Generic relating to the issue of risk and social work - Essay Example

Generic Relating to the Issue of Risk and Social Work Introduction There are several definitions of what social work is. According to the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), the definition of social work is a wide one. It states that social work is the profession that promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships as well as empowerment and liberation of people to improve their well being (Beckett 2006). Looking at risk, there are several of issues that it covers. These are matters associated with personal fate that is idiosyncrasies of separate personal fate and identities. It also summons a complex political debate about power, governance and the nature of personal freedom (Culpitt 1999). Risk in the current setting, according to Culpitt is no longer a random matter but is much wider, and it covers matters like terrorism, global warming, and pollution among other national issues. This article will be seeking to look at how risk and social work interact for social workers working with older people. Social Work among the Old Members of the Society Many-a-times, the old members of the society are neglected by their family as well as the society in general. Due to the fact that they are not highly productive, most family members out of lack of financial capacity will tend to abandon their older family members. At the same time, some of these people may have outlived all their family members and are, therefore, alone in every sense of the world. As a result, some of them end up suffering due to the fact that they cannot take care of themselves and, therefore, death is not uncommon for most of them. When working with older people, the social worker has to surmount a number of challenges that come along their way. They have to; for example, look at the health insurance of the person to know what the person can afford in terms of health coverage. According to Mythen and Walklate (2006), the society has moved from the early modernity where the industrial process shaped lifestyles of people. This has moved on to a modernity in which dangers and hazards have permeated into the society due to the effects of urbanization, globalization and industrialization. This means that the older generations have had to be left behind by their family members because of the lean times that have come to characterise the world. At the same time, other effects like those of the coming up of urban centres has meant that the people who are old are left in the rural areas where they are alone. This is because people who have the capacity to look after them are in the urban centres looking for work. According to Beck and Giddens, man has come to be looked at as both the cause of the risks as well as part of the solution that will minimize them (Mythen and Walklate 2006). The social workers some times will be tempted to interpret risk in a negative manner (Hall and Scragg 2012). For example, the workers will find themselves fearful when they think of dealing with the older person. This is because the older people are viewed as difficult to handle. This mentality has the ability of disempowering the aged person as he/she will be looked at as vulnerable and high risk to deal with. This has the effect of discouraging the social worker from taking care of the old person due to several questions that may pop into the head of this person. The entire issue at hand for the care giver is one of the management of the risks at hand with the care recipients/users. Some of the questions on the mind of the care giver are such as what role if any should the care giver play in the recipient’s life. Due to the need to mitigate the risks that the recipients may pose to themselves or to others, the care giver has to ascertain the role that they will play in, for example, influencing the behaviour of the recipient (Hall and Scragg 2012). This, however, exposes the contradictory nature to the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers. This code emphasises the importance to respect the independence of the care recipient. At the same time, it instructs the care givers not to allow the care recipient to be in a position that makes them a danger to themselves or others. Looking at the above paragraph, a number of issues arise. One of these issues is that of attempting to understand how these two rules interact without contradicting each other. The bone of contention is how the social worker will take care of the patient without seeming to smother the person or give them too much freedom. This is a matter that makes them afraid of dealing with the patient because of the driving fear of the repercussions of messing up (Hall and Scragg 2012). Measures taken in the management of risk of working with older people The elderly people are quite sensitive because of the nature of their bodies. This, therefore, calls for a high level of care when working with them. According to the Brearly model, there are important factors to consider. These are hazards, strengths and dangers (Tanner and Harris 2008). These three factors will help the social worker to help the elderly. The Hazards helps to identify the different things that would cause the elderly person to get injured. Things like slippery floors features in this factor of hazard. On the other hand, dangers are the actual risks that exist. These include broken limbs, threats to personal health through being left unattended. Strengths are the factors that have been taken to address both hazards and dangers including things like close attention or even communication channels that allow the elderly person to call for help. Several legislatures have been passed to ensure that the interests of the elderly are promoted. They include the Care Standards Act 2000 and Mental Health Act 1998 (Bridgeman, Lind and Keating 2008). These laws empower public authorities to intervene whenever they suspect abuse of the elderly (Bridgeman et al 2008). As a result, the elderly have some protection in the law from which they can turn to. In the same line of thought, the social worker can invoke such laws in the event that she/he suspects that there is an abuse of the rights of an elderly person going on. Theoretical Framework of Social Work In this section, the emphasis is to look into the theories within the social work profession and the risks that are found within the profession. The theoretical frameworks will help to better understand the risks that are involved and how to deal with them. One of these theories is the social constructionist approach (Oko 2011). This approach has the benefit of helping the social worker to reflect on the ideas that help in human interpretation of what is going on and what can be done to help (Oko 2011). This approach also plays the role of influencing social work and what is going on. As a social worker who is working with old members of the community, this theory has the benefit of allowing him or her to get a bearing of things and, therefore, know how well to deal with them. According to Oko (2011), this approach has no place confusing the social worker’s thinking. It also does not seek to undermine the social worker’s confidence in thinking up ways of resolving the challenges that face him/her. It has the benefit of allowing the social worker have a more critical examination of their practice and ideas that influence it. It also has put in focus, important matters such as time and place which give’s it a natural affinity to contemporary social work’s interpersonal relationship base (Oko 2011). This means that this approach has a lot of influence in how the social worker relates to the care recipient. The care giver and the recipient of that care are in a unique position to form a better bond if the care giver has paid attention to the tenets of this theoretical approach. When dealing with old people, it is vital for the social worker to understand that they are prone to depression due to failure of their bodies with age. The social worker, therefore, needs to master emotional intelligence. This helps the social worker to perceive, understand and reason about other people and things (Howe 2008). This means that an emotionally intelligent person is not ignorant to the feelings of others. According to Howe (2008), the social worker who is emotionally intelligent can be able to grasp the role of emotional intelligence. According to Howe (2008), emotional intelligence allows the social worker understand that emotions affect behaviour, beliefs, perceptions, interpretations, thoughts and actions. A social worker has the duty to ensure that they try to make the old people happy or even amused. This is because leaving the old person to wallow in self pity will mean that they will easily run the risk of falling sick and dying from the depression. A happy elderly person will easily be persuaded to undertake physical exercise. This will mean that they remain mentally alert thus live longer. This is in contrast to a dormant person who regresses due to depression, amnesia, and the effects of paranoia. When caring for patients who are old, the social worker is required to comprehend that there are boundaries that under no circumstances should be breached. According to Stanley (2003), it is important to ensure that the patients, in this case the elderly, are not given too much freedom. This is to ensure that they do not attempt to do drastic measures like running away from the institution that cares for them or even worse. The social workers need to ensure that the old people are placed in a safe environment. In the case stated by Stanley, the patients in a mental institution had enough freedom to the extent that one of them, convicted felon, was able to run away to Holland. In the case of the elderly, there is no need to ensure that they are kept under very close observation as it is the case in a mental institution. However, the elderly people must at all times have an assigned case officer who is a trained social worker. This person has to have the ability to know the limits that they need to maintain. This is to ensure that the care recipient is regulated while, at the same time, giving the liberty to the elderly to live as they please. According to Manthorpe (1999), the people who are vulnerable in the society are also likely to be vulnerable in the institutions that care for them. Manthorpe (1999) singles out lesbians, gays, blacks and the elderly. This means that there is enforcement of stereotypes such as those held against blacks that will be furthered in the mental institutions. For example, the blacks were given higher doses of the medication than their white counterparts. They were more likely to be placed under restrains than would be the case for the white patients within mental institutions. The patients within such institutions would probably end up being denied psycho-social care, as well as, relevant drugs. This means the patients are in a neglected state and more likely to fall ill and even become victims of illness that come with their conditions such as amnesia among others. Other forms of abuse do occur within these institutions, and management of these institutions will play down the matter and leave the patient without much respite. As a result, some of the patients will probably contract venereal diseases as well as in some cases pregnancies. The lack of care from the institutions means that patients are not really safe in these institutions despite these places being set up to look after the patients. The care givers are supposed to be careful how they treat the patients. However, as the phrase goes ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’. This means that the care givers are in a conundrum of sorts when it comes to how they handle the elderly patients. An example is given by Manthorpe (1999) where the care givers are extremely firm with the handling of the patients. On the other hand, Stanley (2003) paints a picture where the patients are given too much freedom. In both cases, the adverse results of both extremities are not encouraging to look at. The social worker has to be guided by a number of considerations when they deal with patients who are elderly. They should, for example, attain emotional intelligence, which will give them a level of empathy to the condition that the elderly people are going through. In addition, the application of the social constructionist theoretical frame work is important (Oko 2011). The social worker has the benefit of a framework that allows them to have an insight into their surroundings. It also helps them understand how the social worker will respond to the challenges that the caring of the elderly patient. This thus allows the care giver to be more proactive with the kind of care that will be given to the elderly. This framework will work together with the person’s instincts and training to come up with a solution that caters for the parties to the care. Another important lesson is gained from an insight into the scope of risks. The individual is the cause of the risk as well as a mitigating factor to this problem. At the same time, the society has the solutions to the age question that plagues the elderly people. The members of the society have to look within themselves and look at ways to care for the patients (Mythen and Walklate 2006). Some benefits of care giver treatment on the elderly have been longer life for elderly patients. The patients are healthy due to observing proper diet, as well as, better living standards (Walker and Beckett 2003). The patients who are well looked after will be in a position to have elongated lives. On the side of the care givers, the impacts are such as the satisfaction that they are helping an individual to enjoy their last days on earth. However, the care giver has a high chance of suffering mental distress especially when they take up too much of the emotional baggage of the elderly especially when the said patients are depressed. This will be the case where the elderly person has too many regrets and worries that will cause the care giver also to fall into the depressed mood. However, the application of the emotional intelligence will allow this care giver to divorce him/her self from the situation. Conclusion With the deliberations above, the care giver and the recipient are two interrelated people. There is a possibility the both need each other. The elderly person may need the care giver more than the other way round, but in most cases, the situation is different. The care giver must, therefore, be ready to play their part with their best ability. They will be better placed if they are well informed by the facts stated in this article. 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