Introduction
The work of health and social care worker is often regarded as a vital component of ensuring the society’s well being. On the other hand, being in this field of work also requires a much deeper understanding of various social and health conditions. Understanding specific needs in health and social care is imperative in ensuring that the root cause of the problem is being addressed. The discussion encompasses an analysis of the concepts of health, disability, illness and behavior in relation to the responsibilities of the health and social work. In addition, the discussion will also assess how perceptions of specific needs have changed over time. Changes in perception about specific needs was a result of the collective actions from legislation, culture, social policy, which were also perceived as a primary reason how related services were made available for service users.
The concept of specific needs will be also highlighted in this discussion by analyzing cases of individuals with specific needs and how the context of health and social care was applied in addressing the problems of service accessibility. The later part of the discussion will focus on determining the strategies for working with challenging behavior associated with specific needs. This will be highlighted through a case study of real-world situations where challenging behavior was a major issue. It is apparent that understanding specific needs is critical for effectively delivering social care support.
The norms of the human body without any manifestation of anomalies can be regarded as being in a healthy condition. From another perspective, health can be defined as possessing a sound mental, physical, and well-being condition and not just limited to the notion of being free from diseases. It is a concept in which a positive feeling emanates on a person’s individual and social well being (Baggott). On the contrary, illness can be perceived as either experiencing physical or mental anomaly caused by external factors such as viral contraction, accident, or abnormalities obtained from birth. On the other hand, disability can be viewed as a lack of physical or mental capability due to inadequacies in strength or power. Relating the concepts of illness, disability, and health with users of health and social care services brings the discussion to how the three concepts are being addressed.
For example, a mental health disorder patient seeking for support can be viewed as a service user because the patient is suffering from illness and there is a need to address the condition through acquired services or support. During my placement as a family support worker, there are instances in which the family members or the clients themselves approach the organization to solicit a particular service. The work of a health and social care professional becomes more effective if there are service users coming in seeking for support. The relationship between the service users and health and care professional encompasses the degree of support given to address the specific need. For example, a service user suffering from illness would require immediate attention in order to achieve immediate recovery because illness is a period in which the mind and responds to the implications of sickness. On the other hand, the concept of need relates to illness and disability in terms of providing the conditions supplied to address specific condition to achieve or maintain a specific state.
Several model both social and medical was introduced to aid health and care support professionals in order to meet the needs of different service users. For example, dyslexia is characterized as a reading difficulty. In classroom settings, a lecturer who failed to provide a copy of the presentation to the students prior to the start of the class may cause any of the dyslexic students to struggle with the lecture because of the apparent reading difficulties. To address the situation, the modern approach suggests that lecturers should provide copies of the lecture to the students at least a day before the discussion of the topic and include a separate list of difficult terminologies in order for the dyslexic student to have time deciphering the lecture and become ready in class.
Assess how perceptions of specific needs have changed over time
The context needs have changed significantly over time. For instance, the health belief model that aims to predict and explain changes in health behaviors developed in 1950s in response to failures in addressing the problem of tuberculosis (utwente.nl). Since its introduction, health and social care organizations have been exploring the variety of short-term and long-term health behaviors to assess perceptions about the specific needs of every patient. Several decades and new practices and model of care delivery have been introduced, which also encompasses the varying perceptions about specific needs in this modern era. In the context of learning disorders, social care workers are expected to provide specific care to cater the needs of the student. This is because the learning disability group is heterogeneous in terms of degree of disability, age, and other problems associated to the disorder (Fox and Wade).
Before, needs are being addressed primarily by large hospitals by means of providing medical care believing that the disorder could be alleviated trough medical means. However, the overcrowding of hospitals due to the lack thereof could result to declining quality of care and eventually failing to address the root cause of the patient’s disability. This is when perceptions about specific needs became a specialist work done not only by medical practitioners, but also by social care providers. Having the idea that people with learning disability needs special and close attention, health and social care workers are coming to communities to provide support. Such initiative have contributed significantly to the improvement of the effectiveness of the treatments and support provided by health and social workers to people with specific needs. However, the confinement of people with special needs within the community had resulted to them having to compete with the general population to gain access to care (Gravestock and Bouras). In my experience as a family support worker for Home-Start, providing special care for children who has long-term illness or physical disability allowed to work closely with the parents in ensuring the that all the needed care are being provided at home. Home-Start also takes care of parents who are also suffering from medical condition by assisting them in gaining access to needed care, receive diagnosis, appointments, and in seeking for financial help.
Analyze the impact of legislation, social policy, society, and culture on the ways that services are made available for individuals with specific needs.
Policies, legislation, the society, and culture impact the ways services are being made available for individuals with special needs. For instance, safe training is relatively important to promote dignity in care. In addition, several government initiated guidelines and measures ascertains that health and safety at work are being prioritized. Almost similar initiatives are implied by the prevailing policies both trough legislation and in the society. Culture also influence access to care services by individuals with specific needs primarily because of how each culture values the importance of caring for the less abled individuals. In terms of policies, the government ensures that the disabled people are receiving the appropriate benefits stipulated in legislations protecting the interests of the less abled population. For example, laws were enacted to give equal rights for employment opportunities between the disabled and abled individuals. Therefore, policies through legislation was able to enhance the social participation of the people with disability by helping them to more integrated within the society and eliminate discrimination as demonstrated in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (nidirect.gov.uk).
According to the Act, employers are not allowed to disqualify an applicant on the grounds of his/her disability provided that the applicant was able to satisfy the competitive requirements for the job. Furthermore, legislations are imposing new policies in terms of ensuring that the workplace is safe and conducive to the productivity of the employees particularly those with special needs. One example is the building code requiring building owners to install wheelchair ramps to enhance mobility of the disabled in and out of the building. Moreover, tax incentives are also being provided to employers who are adhering to the provisions of the disability discrimination act and its salient features. In terms of access to care, legislation had an immense impact towards people with special needs as observed in policies enacted to provide additional benefits. The Health Act of 1999 is an example, which included provisions that enabled healthcare providers to pool in their resources, develop commission arrangements, and create integration to provide efficient care services to people with special needs.
The society and the norms it had created have played an important role on everyone’s perception about health and behavior. The exclusion of individuals from the larger society because of their illness or disability can potentially cause depression on the individual, which could also become a reason for the health conditions to deteriorate. It is important that people with specific needs are receiving equal treatment from the society with compassion, respect, and dignity by the care providers (Bradshaw). In terms of cultural factors, discrimination among races is one of the many reasons that people with special needs are not receiving adequate care. This is because discrimination based on race, color, personal beliefs, and other non-correlating cultural factors creates the level of vulnerability among adult patients with special needs (nidirect.gov.uk).
In my work placement I supporting a service user who was bringing up a child on her own which she was not finding it easy and the child had terminal illness, which the service user was struggling and she was feeling lonely. The service user daughter was diagnosed with a condition, which is unlikely that she will reach school age.
2.1 Analyze the care needs of individuals with specific needs
Analyzing the care needs of every individual encompasses a discussion about a relative theory about needs, which was introduced by a known psychologist named Abraham Maslow. The Hierarchy of needs incorporates two main ideas, one is that people has varying needs, which determine the person’s level of satisfaction, while second idea suggest that the lack satisfaction motivates behavior (learning-theories.com). This means that people will need to satisfy their needs, otherwise the lack of satisfaction will likely to trigger a different behavior. The other idea suggested by Maslow is that needs can be categorized from the lowest to highest where the fulfillment of the lower needs tend to bring it forward to the higher needs. There are four basic needs that are perceived as imperative for human survival and they are water, air, food, and sleep. These needs are referred to as psychological needs because they are instinctive and the rest are secondary until the psychological ones were met.
The majority of the lower needs other than food and water appears to be apparent to human survival as well such as shelter and clothing, however, Maslow also suggested that sexual reproduction can be consider as also part of the psychological needs. The other need encompasses a sense of safety and security, which are also paramount to human survival. These includes employment, safety from harm, shelter, healthcare, and or financial (learning-theories.com). On the other hand, a more complex form of need can be obtained from the social environment where the sense of being loved and affection results to a more positive psychological satisfaction. Another form of need is referred to as esteem needs where personal worth, sense of accomplishment, and social recognition creates an environment for survival that impacts self-confidence. Examples of esteem needs are going to school, playing sports, and/or winning against competition. Lastly, self-actualization needs are regarded as the highest level in Maslow’s hierarchy because it concerns about personal growth, becoming more aware, and includes a disregard of the options and conditions that may affect growth. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reflects the theoretical underpinning that explains the care needs of people with special needs.
After a while trying to find out what was the condition it turns out to be the service user daughter had a condition called Metachromatic Leukodystrophy, which affects the memory, eye sight, muscles, and the speech condition. It is a rare illness that little is known about it. As a family support worker I was offering the service user practical and emotional support also helping to fill in complex application forms, which the service user was finding it difficult arranging transport to go to the hospital for the appointment with the doctor. As a family support worker for Home-Start, there are several tasks that need special attention for the patient. The following were suggested to the patient in order to ensure that the service user is getting enough support and their needs were addressed appropriately.
First is to determine the cause of the health problem
Determine the appropriate course of action to address the need for treatment
Assist the family particularly the service user to seek access to appropriate care
Practical and emotional support is also imperative in meeting the patient’s needs, which includes assisting them in filing application forms
Part of the support program is also to make sure that the patient is able to meet the doctor for regular checkups and the task also includes making arrangements for transport and the scheduled appointments.
Apart from the aforementioned needs, the patient will also need various professional help from community nurses, psychologists, and other social care workers. The patient also requires relevant health information on how to improve the condition and to address the implications caused by the illness. Such information can be provided by care professionals can be communicated by educating the patient and the family members and through counseling (Cherry). It is important the information communicated to the patient includes:
Transparency in terms of medical details and the recommended agencies where access can be obtained.
Providing options in terms of effective treatment source with unbiased comparison of which choices could provide the most benefits.
Constant communication between the family members, peers, support groups, and the patient
In some cases, even if the servicer user is already under the care of support worker, there are still instances when specific needs were overlooked. For example, the video uploaded by stopthenewworldorder now.com (2011) showed the brutality of a social worker in a UK disability center. The video showed how the patient named Simon was being maltreated by the abusive social worker. Simon is a person with special need because of his mental disability and not to mention having fear of toilets. However, the social worker showed no remorse on how he treated Simon in such a way described as brutal. Considering that Simon a mentally disabled patient, the amount of compassion and understanding should have been provided by social worker. For example, Simon has fear of toilets, instead of forcing the service user to face his fears by forcefully putting the patient in an uncomfortable situation, there should have been proper coping and treatment practices exercised in the situation to address Simon’s fears. In addition, using the patients as entertainment to show strength is an ethical misconduct, which insinuates a more depressing atmosphere for the patients with special needs.
2.2 Explain current systems for supporting individuals with specific needs
As described in the case study, the patient is in need of specific care from the supporting individuals. For example, the government has initiated several approaches to promote health and wellbeing of patients particularly those with special needs. On the other hand, current systems such as community engagement would help the patient to overcome the implications of the disease (Lint). In community engagement, the primary responsibility includes conducting consultation with the communities about their needs in terms of healthcare, which is primarily the responsibility of the authorities in trust care (Dean). The trust commissioner is the key individual in the current system that is responsible in ensuring the proper coordination between the concerned agencies, local authorities, and volunteer groups. An example of the agencies expected to perform the described function in relation to the given case is the Support Needs System or SNS, which aims to perform early detection, monitoring, and assessment of children that required additional support (isdscotland.org).
2.3 Evaluate the services available in a chosen locality for individuals with specific needs
Waltham Forest is a locally available organization that provides the fundamental services and support for individuals with specific needs. Among the services locally available for access are adults and older people care, children and family support, counseling, environmental health, and housing. For individuals with specific needs and disability, Waltham forest offers a more diverse menu of services and support with varying options that will fit the service user’s resource and financial capacity. In addition to the basic services, the locally available system also provides the educational needs of individuals with special needs. This is relatively important for the service user because support initiatives paired with educational and knowledge support increases the improvement goals expected outcome (walthamforest.gov.uk).
4.1 Explain the different concepts of challenging behavior
Challenging behavior can be described as having the tendencies of being uncooperative, bad temper, display of anger to other people, and self-harming (Mansell). Among the factors contributing to the prevalence of challenging behavior includes learning disability, mental illness, impairment, alcoholism, dugs, learning disability, or other behavioral indications of having a brain injury (challengingbehaviour.org.uk). The social norms do not accept such behaviors, which manifests on the use of foul words, verbal abuse, destructive behavior towards the environment, other people, property, and physical abuse. Other than what was explained earlier, the cause of challenging behavior also includes differences in expectations, perceptions, emotional condition, and other socio-cultural factors.
4.2 Describe the potential impact of challenging behavior on health and social care organizations
Challenging behavior impact social and healthcare organizations in terms of showing manifestations of isolation from the rest of team. A challenging behavior is disruptive to the objectives of the organization because the negative behaviors and attitude assimilated by the person might cause the tasks to be left undone leaving the organization left with no results on its targeted outcome (challengingbehaviour.org.uk). As a person with a challenging behavior becomes the reason for the disruption of the effective delivery of care and support as it creates a domino effect where the implications of displaying the behavior creates an impression about the organization’s values.
4.3 Analyze the strategies for working with challenging behaviors associated with specific needs
Social care workers are expected to display a consider level of professionalism as prescribed by the guidelines set by policies, legislations, and codes of practices. It is expected that social care workers adhere closely to the professional standards. One of the strategies associated with working with people with challenging behaviors and specific needs is to provide appropriate trainings to the social care workers to enhance the capabilities of handling vulnerable individuals. It is imperative that the people with special needs are being treated with respect and that ensure that their behavior was being handled to avoid inflicting harm on themselves and other people (challengingbehaviour.org.uk). A code of ethics was outlined by the social care council for social care workers, which also includes legal partnership with external groups, agencies, and legislative councils in creating a positive outcome for the people with specific needs (challengingbehaviour.org.uk). Partnerships with external organizations and guided by legislation encourages the creation of provisions that will aid the organization to develop matching activities, improvement in practices, and acquisition of critical resources for the continuity of the support programs.
Works Cited
Baggott, R. Health And Healthcare In Britain. London, New York: Macmillan Press, 1994. Print.
Bradshaw, R. "Preventing Abuse Of Vulnerable Adults". The Journal of Adult Protection 2.1 (2000): 35 – 38. Print.
Cherry, Kendra. "Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs: What Motivates Behavior?". About.com Health. N.p., 2015. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
Dean, K. "Using Theory To Guide Policy Relevant Health Promotion Research". Health Promotion International, 11.1 (1996): 19-26. Print.
Foundation, The. "The Challenging Behaviour Foundation, UK". Challengingbehaviour.org.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
Fox, R., and E Wade. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders Among Adults With Severe And Profound Mental Retardation". Research in Developmental Disabilities 19 (1998): 275 – 280. Print.
Gravestock, S., and N. Bouras. "Services For Adults With Learning Disabilities And Mental Health Needs". Psychiatric Bulletin 19 (1996): 288 – 290. Print.
Isdscotland.org,. "Child Health | Children With Support And Care Coordinaton Needs | Health Topics | ISD Scotland". Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
Lint,. "Maslow’S Theory Of Basic Needs & Learning | The Social Work Exam". Thesocialworkexam.com. N.p., 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
learning-theories.com,. "Maslow’S Hierarchy Of Needs | Learning Theories". Learning Theories and Models Summaries (in Plain English). N.p., 2014. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
stopthenewworldorder now.com,. Brutality By Social Workers In Uk Disablity Center Winterbourne View. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
Utwente.nl,. "Health Belief Model". N.p., 2010. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.
Walthamforest.gov.uk,. "Special Education Needs and Disability". Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
