Dementia as a Social Work Practice Issue Social Sciences Case Study

The assignment should be structured to include an introduction that sets out how the student intends to answer the question and to structure their answer.
Each area of the title should be addressed and the student should include a conclusion that summarises how they addressed the question.
The assignment will evidence DEMENTIA as a key Social Work practice issue in their current placement and more widely in social work. You will evidence the fact that it is a practice issue and not just a” one off” scenario by referring to reading that identifies/ explores your topic as a practice issue for social workers, for example by giving some statistics about Dementia prevalence in the UK from independent study. You may well find reading that explores Dementia and these too, could be used to justify it as a practice issue.
Use 2 theories, that is Systems theory and a Person Centred - Approach theory to explain the theories in enough depth and explain why they might be effective in working with service users with Dementia.
The theories should be explained in depth and critically appraised. You will briefly describe a case in your current placement that is an example of the practice issue you have chosen. You will use the case to demonstrate how and why you used the theories to understand the difficulties faced by the service user and/ or to suggest an intervention that sought to address the practice issue.
You will need to think about how you used the theories to make sense of the world from the position of the service user and how they also suggested effective ways to intervene.
I suggest that you explicitly explore the values that underpin the theories chosen and then look at how this influences practice practice.
What might stand out with dementia work is how to fully work in partnership where someone has limited capacity. Use of person-centred approaches would work well with this. Do not forget to read Carl Rogers.
Brief description of Placement Case:
This joint intervention visit was to a customer with a diagnosis of Dementia which has been progressively getting worse resulting in poor mobility, reduced standing balance and impaired cognition. As a consequence, the customer has had falls in the bathroom at night and is at risk of forgetting to press her pendant alarm should she fall.
As I had never worked with the elderly or people with a dementia diagnosis, this visit afforded me an opportunity to witness the application of a person-centred care to JJ’s care needs and it helped me contextualise the organisation I was placed in’s commitment to working with other partner teams. The joint intervention visit was with a member of a team that assess the viability of installing a timed bed exit alarm attached to JJ’s pendant. The exit alarm was to monitor her return to bed at night in case she tried to mobilise independently taking into consideration her history of falls. This was a good example of how technology is used in the continuity of care to support independent living. I found this piece of knowledge valuable.
I visualised the bed exit alarm as an element of positive risk taking that would enable the customer to develop new skills, potential and also promote the customer’s independence. . I saw this as a way of empowering the customer to mobilise outside of her bed space at night knowing well that if she did not return within 20 minutes, help will be on its way in case she had fallen. Ultimately this intervention was all about person centred care.
The process of liaising with a partner agency in preparation for the visit helped me understand how different strategies are co-ordinated and applied by multi-disciplinary teams with the goal of providing a practicable outcome for the customer.
Reflect on your practice and consider how effective the use of these theories were in this instance and how you might tackle the practice issue using theory in the future.
The assignment asks you to explicitly address the uncertainties and complexities of the case and the practice issue and therefore why the choice of intervention is complex.
Be explicit about ethical reasoning in the case- what values did you rely on and what values informed the design of the theories used. Students are expected to read the originating author(s) of the theories chosen but also to read and appraise other academics’ critique of the theories used.
The assignment will be evidence based and arguments will refer to academic texts. References will follow conventions set out in the cite them right website. Please refer
to the cite them right website throughout your reading, planning and writing of your assignment:http://www(dot)citethemrightonline(dot)com.
Have these been fully explored and answered?
1. A Practice issue that you have encountered in your placement - what evidence will you provide that this is in fact a practice issue
2. Brief description of a case you have worked on that is an example of this practice issue
3. Description of key features of 2 theories ( and what references you will use to explore these theories) that can be used to give an explanation to the practice issue and to suggest effective interventions
4. Brief points about how the theories were used in the case (
5. What are the values that underpin the chosen theories? Are they consistent with social work theories?
6. What makes this case complex- how did you /will you deal with complexity and ambiguity?
7. Conclusion- what learning did you derive from using these theories with this practice issue
8. Rights, justice and economic well-being
References
Care act 2014
http://www(dot)legislation(dot)gov(dot)uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/10/enacted
Clements L. with Ashton, K., Garlick, S., Goodall, C. Gould, J., Mitchell, E., and Pickup, A. (2017) Community care and the law. 6th edn. London. LAG Education and Service Trust Limited
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC, 2013) and British Association of Social Workers (BASW, 2018) The Capabilities Statement for Social Workers Working with Adults with Learning Disability.
Egan, G. (2014) The skilled helper: A client-centred approach. Hampshire: Cengage
Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities (FPLD, 2019) Rights, independence, choice and inclusion. Available at: https://www(dot)mentalhealth(dot)org(dot)uk/learning-disabilities/a-to-z/p/personalisation.
Healy, K. (2014) Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. 2nd edn. London: Palgrave McMillan
Milner, J. and O’Byrne, P. (2009) Assessment in social work. 3rd ed. Palgrave MacMillan: England
Olsen, A., Pepe, A. and Redfearn, D. (2017) A – Z of learning disability. London. Palgrave, Macmillan
Payne, M. (2014) Modern social work theory 4th edn. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Perry, D., Hammond, L., Marston, G., Gaskell, S. and Eva, J. (2011) Caring for the physical and mental health of people with learning disabilities. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Ruch, G., Turney, D., and Ward, A. (2018) Relationship-based social work: Getting to the heart of practice. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Essential
The Kortext for this module is Adams, R, Dominelli, L, & Payne, M. (2009) Practicing Social Work In A Complex World (2nd Edition). London: Palgrave MacMillan. You are expected to be familiar with this text and it would be highly advisable to refer to it in your summative assignment
Adams, R., Dominelli, L, & Payne, M. (2009) Practising Social Work in A complex world 2nd Edition. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Bell, L, Hafford-Letchfield, P (2013) (Eds) Ethics and Values in Social Work Practice. London, Routledge
Fook, J. (2012) Social Work: A Critical Approach to Practice. London: Sage Publications.
Payne, M (2014) Modern Social Work Theory Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Recommended
Adams, R, Dominelli, L and Payne, M (2009) Critical Practice IN Social Work (2nd edn) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Cartney, P. (2011) Consolidating practice with children and families in C. Cocker and L. Allain (Eds) Advanced Social Work with Children and Families. Exeter, Learning Matters
Hafford-Letchfield,T., Leonard, K. & Couchman, W (2012). ‘Arts and Extremely Dangerous: Critical Commentary on the Arts in Social Work Education’, Social Work Education, Special issue, 31 (6)
Healey, K. (2012) Social Work Methods and Skills, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Ruch, G., Turney, D., & Ward, A. (2018) Relationship Based Social Work .(2nd edn) London: Jessica Kingsley.
Teater, B. (2010) An Introduction to Applying Social Work Theories and Methods. Berkshire: McGraw Hill Open University Press.
Wilson, K., Ruch, G., Lymberry, M., & Cooper, A. (2011) Social Work: an introduction to contemporary practice. London: Pearson Longman.