Social Work Approach Issues - Essay Example

?CASE STUDY-SOCIAL WORK of Social work-Case study Bowes and Grace (2009, p. 54) affirms that the disabled people need care in their lives because their disability cannot allow them to do various tasks independently. In the case of Ms. R her disability has made her unable to live an independent life and she entirely depends on the help of the social worker and the provisions by the council. She faces various challenges and the council together with the social worker are not helping her effectively. She cannot receive effective home care support services and is forced to undertake most of the home tasks on her own. Most of the challenges that she was experiencing while trying to access several services in her own home were not solved by the home care support services. The reablement team on the other hand did not attend to her effectively. She was not physically and mentally well and therefore she needed both physical and psychological support in order to handle her activities effectively. She was unstable financially and this in turn raised an alarm that she needed government support financially yet at the same government was up in arms to stop the medical allowances that were being given to the sick. The two challenges can be said to be of great hindrance to her functioning appropriately yet the home care support could not deliver effective services to her. The main social work approach that best suits Ms. R’s case is the progressive approach since the function of the social worker in this context is to enable the people on the receiving end to realize the oppressive forces and be able to question its sources. The problems that are experienced by the service users does not necessarily emanate from their own wrong doing but from the inequalities and the power relations which are not in order thus making these people become victims of unnecessary oppression. This approach does not dwell on making the service users adapt to the inefficient systems of administration but it is about empowering so that they can be able to gain a greater level of awareness and eventually being able to challenge such systems (Bryman, 2004, p. 249). Approaching Ms. R’s situation from a progressive approach, the social worker should enter into dialogue with Ms. R and start by establishing a clear understanding of Ms. R’s situation. Getting an insight of her past life will greatly help in understanding how Ms. R took life initially. Before she fell ill, Ms. R had a different perspective of life which is very different from her present perspective. The fact that she is not able to walk from the operation and the fact that she is unable to do even the simplest tasks by herself might have eroded her self esteem and thus she is pitying herself. Exploring with Ms. R on how she views life having change to her current condition will help acknowledge the change and even make her be able to develop some coping strategies that will help her live a happier life. She needs to be encouraged to articulate her concerns and become empowered thus having the right information on how best to proceed in seeking for her rights. The role of the social worker in this case therefore is to make the disabled person to have a clear understanding of her current condition and help her in coming up with a solution that is appropriate to her and is achievable (Chen and Chiang, 2009, p. 149). The main theory that applies to the Ms. R’s case is a cognitive theory which has an assumption that people have a way of constructing their own views of society and the existing problems through what they have assimilated in their daily lives. The main role of the social worker is to sustain the strategies of learning which may include discrimination, oppression, and problem solving. The social worker would help Ms. R to learn how to cope with her situation and teach her on her basic rights thus enabling her to fight social evils like oppression and discrimination that is perpetrated by the powerful people in the society (Cohen-Kettenis and Friedmann, 2003, p. 150). Humanistic theory is based on the principle that everybody in the society has a chance of making an impact and to make people like them when all their needs are met. When the needs of an individual are met, the individual becomes self actualized thus the person becomes likeable (Hofstede, 1980, p. 49). In the case of Ms. R, she is disabled and therefore she is unable to meet her daily needs like feeding herself since she has no income. Ms. R is disabled due to the operation that developed complication in her right thigh that limited her movement thus limited Ms. R’s pursuit for achievement of her goals. She was unable to use her hand properly and therefore doing the normal household chores was cumbersome. The humanistic perspective helps to provide the non sectarian basis which helps individuals to understand their spiritual aspects and developmental processes that enable self actualization. The main intervention is the ability to understand the individual’s beliefs and try to support them. In the case of Ms. R, the social worker should be able to understand the needs of Ms. R and help her in fulfilling them. Ms. R is not able to cook for herself the culturally appropriate meals. Social workers usually experience situations which needs personal judgment in order to make a decision. In order to resolve a dilemma, a social worker should understand the code of practice and be able to practice the ethical practice behavior that is required by the legal framework to be adhered to by all social workers. The assessment team went to Ms. R’s house for assessment of her health situation and they together with the social worker started forcing her to use a leg lifter which was against her will. This act was against the General Social Care Council (GSCC) code of practice which sets out various codes of conduct. The social worker should have helped the disabled person by promoting her independence and trying to protect her from any danger and pain. The assessment team inflicted pain in the disabled person who was unwilling to use the leg lifter. The social worker should have helped Ms. R in making her complaints and taking such complaints seriously by passing them to the right authority that can make a viable verdict (Hooks, 1992, p. 13). There are various perspectives that are related to the case of Ms. R who is physically challenged and therefore cannot do most of the household work. It is even difficult for her to dress herself up and therefore she needs help. The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the inner energies of an individual together with the external forces and how these two factors interact together to affect the emotional development of an individual (Young, 2001, p. 269). Ms. R is disabled and she is experiencing stress that emanates from the government trying to withdraw all home care support yet people who are disabled are entitled to home care support that enables them to live peacefully. Some practice interventions include the social worker and other members of the community providing empathy and affections that are likely to influence emotions. Ms. R is stressed up because she is not independent as she relies on the help of social worker and that the council was planning to reduce her care plan. Ms. R needs counseling sessions in order to overcome stress as well as the self pity that arise from the fact of being disabled. The council should provide education to the disabled person in order to adapt to disability and live with it (Lowinson et al, 2005, p. 24). Barbour and Scully (2011, p. 123) points out that the conflict perspective focuses mainly on how power and legislative principles affect the life of different people. This perspective elaborates the fact that human life is characterized by frequent conflicts with duration of change interrupting stability. Some of the practice interventions include the understanding of the evidence of denial of basic rights as well as organizing to alter power relationships. In the case of Ms. R, she is denied her basic rights as a disabled person and the government’s attempt to withdraw all the home care support is a clear indication of oppression of the weak people in the society. The disabled people can fight for their rights through demonstrations and social bodies that represent the disabled people thus making the government respond to their needs through various amendments (Nag et al, 2007, p. 936). Watson (2005, p. 105) points out that there are various legislations that help the disabled people in their day to day needs as well as the laws that protect them from oppression and discrimination that might be accomplished by other members of the public as well as the authority. The Mental Act of 1983 helps to protect all the mentally disabled persons and this Act states that it is the duty of the local councils to provide after-care services to the mentally disabled people up to a certain period that the council is satisfied that the disabled person is no longer in need of the after care services. In the case of Ms. R, she developed mental health issues which resulted from the illness and the operation that she was involved in. It is not right for the government to withdraw the health care support without verifying whether she still needs the service or not. The community care Act of 1996 requires that the local authorities make payments to the disabled people in order for them to meet their daily needs. This is because the disabled people are unable to work in order to earn a living. The chronically sick and disabled Act of 1970 requires the local authorities to provide the disabled persons with practical assistance in the home as well as providing assistance to the adaptation of works in the home. In the case of Ms. R, the local authority has no legal right of withdrawing the home care support to once daily because Ms. R is unable to help herself around the house thus it will be difficult for her to adapt to the extreme conditions of doing things independently (Sutch, 2006, 40). Policies should be set clear by the government to distinguish the responsibilities of the medical care institution and politics. Anthonissen (2008, p. 26) points out that medication is meant to save lives but the political institution tampers with it and planned medication has become a challenge. The policies that are set up seem to favor the advancement of the political institution. This explains why they advocate for abolishment of the home care support system in order to benefit from revenue. The controversy that is portrayed by such policies clearly indicates that with time the medical institutions will lack accountability and most of the home care services will no longer be effective (World Health Organization, 2007, p. 27). In conclusion when the social worker achieves his stipulated goals effectively, Ms. R will be empowered and be able to fight for her rights as well as accepting herself the way she is and be able to live positively. The reablement team should also learn to respect the rights of the disabled people and treat them with care that is required of them. The government should be in a position to carry out an assessment in order to establish whether the disabled people still need the home care support or not. Counseling sessions will be of great help to the disabled person as this will help them to cope with the psychological problems they are facing as well as accepting themselves they way they are. Culture determines the levels of interaction that exist in the society as it is culture that we are socialized into. This goes ahead to affect our interactions in the society and the institutions we engage in. to ensure that rules are enforced, there has to be a framework through which these rules are enforced and that they adhered to. There is a clear indication that all institutions in the society have norms and rules which have to be adhered to in order to avoid being defiant and the consequences of breaking the law has a punishment. 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