Ethics and Theories for Social Work - Case Study Example

Assignment 3: Case Study Analysis Ethics and Theories for Social Work Lecturer: Joanne Zubrzycki Linh Tran – S00183386 Mr. Giovanni Ramos, a seventy-five-year-old man, recently had a severe stroke that led to his left side being weakened, and he also developed a slurred speech. It led to him being hospitalised to seek health intervention for his medical condition. Giovanni has been hospitalised for the past two months and during the entire period he has persistently demonstrated an irritable and uncooperative behaviour towards the hospital medical staff and insisting that he is fine and should be allowed to go home. His wife Mrs. Isabel Ramos has been visiting him daily at the rehabilitation center, but Giovanni has also been abusive towards her. Initial assessment would believe the stroke have affected Giovanni since he has developed some aggressive behaviour that makes him difficult and at the same time uncooperative to his recovery process. Isabel is concerned with the situation and fears that she might not be in a position to efficiently care for her husband once he is discharged from the hospital. Social work in a hospital environment can be a very beneficial and a natural ingredient for social work ethics, values and skills. The social workers play a significant role in the direct intervention, and provision of indirect aid to the medical staff in comprehending the underlying reactions and behaviours of patients or clients and thus enabling them to respond professionally from a social work perspective. In the scenario of Giovanni Ramos, a social worker can provide crucial knowledge concerning the human behaviour, which can facilitate the comprehension and empathy that can lead to the making of more effective solutions to the challenges and problems faced when handling clients with illnesses. The social workers model can be imperative in this scenario to provide assistance to the rehabilitation staff by helping them to avoid making decisions or formulating solutions by enabling them to switch from the fix-it mode to the utilisation of active listening skills to explore better and effective solutions for the client (Hill, R. 2005). It is imperative to note that people who suffer from stroke often can develop aggressive behaviour resulting from the distress of the condition or the brain damage suffered (Kilcullen, 2012). The researcher continues to state that “By aggressive behavior, I mean uncontrollable irritability, anger pointed at someone such as the care giver, sudden outbursts without any reason, or, in some cases, unprovoked violence”. He, however, note that it is critical to carry out an assessment to determine if the behaviour results from genetically influenced or the location of the brain injury suffered. Based on the systems model of human behaviour it is a comprehensive system that is based on individual’s needs, attributes rewards and expectations of the people living in that environment. The fact that Giovanni had a stroke should not impede his recovery process if adequate support is put in place to achieve understanding and cooperation by Giovanni towards his wife and the medical staff (Pack and Cargill, 2015). As a social worker, understanding the needs and changing behaviour of clients who have gone through life changing illnesses is virtual in supporting the clients. Aggression can occur when people have inappropriate skills for dealing with feelings of frustrations, fear and anxiety which can be the case with Giovanni. In assisting Isabel, it is also important to assist her to develop an awareness of common triggers that may set off her husbands aggression, at the same time treating him with respect, fairness and acceptance may elevate his aggression/anxiety (Holosko, Dulmus, & Sowers, 2013). As a social worker, having understanding and having empathy that Giovanni is uncooperative and irritable as a result his stroke and not able to regulate his thoughts and feelings is important to assist him and his wife to better deal with the situation (Congress and González, 2013). Moreover, it is crucial to support Giovanni and Mrs. Isabel to have an understanding and insight into the internal factors and responses that influences Giovannis personal articulations and behaviour, which evoke his sensitive issues and feelings. Thus, a social worker with sufficient knowledge on self-awareness and insight can thus be a crucial asset to assist and support patients such as Giovanni and Mrs. Isabel to explore, examine and understand reactions unfit to particular scenarios arising from medical impairers of his situation. For instance, a social worker is able to handle social challenges and explore the causative agents of Giovannis aggression behaviour more empathically. In the Giovannis scenario, the aggression, for example, can be due to his desire to protect and safeguard his space against his emotions of sadness, fear, and the loss of control of his estate because his sons are interstate. Conversely, a social worker is also able to determine if the aggression behaviour demonstrated by Giovanni is a result of a mental disorder from an observation perspective to be able personally and professionally to provide tangible and correct responses to satisfy the needs, desires and problems of Giovanni (Lishman. 2007) The primary goal of social work is to empower the client by instilling knowledge and confidence to enable the client to make rational judgments. In this case, the inherent problem that Giovanni is facing is the adverse behavioural traits that he is demonstrating to the rehabilitation staff as well as to his wife. Given the condition of his medical situation his wellbeing solely depends on the support he gets particularly from the two parties (Palvin, Crawley, & Baos, 1980). As a social worker, I would assist Giovanni to access a session of guidance and counselling with an aim of assisting him to have self-awareness and understanding of his own aggression and the deep seed of where this aggression is coming from. Exploring possible explanations can include pain, neurological impairment, fear, anxiety or unmet needs. Conversely, the emphasizing of need to obtain care and support from Isabel is an imperative thing. Therefore, I can assist help with the knowledge of the manner that she can manage and control the escalation of her husbands aggression behaviour. For instance, I would advise her to be nonjudgmental on the husband and give him some physical space, use a firm and calm tone of voice when communicating with him. Thus, by observing these she can understand the husbands fears and concerns and thus enable him to recover (Pack and Cargill, 2015). The knowledge can also be vital for Giovanni since it will assist to reflect on his behaviour and come up with a rational judgment on how he intends to act towards his wife as well as the rehabilitation staff to ensure his condition stabilises to warrant his release from the hospital and back to home environment. Additionally, my intervention will be a strength based problem solving plan that intends to address the inherent issues that Giovanni is currently facing by critically analysing the information provided to ensure I give informed advice that will empower Giovanni to overcome the challenges of his medical condition. Notably, my social work intervention will be premised on the standard principles of social work whereby the sole intention of the whole process is for the overall benefit of the client (Kock, Kerckhove, & Vens, 2014). As a social worker my engagement with the clients will be professional in the sense that prior to commencement of the engagement process we will agree on the terms of engagement to ensure respect and professionalism are maintained throughout the process. While implementing my social work mandate, I will ensure I carefully analyse the situation before making decisions to facilitate the efficiency of the entire process. The maintenance of ethical codes of standard in the social work context is often a challenging task for social workers even when you have the best intentions at heart. Therefore, a social worker can sometimes be morally wrong. Thus, it is a basic and an inevitable assumption that is often made when choosing the right thing or assessment to undertake in any difficult case concerning ethical matters, which demands that one must possess the right skills that often are gained through continuous work. As a social worker, beside cultivating character traits of empathy and self-understanding to help me understand clients problems, I also have to realise that my work with clients can change my ways of thinking and outlook in terms of method for responding to problems and methods I would use to resolving them (McInnis-Dittrich, 2014). In my practical work, I must apply my knowledge and theories to the standard practices as it serve as the norms for professionals to uphold ethically. Morals will be highly emphasised throughout the whole course of intervention by ensuring the privacy of the clients is maintained and all recommendations that will be made will be in line with improving the current situation of the client (McClennen, 2010). Ultimately, after conducting my in-depth assessment of the situation, I will counsel Giovanni on the things he ought to do to ensure he does not have strenuous relationships with the surrounding people by ensuring he is adequately supported as he recovers from the effects of stroke. References Hill, R. (2005). End-of-life care for the patient with borderline personality disorder. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing. Congress, E. P., & González, M. J. (2013). Multicultural perspectives in social work practice with families. New York, Springer Publishing Company. Davies, M. (2013). The Blackwell companion to social work. Hoboken, Wiley Blackwell. Holosko, M. J., Dulmus, C. N., & Sowers, K. M. (2013). Social work practice with individuals and families evidence-informed assessments and interventions. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons. Kock, C. D., Kerckhove, C. V., & Vens, E. (2014). Social work in an international perspective: history, views, diversity and human rights. Lishman, J. (2007). Handbook of practice learning in social work and social care knowledge and theory. London, Jessica Kingsley. McClennen, J. C. (2010). Social work and family violence theories, assessment, and intervention. New York, NY, Springer. McInnis-Dittrich, K. (2014). Social work with older adults: a biopsychosocial approach to assessment and intervention. Boston, Pearson. Pack, M., & Cargill, J. (2015). Evidence discovery and assessment in social work practice. Palvin, F., Crawley, J., & Baos, P. J. (1980). Perspectives in Australian social work. Bundoora, Vic, Pit Pub. Read More