
• Reinvest in the continuity of building solid partnerships, based on existing social and local resources, encouraging, whenever possible, the promotion of a case management methodology.

• What are the effects of the Great Recession and the Covid 19 on the career paths of higher-skilled older workers?
• What are the consequences of the Great Recession and Covid 19 in the médium-long-run, on higher-skilled older workers’employment chances?
• What are the consequences in health, well being and quality of life?

• Characterize the extent of the problem of loneliness of older people in ERPI
• Assess the loneliness of older people and specifically the social and emotional loneliness (family and romantic).
• Know the causal factors of loneliness (internal and external to the ERPI) of older people in ERPI
• Know the impact of the covid 19 pandemic on the loneliness of older people in ERPI
• Know current problems and needs in the response to the loneliness of older people in ERPI
• Identify action strategies and best practices to combat loneliness of older people living in ERPI
• To know the representations of professionals about the role of new technologies in combating loneliness of older people in ERPI
• Make recommendations for the design of policies and technical guidelines to combat loneliness of older people in residential care facilities

• To study the relational experiences of the elderly, their relatives (or reference persons) and the Institution that shelters them, evaluating the importance of this relationship and its implication on the well-being of the institutionalized elderly, in an attempt to ascertain whether the practices present in the Institutions facilitate these relationships.

• To demonstrate the impact of concentration and emotional changes on the mnestic dynamics of the elderly population without psychic or encephalic commitments.

• To study the effects of expressive writing on affect, quality of life, life satisfaction, and depressive and anxious symptomatology in both elderly and young adult populations, adopting a comparative perspective.

• To outline the profile of NEET youth in mainland Portugal, reflecting their diversity through the analysis and understanding of biographical trajectories of urban youth currently in or formerly in a NEET situation within the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto;
• To understand the ambitions and prospects of transition into the labor market among NEET and former NEET youth;
• To understand the impact of reintegrating NEET youth into vocational training programs in generating turning points within their socio-professional trajectories that produce paths of inclusion/exclusion;
• To identify and characterize the interventionist and collaborative practices of social projects working with NEET or former NEET youth that contribute to the development of youth inclusion pathways;
• To propose socio-political action strategies capable of addressing the multiple challenges affecting NEET youth in Portugal.

Scientific domain

Methodology

Type of Study: Exploratory; Comparative; Qualitative; Applied. Action research with NEET and former NEET youth within the scope of social intervention projects.

Sampling: Multi-case sampling by homogenization (Pires, 1997; Guerra, 2010), utilizing internal diversification variables:

Phase 1 – NEET Trajectories

1. Focus Groups in NUT II North and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area: One focus group within each partner association/social project (minimum of two institutions per selected NUT II). Participants will include 8 to 12 urban youth aged 15 to 29 currently in a NEET situation (whether recurring or not) and former NEET individuals currently in training or integrated into the labor market, preferably participating in the selected local social projects.
2. Biographical Interviews: Conducted with at least two former NEET youths from each selected partner institution in both NUT II regions for data collection, ensuring gender parity (Flick, 2005).
3. Focus Groups with Stakeholders: Involving agents engaged in social intervention and youth training within each partner social project, as well as trainers in each selected NUT II (Flick, 2005) [to be conducted concurrently with the data collection scheduled for Phase 1].

Phase 2 – Final Report, Results, Products, and Guide for Practices and Socio-political Recommendations Aimed at mitigating the phenomenon.

Phase 3 – Production and Publication of Scientific Articles and Dissemination of Knowledge at Scientific Events

The focus groups and interviews with youth (Burgess, 2001; Flick, 2005) will be conducted informally within the premises of the partner social projects. They will focus on understanding youth trajectories, lifestyles, vulnerabilities, expectations, and opportunities, with an emphasis on turning points in their educational and labor itineraries (Denzin, 1989; Baxter, Braithwaite & Nicholson, 1999)—namely, the events and "social forces" that, at a given moment, positively or negatively transformed their life course and future choices (Elder, 1994).

Data Analysis Tools and Procedures:

MAXQDA software will be utilized as an analytical aid in the process of analyzing and interpreting results.
The selected material will undergo thematic categorical analysis (Strauss, 1987) and local interpretation: synopsis, historical background, core message, and both cross-sectional (transversal) and vertical interpretation (Soulet, 2003; Maxwell, 2005; Monteiro, 2005; Policarpo, 2011; Monteiro, Ramalho et al., 2013; Ramalho, 2020).
Techniques applied:

1. Documentary analysis (Prior, 2003; Scott, 2006)
2. Selective transcription (Kowall & O’Connell, 2004)
3. Content analysis (Berelson & Lazarsfeld, 1948; Guerra, 2006)
4. These methodological procedures allow for the interpretation of youth trajectories and expectations through a codebook/dictionary of categories and synoptic tables (Friedrichs, 1973; Hareven, 1991), as well as the analysis of practice models and the identification of "best practices" in training and intervention.

Data validity is ensured through theoretical triangulation, data collection across diversified territories, institutions, and groups, and the employment of multiple data collection techniques.

Local associations/vocational schools working directly with NEET and former NEET youth in each selected NUT II:

• North: Associação Qualificar para Incluir and ESOM - Escola de Segunda Oportunidade de Matosinhos;
• Lisbon: Associação Nacional de Futebol de Rua; Casa de São Bento and Casa Pia de Lisboa – Centro Qualifica.

Given the pandemic situation caused by the Covid-19 virus and the subsequent socio-economic crisis—now compounded by an international landscape marked by geopolitical instability, inflation, and an energy crisis—it is believed that the profile of NEET youth in Portugal may have undergone significant changes.

Therefore, it is crucial to achieve a deeper understanding of the circumstances of young people who are not in education, employment, or training, or who have recently transitioned out of this status. Mapping their profile through the reconstruction of their life trajectories will allow us to examine youth ambitions and transition prospects regarding the labor market, while identifying intervention practices capable of fostering empowering pathways toward youth inclusion, education, and employment.
 

Means of Dissemination

Publication of articles and presentations in national and international scientific journals and events:
1 article in an international journal;
1 article in a peer-reviewed national journal;
Organization of an event to present project results;
Joint presentation by the research team members at the International Congress of Social Work organized by CLISSIS, with publication in the proceedings of the journal Intervenção Social.

Project contribution to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 – Quality Education
SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals

Schedule

Project start date: 28.07.2022
Project end date: 07.2027
Duration: 5 years

Keywords

Youth, Lifestyles, education, occupation, training, and employment

Target Population/Beneficiaries: NEET youth (current) and former NEET youth (currently in training and/or integrated into the labor market).

• Understand the effects of the Ubuntu Schools Academy of Leaders - Local Community Based Development (DLBC) Gaia project, both on the students who will undertake the training and on their educators/teachers.
• Identify and characterize possible improvements that can be made to the ongoing non-formal education program.

• Health Promotion and Social Integration of Youth at Risk through Music

1. To adapt the Parenting Styles Inventory to the Portuguese reality;
2. To assess parenting style, i.e., the strategies and techniques used by parents to educate their children;
3. To identify the parents' educational practices associated with the development of antisocial behavior: neglect, inconsistent punishment, lax discipline, negative monitoring, and physical abuse;
4. To identify the educational practices associated with the development of pro-social behavior: moral behavior and positive monitoring;
5. To assess whether the perception of parental educational practices, from the point of view of parents and children, changes according to the sex of the children and the position they occupy in the fraternity;
6. To allow the use of this instrument, which presents a good reliability, to be used in many contexts, ensuring a work adjusted to the needs and difficulties of families.

3rd Phase of the project: April 2023 to December 2023

• To know the processes of participation of the homeless population in the definition and implementation of policies that concern them;
• Identify strategies that People Experiencing Homelessness develop to ensure the exercise of social rights;
• Identify strategies, challenges and paths for the exit of invisibility of people experiencing homelessness, to assume themselves as political actors.

• To understand and characterize the impact on quality of life (physical, psychological, social and environmental), mental health indicators and the burden of informal caregivers;
• Analyze the perception of satisfaction with social support (family, friends, society and government);
• Identify major needs and best practices among caregivers of people with disabilities.

• To examine the mental health (perceived stress and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder), illness perception, and parental concern of fathers and mothers of children/adolescents (6-16 years) about the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship to the child's quality of life;
• To examine possible differences in the mental health and parental concern of fathers and mothers of children who were or were not infected with COVID;
• To test a model that attempts to explain the child's quality of life (dependent variable), in which mental health and parental concern variables are predictors (independent variables) and disease perceptions (COVID-19) are moderators.

• To identify the psychosocial gains of parents as a function of their children's sports practice.

• To understand the factors that contribute to the athletic identity of athletes, enhancing their well-being and quality of life.

• Study the practices of screen use;
• Identify addictive behaviors in users of screens;
• Characterize and differentiate regional practices of screen use;
• Outline profiles of screen use;
• Design an action plan for the prevention of addictive behaviors in the use of screens.

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a collaborative training program designed to train and provide mentorship to PC professionals in applying the national bereavement standard.

• To study the perception of MSc students of Lusíada University regarding Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics and Sustainability Management.

Study the stone and mineral sector's perception of

1. Social, Economic and Environmental Impact of the activity
2. Corporate Social Responsibility
3. Business Ethics
4. Sustainability Management

• Identify problems in professional practice arising from gaps in academic training;
• Discuss proposals for sustainable solutions in the paradigm of transdisciplinarity;
• Overcome the boundaries of the disciplinary areas inherent in the teaching and professional practice of future professionals in Social Work and future Managers