Nadia Muhammad 1C P3
This assignment describes ways care workers can empower individuals using relevant
examples from health and social care.
How does each career worker empower the elderly service user?
The four care workers are:
1. Social Workers
2. Counsellors
3. Physiotherapists
4. Nurses
Social Workers can empower the elderly service user by speaking for themselves, e.g., through
self-advocacy, meaning that the elderly will speak for themselves. Also, social workers can help
the service user develop new ways of tackling the issues they face, e.g., older people face
many problems. Still, the main one is dementia, so the career can empower the elderly by
letting them try to go through peer support groups; this may help them understand how
severe their conditions are and how important it is to take the medicine. Another way the
social worker can empower the older man is to consider the service user’s rights and needs;
for example, the social worker will assess the service user’s history, background, and situations
to understand his needs, strengths, and weaknesses. So, to make sure that the older man is
comfortable and respected and considers his needs, the social workers do it by themselves and
do not ask him what he wants or needs.
Counsellors can empower the elderly service user by promoting choice; for example, the
counsellor would help the service user clarify his issues and explore options on how he (the
service user) would approach the situation. Also, the counsellor can allow the service user to
work with others in partnership, e.g., the service user would let the counsellor work with a
medical doctor to give comprehensive and integrated care for the older man's conditions.
Another way the counsellor can empower the older man is to provide encouraging feedback,
e.g., if the service user is not able to do his activities because of his physical problem, the
counsellor can encourage or help him to do his activity so he would feel happy, by doing this it
makes the self-esteem of the service user stay high and not fall into depression.
Physiotherapists can empower the elderly service user by promoting choice; for example, if
the physiotherapist advises on how to do a little exercise at home to improve his physical
problem, the service user can take the advice. Also, the physiotherapist can help the older
man by incorporating a risk assessment in the care plan, e.g., the physiotherapist can inform
the service user of his condition (dementia) and make the service user aware of the
consequences of not taking his medication and missing his appointments to the doctor.
Another way that the physiotherapist can empower the service user is to help him with his
pain; for example, if the service user is in pain because of his physical problems, the
physiotherapist can decrease older people’s pain by massage or other methods.
Nurses can empower the elderly service user by building trust; for example, if the nurse is
providing emotional support to the patient and the family also caring for the patient, this
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