The Role of Supporting Relationships in Reducing the Risk of Abuse and Neglect In this assignment I will produce a magazine article that explains the role of supporting relationships in reducing the risk of abuse and neglect as well as evaluating the role of multi-agency working.
Core principles of care: Dignity; ‘’ Dignity is concerned with how people feel, think and behave in relation to the worth or value of themselves and others. To treat someone with dignity is to treat them as being of worth, in a way that is respectful of them as valued individuals.’’ This means that you should always think about what other individuals may be thinking or feeling whilst treating them the same as you would wish to be treat by another individual. Everyone should be treat with dignity as everyone has the same human worth and are all equal in society. (www.rcn.org.uk)
Equality; ‘’Equality in the UK is about fostering and promoting the right to be different, to be free from discrimination, and to have choice and dignity and to be valued as an individual, with a right to their own beliefs and values.’’ This means that individuals should be able to be themselves without having the fear that another individual is judging them. Giving people equal opportunities means treating every person as an individual without making judgements.
By enforcing equality it should create a way of life in which individuals of all backgrounds and experiences feel valued and appreciated. An example of promoting equality in a health and social care setting includes delivering services and options that will meet diverse needs of adults such as in a residential home. Enforcing equality in health and social care settings can help to reduce the risk of abuse in adults because all victims of different backgrounds will feel as if they are equal to receive fair justice and treatment. (www.learning-work.co.uk)
Respect; Having respect for another individual means acknowledging who a person is and how they act, showing respect for another individual means acting in a way that shows you care about their feelings and well-being. Individuals are entitled to be treat with respect when using health and social care services no matter what the circumstances may be. One way a health and social care professional could show respect towards service users is being considerate; for example during a conversation with a service user a health care professional should listen to the individuals tone of voice or body language to try to determine how they are feeling they should then use this information throughout the interaction.
A second way a health professional can show respect for an adult in their care is by preserving their dignity, this means if a service user is mistreated or upset the health professional should handle the situation privately and calmly if possible to avoid the situation being noticed by many other individuals around. (www.respect.uk.net)
Fairness; ‘’Fairness is the quality of being reasonable, right and providing fair treatment and justice.’’ This means that in order for an individual to be fair they must act reasonably in specific situations and provide treatments to other individuals that is right and promotes justice. It is important in health and social care settings such as residential homes to promote and enforce fairness to ensure that all individuals are treat with respect. For example if an adult in a residential home is allegedly being abused it would be fair to the individual to be given the right to seek professional help to try and stop the abuse. Treating all individuals fairly may help to reduce the risk of abuse in adults as victims may feel more comfortable in admitting they are being abused if they are aware they will receive fair treatment and justice. (Walsh et al 2010)
Privacy; ‘’Privacy is the right to be free from secret surveillance and to determine whether, when, how, and to whom, one's personal or organizational information is to be revealed.’’ Privacy can be split up into four different categories; 1. Physical – preventing interference into another individuals personal space 2. Informational – preventing unauthorised individuals from accessing or searching for personal information 3. Decisional – preventing other individuals from making personal decisions for another individual 4. Dispositional – restrictions on attempts to find out an individual’s state of mind An example of how a health and social care professional such as a doctor can enforce privacy in their work is by ensuring that all personal information is unavailable to unauthorised people.
This can be kept private by filing information in locked cabinets or on computers that are fully protected by security passwords. This can help to prevent abuse in adults as an abuser may be looking for specific information on an individual and keeping this private could prevent them from accessing the information that could lead to abuse. (www.buisnessdictionary.com)
Build effective relationships: Adult at centre of planning; Neil Moonie (2005) states that ‘’ a professional relationship differs from a personal relationship in a number of ways.’’ Moonie suggests there are three ways why there is a difference between these two relationships. The first is that health and social care professionals work within a framework of values, this means workers have specific guidelines that they must following regarding relationships with service users.
The second way is that health professional’s work always involves a duty of care for the welfare of individuals; this means that workers should make it a main priority to look after the welfare of the individuals who are using the service. The final way there is a difference between personal and professional relationships is that professional relationships involve establishing appropriate boundaries; this means that professional workers should be aware of the relationship they have with a service user and should ensure that it is only kept at a professional level.
Having a good relationship with another individual can be important as it builds trust meaning that vulnerable adults who are victims of abuse may be more likely to speak up if they are being abused or are being nelected in any way, it is one of the roles of a health and social care professional to ensure that their relationship is only kept at a professional level. Most codes or practice that health care professionals such as nurses now have to follow suggest that the service user should be at the centre of the interaction between the professional. This is to ensure that they are involved in any decisions that are made regarding them, this was not always practiced instead decisions were made without individuals consent or knowledge. (M.Billingham et al 2010)
Methods of communication; Communication is; verbal and non-verbal words, phrases, voice tones, facial expressions, gestures and body language that individuals use to interact with another person. Effective communication plays a big part in all care settings as part of building and maintaining good patient colleague relationships. These skills help both service users and health professionals to learn about each other and understand each other so that they can meet each other’s needs. Verbal communication is the use of words to present ideas, thoughts and feelings to another person in a variety of environments and to any audience.
Effective listening is a part of verbal communication which involves showing another individual you are listening to them by; repeating back what they have said and asking questions. Examples of verbal communication within care settings include; providing support to others, dealing with problems and complaints, contributing to team meetings, responding to and answering questions, discussing and talking about the best treatment for service users. Non-verbal communication is a way of communicating ideas and opinions without talking. This can involve body language, facial expressions, tones of voice, hand gestures, signs/symbols and other visual aids.
It is important that care workers and other health professionals are able to recognize changes in body language especially if an individual is speech impaired and cannot verbally communicate when they are in pain or upset. Care workers must also be aware of the messages and signals that they give off by their own body language when working with others. Some individuals may have issue with communication as they may not be able to say the words they are thinking. This leaves adults with communication difficulties as easy targets of abuse from health professionals such as care workers because the individual is unable to tell anyone about the abuse, leaving the abuser free to keep abusing vulnerable adults. Communication both verbally and non verbally could help reduce the risk of abuse as vulnerable adults may be able to tell health professionals if they are being abused which would stop there abuser from harming anyone again.
