Themes and Theories for Service Users and Social Work Practise - Essay Example

The present essay is two-prong, with the first part presenting the themes and theories for service users and social work practise, while the second portion delves into the human development theories pertinent to the case of Coral. Part A: Themes and Theories for Service Users and Social Work Practise The first theme that I would like to discuss is the predisposition of Coral to mental dysfunction, brought about by her experiences of being an indigent. The manifestations of these have already become apparent, such as the periods when her two children are sent to foster care; her temper tantrums, and her inability to cope with stress or lack of support. The social care worker should be primarily concerned the mental health of Coral, in accordance with the National Service Framework for Mental Health (1999). According to this, social service workers must espouse the mental well-being of all service users, and be engaged in collaborative efforts to make this possible. Moreover, the services that they provide must be able to respond to discrimination being experienced by the service user, and to promote their inclusion into society. In the case of Coral, her homelessness and upbringing both contribute to her incapacity to care for her children. These experiences make her especially predisposed to mental dysfunction, and may be considered ‘at risk’; thus must be addressed. A second standard of the same framework is the need to help any service user who approaches the social worker, particularly in the assessment and determination of their mental health concerns. The social worker should also recommend interventions that may address their mental health illness. The third standard is related to the second, but more clearly specifies the timely and constant access to the social worker to accord effectual care. Moreover, they should have ready access to specialists and other providers who can alleviate their mental condition (National Service Framework for Mental Health 1999). The fourth theme in accordance with the framework prescribes that service users must be able to avail of care that is engaging, can anticipate the worst, and eliminates ambiguity as much as possible. Moreover, the care plan must be clearly specified, including the roles of all carers involved. There should also be keen awareness that Coral must have access to these services constantly, during the whole year. The fifth standard prescribed by the framework suggests that Coral must always have ready access to an alternative bed that is near her house, if possible. The care plan that must be followed by Coral must also be given to her once she is off from care. This specifies plans for contingencies and for follow-up interventions (National Service Framework for Mental Health 1999). The sixth standard of the framework must ensure that Coral have access to comprehensive evaluation of the assessments and treatment she has undergone year-on-year. Ideally, they should be involved in crafting their plans for care. The seventh standard of the framework suggests that the social care worker of Coral be able to collaborate with the community within which she resides and to ensure her access to domestic service offerings (National Service Framework for Mental Health 1999). The social workers of Coral must also acknowledge the need to thoroughly diagnose Coral to be able to recommend the most apt interventions for her. Apparently, Coral may have had traumatic experiences during her childhood and have not received adequate support from her parents, leading to delinquent or maladaptive behaviour (Voekl, Welte, & Wieczorek 1999). The provision of parental support will enable the well-being and optimal functioning in adolescence onto adulthood (Jimerson, Egeland, Sroufe, & Carlson 2000). Because Coral has not received adequate warmth and support from her parents, the social worker must develop Coral so that she can make her family cohesive, be able to provide apt support for her two young children, and teach them the right values. The last item is particularly critical, as the values that have been imbibed in her may be erroneous or dysfunctional and if left uncorrected may be inculcated onto her children (Crawford et al 2009).). This is a concern that the social worker must be highly aware of. If the proper interventions are given to Coral, she will be able to effectually adjust to the changes around her; improve her mental and emotional well-being; and even contribute meaningfully to society. The social worker may do well to assess the past experiences of Coral during her adolescence and childhood to determine the root causes of misbehaviour. There are theories which assert that those who misbehave in adolescence and adulthood may have been brought up by parents who are overly lenient parents who have not ingrained a strong sense of “rule” in them. On the other hand, those who are overseen by strict parents tend to develop in a normal way in terms emotional and psychological well-being (Prevatt 2003). Parenting also has long-standing implications on adolescent and adult functioning, which is why dysfunctional parents are likely to lead to dysfunctional children. These suggest the need for warmth, support, and a loving environment from the social worker, factors which were not experienced by Coral from her parents. One other theme that may be culled from Coral’s scenario is the fact that poverty continues to be a challenge across nations, and this is impetus for social workers to participate in policy formulation to avert this condition (Akindola 2009). It has been noted that poverty does not merely mean inadequate income. There may be other factors that the social worker must sufficiently consider in battling poverty, including the incapacity to secure core living requisites; the inability to maintain a decent lifestyle; and being helpless. The social worker must also acknowledge the cultural implications of poverty for Coral. She is a White British, and her view and experience of poverty may be drastically different from the experience of indigents from other races. Moreover, the social worker must keenly acknowledge the influence of rural and urban poverty, since the policies that are meant to address them must be dovetailed towards each context to be truly effective (Blank 2005; Dietz 2009). The status of Coral as a resident of a local council accommodation makes her virtually homeless, another manifestation of her indigent status. The social worker must be open to the other problems that may come from being a homeless indigent. These may include alcohol and drug abuse, and physical illnesses (Tyler & Johnson 2006). They may also be more predisposed to psychological dysfunctions such as depression and other mental health illnesses. Given the themes that have been identified, the social worker that shall assist Coral must have a multi-faceted approach to helping her. There are a wide array of factors that affect her current disposition, and these must all be considered in drafting her treatment plan. Part B: Theories related to Human Growth and Development The second part of the essay shall tackle the theories of human growth and development that may be applicable to the case of Coral. The first of these is the family development theory, which has looked into the preponderant themes and changes that transpire within this basic unit of society. Similar to persons, this unit undergoes various stages as they progress (Hill 1971; Klein & White 1996). The stages encompass requisites that must be accomplished and these are distinct for each phase. The family development theory asserts that when the unit effectually undergoes each phase through task accomplishment, this shall make for the optimal functioning of each member of the unit (Mattessich & Hill, 1987). In contrast, when family members are not able to achieve closure as regards these tasks, there tends to be barriers to development and individual dysfunction. The family development theory has common traits with multiple stage theories, which considers the progress of the process as continual and hierarchical. There are two core principles to family development theory that the social worker must consider in the case of Coral. The first asserts that the process is made up of distinct stages, each requiring closure. To better assess her disposition, the social worker must systematically determine which stage or stages in the process have traumatic events transpired (Rodgers & White 1993). Such information may be fed to specialists who can help her resolve these past experiences. The second core principle of this theory is the imperative acceptance of accountabilities that each family member has to take on at each stage of the process (Smith 1995). Coral, with her ineffective handling of her temper and occasionally sending her young children to foster care, suggests that she has not fully adopted her tasks as a parent. The social worker and other carers must assist Coral in effectively coping with her parental responsibilities. The first stage of helping Coral involves an admission or acknowledgement of these responsibilities. The social worker can then draft concrete means of assisting Coral as she tries to carry on with her responsibilities as a parent. One other repercussion of the inadequate resolution of family stages is the inability of Coral to be in full, rational control of her emotions. The social worker must have a clear, solid comprehension of how she has developed as a child and adolescent to have a better assessment of the interventions she needs. In particular, her inability to build and stay within a relationship must be focused on. The social worker must help Coral so that she becomes equipped with the facility to analyse problems rationally, and to elicit the proper emotional responses. Her temper tantrums for instance, may predispose her to be violent to her children, and must be rectified as early as possible. Emotions are used as triggers to moral evaluations of himself and others (Dietz 2009; Stark 2004) Biological theories may also help explain the behaviours of Coral. These theories concur that congenital predispositions cause people to think, feel, and behave the way they do (Skuse et al 1997). However, genetic factors do not exclusively influence the cognition, affect, and behaviors of people. The environment in which the person is brought up has a substantial influence on his personhood. Both genetic and environmental outcomes, however, are carried over the next developmental stages. For instance, in Coral’s case, to begin with she may already be genetically predisposed to behaving dysfunctionally. However, the factors of poverty, traumatic past relationships, and homelessness, all have exerted a significant influence in her dysfunctional behaviours (Crawford, Whitbeck, & Hoyt 2009). These include her incapacity to form and sustain meaningful relationships that entail long-term commitment; her incapability to care for her young children; her incapacity to control her emotions, among others. According to nature-nurture theories of development, the environment in which the individual is brought up may either make them eager or anxious to interact with others (Hughes & Dunn 1998). In effect, Coral may have had experiences with peers, loved ones, or other significant others which may have discouraged her from committing herself in a relationship. These experiences may have caused Coral to have a negative paradigm of relationships and of men in general (Hughes & Dunn 1998). The specific factors of the environment that create substantial impact on her progress are financial or social status; the literacy of those who brought them up; the time spent with the child outside of work; and the degree of attachment of the child to the carer (Ku & Plotnick 2003). There are also social learning theories which suggest that the experiences that the individual is exposed to during his or her childhood or adolescence are imbibed in later life. Cognitive skills start to be formed during the early years of childhood, and all mental, physical, and emotional experiences and stimuli which he receives all have an influence on his well-being (Dodge et al 1990). For instance, Margolin & Gordis (2000) found that children who were overexposed to violence and trauma are more likely to inflict harm in himself and others in later life. Socio-economic factors have a role to play in this association. Those who are in urban areas have greater likelihood of exhibiting violent behaviour. These areas suffer from greater indigence compared to rural areas. Social learning theory espouses that teenagers and adults who have been exposed to violence as children have already formed mental frameworks that the world is violent and that he must be equally violent to cope. The continuous experience of hostile behaviour signify to the child that such behaviours are typical and are not outside of convention (Bandura, 1986). In effect, these children become violent in adulthood, and use this to manifest how they feel. This was possibly what happened to Coral, who has uncontrollable temper tantrums. If left uncorrected, these may graduate into violent behaviours which may be inflicted on her young children. In addition, still consistent with social learning theories, children who are exposed to experiences which are not appropriate for their development stage (Johnson and Mollborn 2009) may also fail to act aptly based on social and cultural standards (Super & Harkness 1997). In the case of Coral whose eldest child is 4 years old, she was compelled to assume the parental role at 20 years old, which may be fairly early. Just right out of adolescence, Coral may have experienced difficulty in adjusting socially to the responsibilities of a parent, explaining why he had to send both children to foster care. The social workers must equip Coral with the skills that will allow her to be a responsible parent. All in all, there are various theories which may explain the current functioning of Coral, and the social worker who is tasked to assist her must exert all means to diagnose the root causes and the solutions to her problems. Inclusion and well-being are the eventual goals. References Akindola, RB 2009, Towards a definition of poverty: poor people’s perspectives and implications for poverty reduction. Journal of Developing Societies , 25 (2), 121-150. Bandura A 1986, Social foundations of thoughts and actions: A social cognitive theory. Prentice Hall, Engelwood Cliffs, NJ Blank, R. M. (2005). Poverty, policy, and place: how poverty and policies to alleviate poverty are shaped by local characteristics. 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