Romania faces a significant challenge with the ongoing migration of its medical professionals, a trend that has intensified since the early 1990s and particularly after its integration into the European Union. Institutional data from parliamentary inquiries, official statistics, and various secondary sources clearly show the scale and increasing rate at which medical graduates are leaving the country after they finish medical school, significantly impacting the national healthcare system. Although Romania produces a high number of medical graduates each year, many either cannot secure residency positions domestically or choose to practice medicine abroad. This situation has exacerbated medical workforce shortages, especially in rural and underserved regions. Paradoxically, Romania is also attracting many international students thanks to affordable tuition and respected medical education programs, yet restrictive legislation prevents most of these foreign-trained physicians from remaining to practice locally. Consequently, Romania spends resources educating thousands of doctors annually, only to see a substantial number leave to work in other countries. Addressing this problem requires better retention strategies and aligning medical training more closely with actual healthcare system demands.

This research aims to analyze the sexual exploitation through online pornography shows, that takes place in Romania, in the family environment. This type of abuse is represented by cases where children are involved in live pornographic shows on the internet, within which minors perform the sexual acts requested by adult clients who pay for the show. Although a relatively recent phenomenon in our country, this type of abuse has been prevalent for years in other disadvantaged regions of the world. The research focuses on in-family offences and aims to identify the factors that lead to the commission of such crimes. Data was obtained through 27 semi-structured interviews that were conducted with specialists involved in the management of online pornography offences: police officers and psychologists from child protection departments. The results of the study show that, although family sexual exploitation through live-streaming shows is not a very common modus operandi, it has extremely serious consequences for the victims. Discussions with specialists outline two distinct social situations in which this type of abuse manifests: a part of the perpetrators come from economically marginalized families, in the framework of which other deviant behaviors are also registered and within which pornography is used to provide the necessary income for day-to-day living; for the second category of perpetrators, this form of exploitation represents a quick source of substantial income, which is used to provide them with the material comfort they aspire to.

In recent decades, the quality of life in the local environment has become a key issue in research focused on neighborhoods, cities, and smaller regions. The quality-of-life concept is used to determine positive and negative aspects of life in the local community, which makes it a complex and multidimensional concept. Having that in mind, this paper tries to evaluate the quality of life based on dimensions related to the socio-material aspects of life in a settlement but also to the social opportunities important for young people's transition to adulthood and planning their future. This paper is based on the data collected from a survey of third and fourth grade students of high schools in Vukovar-Syrmia County, on the eastern border of the Republic of Croatia, conducted in 2019. The goal was to answer the following research questions: 1) to what degree do certain dimensions of life quality impact general satisfaction of young people with their lives, 2) how relevant are certain assessments of the life quality dimensions for understanding the future of the local community. Since both individual lives and the lives of local communities are rooted in the temporal dimension, the quality of life research enables us to find the link between the present state and the perception of the future. The results of the research not only contribute to a better understanding of local living conditions on attitudes and satisfaction of young people

Social support programs play a pivotal role in addressing the needs of underserved communities and enhancing their quality of life. This evaluation examines the effectiveness of social support programs in achieving these objectives. The assessment considers diverse forms of social support, encompassing financial aid, community engagement, healthcare services, and educational initiatives. Drawing on a comprehensive review of relevant literature, the evaluation scrutinizes the impact of such programs on key indicators of quality of life, including health outcomes, economic well-being, social cohesion, and educational attainment. The analysis explores the strengths and limitations of social support interventions, emphasizing the importance of context-specific approaches tailored to the unique challenges faced by underserved communities. Additionally, the evaluation considers the role of community empowerment, resilience-building, and sustainable development in ensuring the long-term success of social support initiatives. Findings indicate that well-designed and culturally sensitive social support programs can significantly contribute to enhancing the quality of life in underserved communities, but success is contingent upon strategic implementation, stakeholder collaboration, and a commitment to addressing systemic barriers. This evaluation underscores the multifaceted nature of social support interventions and advocates for a holistic and community-driven approach to foster lasting positive change.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare holds immense potential for transforming diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic approaches, particularly in addressing challenges faced by Romania's strained medical system. This study conducts an in-depth literature review to explore the opportunities and risks associated with implementing AI technologies in Romanian healthcare. Relevant research has evaluated the impact of AI on patient quality of life, highlighting both positive outcomes, such as improved disease management and personalized treatment, as well as potential concerns, including algorithmic bias, data privacy issues, and workforce displacement. This review underscores the need for a balanced approach that maximizes the benefits of AI while mitigating associated risks through robust governance frameworks, ethical guidelines, and stakeholder collaboration. Ultimately, the responsible integration of AI could revolutionize healthcare delivery in Romania, enhancing access, efficiency, and overall patient well-being. However, a comprehensive assessment of socioeconomic and ethical implications

Up to this date very few empirical studies that address the civil society sector in Jiu Valley have been conducted. If they touch upon this topic, they discuss only the associational life of the miners. However, this does constitute their main objective. Thus, civil society actors beyond the miners’ unions are neglected. Recognizing the scarcity of research on this topic, the paper seeks to address this gap, by taking the case of the coalition of Valea Jiului Implicată/Jiu Valley Involved. In order to find out more about this coalition and its members, I used a mixed method approach consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Results show that the coalition was formed by educated individuals with an experience of migration, that managed to bring together volunteers and NGOs so that they can address different problems affecting the region.

We have witnessed, in recent decades, the constant growth of the demand for professionals in the field of social assistance, physical rehabilitation, in health and psychotherapy, occupations that fall into the category of beneficiary-oriented services. Given the fact that, in Romanian public perception the identity of these occupational groups is still in the process of crystallization, I propose an analysis of their organizational activity, which is care work, from an axiological perspective. In order to do that, I first formulate an operational definition of the concept of professional value respecting Rokeach’s epistemological rigors: intuitiveness, taking into consideration the conceptual relationship between values, opinions and attitudes while avoiding circular or/and synonymous terms. Professional values can be understood as implicit dimensions of an occupational group culture. In caring professions, the professionalization process implies, in addition to the acquisition of specific knowledge and skills, the emergence of value systems with a normative role vis-à-vis professional activity. Comparing the content of deontological organizational documents, my aim is to help clarify the social identity of these occupations by identifying a set of common values.

The question of how digital technologies, especially the use of the Internet, affect young people's lives is one of the central research topics in contemporary sociology. On the one hand, the positive effects of digital technologies, enabling the emergence of online communities, are highlighted. On the other hand, there are also many negative effects, especially the fear of alienation. Based on the results of research conducted with 552 third and fourth grade high school students in Vukovar-Syrmia County (Croatia), this paper examines how social networking, frequency of digital technologies use, and technologically-mediated socializing influence attitudes towards the local community. It has been shown that the frequency of using digital technology does not have a negative effect on the sense of community, on the contrary – the use of mobile phones is positively correlated to support and emotional connection with peers. However, the tendency to use technology for socializing has a significant effect on two of the three measured dimensions of sense of community, in the way that young people who prefer to establish and maintain online relationships are less close to the local community. The findings support previous studies indicating multiple and varied effects of digital technologies, particularly the Internet use, on local social relationships. It has also been shown that the use of digital technologies had a much stronger effect on the assessment of attitudes towards peers in the community than in other studied dimensions of sense of community – support and emotional connection in the community and satisfaction of needs and opportunities for involvement.

History extracurricular education material began to be integrated into contextualizing the curriculum by incorporating elements of local history. The historical communities can play a role in filling the historical space that lacks context. Thus, students can take advantage of their learning context through practice from historical communities. This study used qualitative methods to explore widespread data from numerous information sources and then weigh the combined value of inside and outside factors. The combination of two data components is used to analyze empirically based findings that the role of the historical communities can encourage students to form nationalism and think critically. The involvement of the historian's communities is projected to enhance an intense historical understanding. Applying local history learning methods becomes more attractive than conventional learning and becomes a new alternative to increase nationalism and the tradition of critical thinking for students.