Good morning everyone.
Do you have someone you're caring for?then let me share these;
Professional Values of Social Care
There are different ways of expressing the professional values of social care, but broadly, they can be described as respecting and promoting:
Choice
Dignity
Inclusion
Independence
Privacy and confidentiality of information
Individuality and identity.
Let’s look at each of these values and consider how a social care worker’s behaviour can reflect these values.
Choice
You make choices every day – for example, about what to wear or what to eat. Imagine how you might feel if someone made those choices for you. You might disagree with the choice someone makes but in most cases they have the right to make that choice. A great social care worker listens to the individual and helps them to make their own decisions about how they live their life.
Dignity
Everyone should be treated with dignity. Social care workers often help with very personal care and need to ensure they do not treat a person in such a way as to embarrass or distress them.
Inclusion
Social care workers talk about ‘inclusive practice’. This means they do not discriminate against an individual because of their heritage, sexuality, age etc. A great social care worker ensures that people are treated fairly and that reasonable adjustments are made to ensure they can participate in the activity of their choice. It’s important to be aware of your own prejudices and try to avoid an unconscious bias that means you put barriers in the way of a person being treated fairly.
Independence
People should be encouraged to be as independent as possible. Social care workers try not to do things for people – rather they do things with people.
Privacy and Confidentiality of Information
Social care workers learn a lot about the people they care for. It is important to understand that the information you have is confidential and should not be shared outside of the workplace. It might be necessary to share some information with other professionals but in most cases the individual has to give their permission for their confidential details to be shared.
Individuality and Identity
We all have our likes, dislikes and preferences. A great social care worker understands this and respects the individuality of everyone they care for and the special things that make them unique. In the next step we are going to learn more about a way of working called ‘person-centred practice’.
Social care workers need to be:
Compassionate – they need to care about the individuals as well as caring for them
Courageous – they need to be able to challenge others on behalf of the individual if necessary
Committed to the work and be reliable
Competent at the work they are asked to perform
Good listeners who can speak and communicate in a way that the individuals they care for can understand.
