Understanding Specific Needs in Social Care Practice

In our society today, understanding health varies in terms of illness, behavior, and different disabilities. We are set to believe a health concept on what is perceived concerning health and social care. According to WHO, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This means that you do not necessarily have a disease or weakness to be considered ill. The health of an individual involves both physical and holistic wellness. Holistic care means giving support to an individual wholly and not focusing only on mental needs. This also includes looking at the physical, spiritual, social, and emotional well-being. Many ideas define health due to many existing concepts. According to society, when you are sick and get admitted to a healthcare setting, the main aim is to focus on your physical state. The primary purpose of this is to make the body healthy for standard functionality.

The biomedical model (also known as bio-mechanical) is a model that focuses on your health by using biological factors. It contains a disability medical model that focuses on an individual’s disability and impairment. Most professionals use the biomedical model to look at your body’s functionality and check for disease presence and any infections or injuries. The model defines health as being free from pain, disease, or defect, making your condition healthy. It does not focus on the holistic needs of an individual, thus becoming non-beneficial to the service user. When providing treatment services to users, it’s essential to give holistic care. The model looks at the factors affecting your health and well-being – that is, environmental and social factors. The most common factors that determine your well-being are your environment, poor diet, and your social class.

There are different cultural factors and experiences in society, making an individual’s life different from the rest. Some individuals believe they are in a good state of health and well-being because they have no physical illnesses and are free from pain. This concept varies and could be secondary to cultural factors and experiences. Your health perception is affected when your physical and mental needs are not well addressed when you seek treatment or care in a healthcare setting. When no one understands your situation, your physical and mental well-being leads to the development of a negative concept of health. A positive concept of health and well-being is when an individual achieves and maintains a healthy lifestyle that includes being physically fit and having good mental health. By having good health and well-being, the individual regards having an active life, feeling well, walking, and running as indicators. Having a positive health concept means looking at aspects like caring about how you eat, the exercises you perform, and what you can implement to overcome barriers.

Going through these models helps you understand why health inequalities are persistent and still in existence. People’s behaviors like poor diet and excessive alcohol consumption are the main determinants of this. Making good personal decisions by avoiding and changing such behaviors reduces the risk of ill-health. Society believes that when you suffer from any illness, you need to visit a healthcare facility for treatment for you to get better and return to your daily tasks. The individual is normally exempted from daily roles but has to seek treatment as they are not responsible for the illness and avoid deviance. Those with disabilities have no existing role as their condition is termed permanent. Individuals have been categorized by society as to how they should be given healthcare as part of social construction.

Social construction is defined as social knowledge, which examines how individuals in a given setting develop knowledge and understand the world. There are four beliefs under social construction;

• Social constructionists believe that knowledge is not necessarily based on worldly observations. Humans put emphasis on some categories more than others leading to differences in what really exists and what is perceived to exist.
• Knowledge existence is related to history and cultural values. The concepts and categories used are affected by history and culture, terming them as natural. We should not assume that ways of understanding are different or better than the rest.
• When people interact, they learn from each other, and knowledge is constructed. People end up believing in what was learned during interaction rather than focusing on the real truth through observation.
• Social action and knowledge go hand in hand.

Social construction is understood directly when dealing with people who have disabilities. The healthcare givers deal directly with your parent or representative as they will assume you don’t understand the nature of the treatment. What we encounter each and every day during interactions defines the identity of different individuals. This supports the theory that what we experience and the interactions with the people living with disabilities do not understand their rights which leads to them getting treated that way. Therefore, we need to treat each other equally regardless of our categories. Social constructionism consists of;

Social process – laws, and policies put in place by the government to categorize and learn how to treat people.

Social action – what occurs due to the laws and policies in place, e.g., segregation, discrimination, and stereotyping.

This is regular for people with disabilities due to how others view them and daily experiences and interactions. Social action has a negative perspective because of opinions formed by categorizing people. Considering one’s individual needs and using the guides and policies in place to provide and safeguard services to the user will provide a positive perspective. 

Social construction can also be broken down twice;

Knowledge is taken for granted daily, and there is a need to understand that individuals using the healthcare system can lack access to more knowledge. Their behaviors could be challenging as it will be hard to communicate when they need something from the caregivers leading to frustrations. To overcome these issues, we need a holistic care approach due to varying behaviors in different individuals. Finding out the nature of the issue will enable us to treat specific needs with specific services.

In society, individuals have different cultures which determine their behavior and attitude. People have had a negative attitude toward individuals with disabilities since the old times. But, there was a big change in regards to how people lived during the Industrial Revolution that led to many people migrating to the city. Non-working individuals were seen as a burden in society, and the social pressure led to a political response. Institutionalization – placing individuals in an institution for therapy or correction when they are not capable of living as an independent person due to a physical or mental condition was introduced. A new law was introduced, and asylums were built with the aim of improving living conditions for the people. Problems came about when the asylums were overcrowded, leading to changes in societal attitudes and worsening the conditions. The American eugenics movement – formed during the late nineteenth century, believed in a race that was pure and free from disability. The laws and policies provided a foundation for positive perceptions like equal rights for people with specific needs. There are strategies and approaches that are defined to take care of people with specific needs depending on the level of the challenges. Some approaches and interventions that support individuals with specific needs include:

• Self-help

This involves teaching people with specific needs life skills to support and help them live independently. There are self-help groups that help and support people with related needs. 

• Direct action

This is a self-assessment tool that involves a group of individuals taking action. The action is aimed at determining a problem and coming up with a solution or a possible alternative to the issue.

• Creating partnerships

Here individuals or families integrate and work together as a team.

• Evidence-based practice

This is an approach to healthcare where patient values, together with the current research, are used to improve patient health and care.

• Advocacy

This involves speaking on behalf of individuals who are vulnerable in society to listen to their grievances and act upon their rights. With advocacy, the individuals will receive support, representation, and information in order to empower people with their specific needs and express themselves.

• Guardianship

People with specific needs require caregivers or parents who will be able to take care of their needs and provide care.

• Autonomy and empowerment

The freedom of acting and making your own choices is autonomy. Granting social, economic, or political power is empowerment. Both involve individuals with specific needs through making informed decisions that are consented to.

• Risk management

Risk management involves the identification of threats and assessing and controlling them to manage potential opportunities and adverse effects. The management prevents potential risks that could harm an organization or lead to injuries to patients. Cultural processes and structures are considered here. 

Some risks can be avoided easily, while others cause serious harm and are not easily eliminated. Laws and policies in place require steps that are practical to eliminate the possible risks.

• Technological interventions

They meet the needs of people with disabilities by providing wheelchairs and rails to support them.

Overview of a case study

A woman, let’s call her Anne, is autistic and unable to perform basic things like taking a shower or talking and stays with her guardian. She performed normal activities as she knew where everything was located in the house. One time a stranger, who is related to her guardian, came to take her hospital as it was a routine every week. He took her to a different facility, and Anne became agitated and developed antrums. She exhibited challenging behavior and a lack of trust in other people. After interventions by healthcare givers, there was an improvement in his relations and behavior with other people. 

From the above case, Anne requires special care and is described as vulnerable. She can not carry out daily activities without getting help from her guardian. She had been comfortable all along until the stranger decided to take her to a different facility. This led to the development of anger and agitation, and she became uncooperative. This could easily lead to mental problems and depression. After evaluating Anne, I found out that the interventions needed were;

• Understanding what caused the sudden change in behavior and treating it immediately.
• Helping Anne deal with surrounding environmental and social factors that could have contributed to her behavioral change.
• Developing a framework for managing her anger issues while collaborating with her guardian for quick recovery.
• Communicating with her guardian to closely monitor and identify any slight improvements to confirm the individual is receiving the best care.
• Drugs will be prescribed and administered by a caregiver in a case where the individual will not show any improvements after therapeutic methods.

The guardian needs to be trained by the caregiver on how to deal with Annes as he plays a crucial role in her recovery. Relevant information that is transparent and nonbiased is given. In the case where proper laws are in line with policies that safeguard the patient, there are decreased mental issues. The government has worked hard to develop strategies that will improve health and reduce the inequality that is faced by people with special needs. The development of a health promotion framework with education approaches, community, and health services has improved and provided the best healthcare services to people with special needs. Furthermore, the framework has addressed inequality and social factors influencing the health of an individual and communities to promote health. Many people get poor health services due to discrimination and low economic status. This cant trigger mental issues due to poor education and lack of information on health. This leads to seclusion in society which will complicate illnesses. Some professionals are invested in providing care to individuals with specific needs. They offer services without discrimination and educate individuals on all the information they need to know about health. 

Approaches and interventions.

Autism has no cure, but autistic individuals can lead a normal life just like other people. Caregivers should understand the interventions they should use to provide the best care to autistic people and help them engage in daily activities while understanding how different they are. Their only difference from other people is their cognitive abilities. Some approaches that can be used are;

1. Helping people with autism communicate by using alternative methods since they can not communicate well. This will help them fit in society as they have expressed themselves in a way other people can understand.
2. Using various methods and approaches to change practices and policies related to different attitudes and behaviors in society. This gives an equal platform that fights discrimination in society.
3. Many individuals with autism lack attention from society and family members. Therefore, the opportunity to improve their cognitive abilities is denied, making them overdependent on others. To improve their behaviors and developmental abilities, they need educative programs that will accommodate their special needs.
4. We need to ensure autistic individuals have opportunities that will benefit them and improve their quality of life. We just need to avoid interrupting them as they go about their personal activities for better results.
5. Individuals with autism know they are different from other members of society as they could be aggressive at times. Counseling helps them integrate and handle issues in society well in a way that other members will understand. During counseling sessions, autistic individuals learn much about their condition, and it makes it easier for them to cope.
6. Engaging autistic individuals in activities like physical exercises help in handling aggression and frustrations in a positive manner. Some induce themselves to pain and end up hurting themselves. That is why they need to be monitored at all times to prevent injuries and pain. 
7. Autistic people react differently to different situations. Anne became agitated when the stranger took her to a different facility. Some individuals will react in ways like being suicidal, being depressed, or having personality changes. Psychotherapy is important in preparing individuals for the changes they will experience. Autistic people need to adapt to daily routines and change to reduce the risk of reacting negatively.
8. Identifying tasks that the autistic individual is talented in and comfortable performing and helping them make money. This can help them be less dependent on members of society and cope with them positively.

The strategies used for intervention are important in giving autistic individuals a positive attitude and rejuvenating their energy and strengths. This reduces anxiety levels and helps them cope with the expectations of society members. They become focused on transforming their lives and handling their independence positively. When individuals have a better understanding of their conditions and place in society, they can handle any challenges on their way better. Many sociological developments that are enhanced scientifically have emerged, leading to a negative effect on people with special needs. 

Challenging behaviors that are exhibited and directed toward other members have different concepts. They include throwing tantrums, anger issues, suicidal thoughts, and being rebellious. Physical impairment, learning disabilities, drug abuse, and mental issues are some of the factors contributing to challenging behaviors. How do challenging behaviors impact health and social organizations? Society reacts differently (simple or complex reactions) to behavior. This includes isolation from family and friends, which makes the affected individuals unable to communicate, addiction, and lack the support they need. Their vulnerability increases due to overdependence on others, thus becoming more prone to abuse. The caregiver can also become impatient and abusive due to stress and high difficulty levels when supporting the elderly. Challenging behaviors have risks for both the person with special needs and the caregiver. The risks include;

• The elderly can develop dementia, other illnesses, or anxiety.
• The caregiver can develop depression caused by an inability to cope and adjust to the stress.
• Depression can lead to substance abuse.
• Patients could become domestically violent due to their aggressiveness.
• Verbal and physical aggression from patients towards caregivers.
• Caregivers could withhold their support to patients.

Social care involves policies, codes of practices, and procedures that govern both the patient and the caregiver. Caregivers are expected to adhere to these policies when delivering services. Correct measures need to be put in place to ensure social care workers are not harmed by individuals with specific needs, as the rights of social caregivers have not been addressed. The current partnerships in legislation have contributed to;

• Extra attention to mutual trust and partnerships.
• Effective leadership among societal members.
• Adhering to specific roles in regard to purchasing, providing, and commissioning.
• Preparedness to explore new health service options.
• Being in agreement with laws and policies in place.
• Creating shared values and principles among members of society.

Most importantly, we need to note that the partnerships in place are mutually beneficial for the stakeholders. Social care goals and objectives of all individuals with special needs have to be met without discrimination. The unique contribution of caregivers can make a difference in providing support for individuals with specific needs. As discussed above, each model has its individual strengths and weaknesses, but the social model is powerful, and it helps us think positively and push ourselves to reach our full potential. It focuses on how we develop by encouraging the independence of individuals with a disability. Strategies for working with challenging behaviors are also important for understanding specific needs in health and social care. In conclusion, it’s important for caregivers to acquire more knowledge and information on special needs, how they affect us, and how to cope with individuals with different needs in various settings. This includes supporting families of people with special needs and their caregivers.

Bibliography

Bradshaw, R. (2000) ‘Preventing abuse of vulnerable adults,’ The Journal of Adult Protection, vol 2, no 1, pp 35 –38

Fiscella K, Franks P, Gold MR, Clancy CM.(2000). Inequality in quality: addressing socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in health care.

Leventhal T. & Brooks-Gunn J. (2000) The neighborhoods they live in: the effects of neighborhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes Psychological Bulletin 126(2), 309-37

VanBergeijk, E., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. (2008). Supporting more able students on the autism spectrum: College and beyond. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 38, 1359-1370