Understanding Specific Needs

in Health & Social Care

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Table of Contents
Topic Name
Page
No.
LO1 Understand perceptions of health, disability, illness and behaviour
1.1 Analyse concepts of health, disability, illness and behaviour in relation to users of
health and social care services & assesses how perceptions of specific needs have changed
over time
4
1.2 In health & social care analyse the impact of legislation, social policy, society and
culture on the ways that services are made available for individuals with specific needs
5
LO2 understand how health and social care services and systems support individuals
with specific needs
5
2.1 Using examples relating to your experience in health & social care mention & develop an analysis
of need for in an organisation working with service users with specific needs
2.2 Evaluate current systems & services available to support patients with specific by
providing significant examples of these services available locally or geographical area in
your community to assist patients with specific needs
6
LO 3 understand approaches and intervention strategies that support individuals with
specific needs

3.1 Explain the different approaches and interventions techniques that you have observed or
used to support users with specific needs, discuss the limitations of advantages that these
interventions have provided for individuals with specific needs.
7
3.2 Discuss the need for development and support for individuals with specific needs by
emphasising the impact of this emerging development on the health & well-being of
patients.
8
LO4 Understand strategies for copying with challenging behaviour associated
4.1 Explain the characteristics of two or more types of challenging behaviour service users
you have come across with the aid of examples from your own experience working in health
& social care.
10
4.2 Describe the potential impact of challenging behaviour on health & social care. 10
3

4.3 Analyse strategies like setting clear boundaries/targets time out reward & sanction, for
working with challenging behaviour associated with specific needs.
10
Reference 12





















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LO1 UNDERSTAND PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH, DISABILITY, ILLNESS AND
BEHAVIOUR

1.1 Analyse concepts of health, disability, illness and behaviour in relation to users of health and
social care services & assesses how perceptions of specific needs have changed over time
Concepts
Disability is however either an 'impairment' as in problems in bodily structure or functions, a
'disability' or inability to perform certain activities or a 'handicap' which relate to problems with
social participation. Disability of any form of permanent illness can have social, physical or
psychological implications and forms a significant aspect of welfare considerations (Emersom &
Einfeld, 2011)
Public stigma is the reaction that the general population has to people with mental illness. Self-
stigma is the prejudice which people with mental illness turn against them. Both public and self-
stigma may be understood in terms of three components: stereotypes, prejudice, and
discrimination. Social psychologists view stereotypes as especially efficient, social knowledge
structures that are learned by most members of a social group. Stereotypes are considered
"social" because they represent collectively agreed upon notions of groups of persons. They are
"efficient" because people can quickly generate impressions and expectations of individuals who
belong to a stereotyped group (Hewett, 2012).
Changing Perceptions
The challenge therefore is to identify and target patients' genuine needs. Mobilising resources to
meet these needs would certainly avoid further expenses, keep patients satisfied with services,
and lead to better quality of life. At the moment, there is no single definition of genuine health
needs precisely within the context of public health policy, yet it makes sense to describe this
inherently complex issue as 'what patients and the population as a whole- desire to receive
from health care services to improve overall health'. Even this definition may leave practitioners
'open to making judgement based on implicit knowledge, rooted in professional training and
values, office culture and assumptive world'.
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1.2 In health & social care analyse the impact of legislation, social policy, society and culture on
the ways that services are made available for individuals with specific needs
The impact of legislation, social policy, society and culture
Disabled people in the UK have historically suffered from discrimination and marginalisation.
This was in no small part due to the earliest model of disability, the moral model, which has
been prevalent throughout the history of religion. The moral model of disability regarded
disability as retribution for the sins of an individual or in the case of a child, the sins of parents.
Disabled people were seen as the deserving poor, eligible for support within their communities.
It was only when the Poor Law was amended in 1834, during the Industrial Revolution, that
relief for the deserving poor or unproductive defectives outside the workhouse was prohibited.
The restriction of relief to the workhouse was to manage the escalatingcosts of outdoor relief by
deterring able bodied people from claiming. However, institutional care for the defectives
gained impetus during the Industrial Revolution as the change from peasantry to the birth of the
factory, speed of machinery and wage labour made disabled people defunct. The Poor Law and
philanthropists across the country continued to offer institutional provisions to disabled people
until national concern due to the large numbers disabled ex-servicemen who served in the two
world warsled to the passing of some legislation (Stokes, 1996).

LO2 UNDERSTAND HOW HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICES AND SYSTEMS
SUPPORT INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIFIC NEEDS

2.1 Using examples relating to your experience in health & social care mention & develop an
analysis of need for in an organisation working with service users with specific needs
Time and workload pressures which impeded them from exercising leadership. Organisations
responses to regulatory demands led at times to tighter, more controlling cultures which eroded
rather than encouraged personal leadership. Resources to support the development of leadership
capacity were diminishing. This included the time for reflection and work based learning as well
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as financial resources for formal courses. These constraints are real and need to be taken
seriously. But there was a further issue which begged questions about how well organisational
cultures were supporting staff at every level to believe in and to exercise their own leadership
potential.
Example
Nulsen is a not-for-profit organisation founded 58 years ago in Perth by a group of parents of
children with profound intellectual and physical disabilities. Currently, Nulsen provides
accommodation services for 112 people with severe and profound disabilities or acquired brain
injury. The residents are women and men who are between 13 and 69 years old. Nulsen also
provides Clinical Services, Positive Behaviour Support and Community Services through an
Alternative to Employment Program.
In addition, Nulsen has a Culture and Creative Development Program which explores and
support number of musical, cultural and arts related talents of Nulsen residents. Nulsen has its
own Education Unit that it is used to promote awareness in schools and wider community.
Additionally, Nulsen provides Business Management and Clinical Services support to other
organisations.

2.2 Evaluate current systems & services available to support patients with specific by providing
significant examples of these services available locally or geographical area in your community
to assist patients with specific needs
Attitudes mean the positive or negative approach towards a view of a person, place, thing or
event. Thus people posses an objective towards the introduced thing and a question arises within
them whether to acquire or not.
Thus in the case of local areas or villages, there are many clans and beliefs and ideas that each of
these groups posses. Thus they too have their own views and ideas on their health conditions. In
many rural areas the conditions of health and sanitation lies at a very poor standard, and there are
people who dont want to change their views.
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Most people living in rural areas dont want to change their ways of medication and though the
world is moving forward with new techniques and information, there is a set of people who
wants to be in the olden times. Who has a strong belief, on orals and witch crafty. So with this
the effect, the spreading of sicknesses and diseases are more. How much NGOS and many
organizations integrate towards the rural village, the in habitants dont want to change their ways
of thinking. It is not with all but a few who want to live within their idea frame.
This is all due to the illiterates people. Thus to overcome this scenario the people have to be
liberated on the ways of taking medicine and facing situations.
Also the social care units are seen as something bad. They dont believe in the benefits of these
units. Also they believe that it is a social come down to keep an aged person in a social care unit,
thus little noticing the care there is sometimes much better what they provide at home.
Evaluate current thinking on the chosen issues and its likely influence on the development of
health and social care

LO3 UNDERSTAND APPROACHES AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES THAT
SUPPORT INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIFIC NEEDS
Case Scenario:
In health & social care; we often say that it is vast service sector undergoing rapid change, with
new government initiatives giving it a higher profile that ever. Priorities in the health care agenda
include being more responsive to patient needs, and preventing illness by promoting a healthy
lifestyle. The focus in frontline health & social care is on giving services-users more
independence, choice & control.
a) Explain the different approaches and interventions techniques that you have observed or
used to support users with specific needs, discuss the limitations of advantages that these
interventions have provided for individuals with specific needs.
The medical model defined disability as a medical condition, hence viewing disabled people as
disempowered, dependent and needing care. If disabled people cooperate with doctors, they
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could get better. Disability is a deviation from the norm or expectations by which men live and
considered it the fault of the individual. The medical model, that barriers faced by disabled
people are not a result of their medical condition but that they are constructed by society. The
medical model is oppressive and excludes people with disabilities from the mainstream
especially due to capitalisms quest for profits. The medical model of disability led to systematic
prejudice, marginalisation and discrimination of disabled people, calling this Disablism
Disabilism occurs at three levels of oppression; personal, cultural and structural. The personal
level, preconception displayed through attitudes and actions of repulsion, dismissiveness pity
and belittling are rife. At the cultural level, society views the disabled as misfits, pathetic
victims of tragedy and subjects them to abusive and derogatory treatment at the structural level,
one only has to look at how public services and the built environment have historically
overlooked their suitability for the disabled.
A common critique of quality of life tools in clinical research is that data are 'soft' and less
reliable than traditional clinical assessment or physiological measurement. Nevertheless, both
generic and disease-specific tools can detect subtle clinical changes quite precisely, especially in
cardiac disease. Some are concerned that HRQL tools may not precisely identify the most
important problems yet, from an economic and existential point of view, it is conceded that
patients' perception has equal validity and legitimacy to that of physicians. English language-
based quality of life tools have been tested in a wide range of diseases; overall in clinical practice
and in health service research, they have proven so useful that both generic and disease-specific
tools have been translated into a variety of other languages for wider application.
Basing health care needs on quality of life scores, however, necessarily incorporates several
sources of uncertainty due to factors such as age, sex, social class and individual patient's health
status. In addition, quality of life tools may fail to distinguish between health problems and the
desire to get professional attention.

b) Discuss the need for development and support for individuals with specific needs by
emphasising the impact of this emerging development on the health & well-being of
patients.
9

Unavailability of an experience interpreter in the healthcare settings can be barrier. It can affect
the sensitivity of patients values and attitudes. To use a professional interpreter can reassure
patients to communicate and feel freer when describing their religious beliefs and unsatisfactory
environment conditions but to healthcare professionals may feel disempowerment and may
depend on interpreters in order to carry out their roles.
A review in development in tackling health inequalities of Acheson, recommended the
improvement of living standards of people with lower income than average. Among the people
in this group are people living in a deprived area and depend on social housing. Also people with
learning disability may fail to get the necessary services because of lack of understanding about
health issues articulating their needs based on their poor experiences of education system (Fisher,
2006).
LO4 UNDERSTAND STRATEGIES FOR COPYING WITH CHALLENGING
BEHAVIOUR ASSOCIATED
4.1 Explain the characteristics of two or more types of challenging behaviour service users you
have come across with the aid of examples from your own experience working in health &
social care.
Anil represents a small and vulnerable group in a society who find difficulty in accessing and
using health and social care because of the greater health care needs they have than general
population. Motor and sensory disabilities, Epilepsy, hypertension and Alzheimers disease are
some of the conditions that are common in this group. The MENCAP report states that people
with learning disability are being treated wrongly in all part of healthcare provision and they are
not equally valued in the health services. The government also revealed that people with learning
disabilities are poorer particularly uptake of invitations on primary care and hospital provisions
such as access screening services. Because of their greater needs of healthcare, they are more
prone to a wide variety of additional physical and mental health problems as it shows to Anil.
There is an increasing in evidence of an inverse care law where those who needs are greatest
get the least (Altenbaugh & Richard, 1997).

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4.2 Describe the potential impact of challenging behaviour on health & social care.
Impact of challenging behaviour on health
The correlation between health needs and health-related quality of life scores might have
potential benefits in routine clinical investigation, too, where comprehensive care is targeted.
Administration of appropriate HRQL tools in clinics, surgeries or health centres may detect areas
of health care needs worthy of health professionals' closer scrutiny. For example, a patient with
an impaired Short Form Physical Component Score or physical dimension (SAQ-Phys) may
perhaps be distinguished not only as being at high risk in terms of clinical end points [48], but
also as a vulnerable patient who might have difficulty accessing health care services, for which
extra care (such as afterhours services or ambulance transport) may be required. Similarly where
the satisfaction component in the SAQ yields a lower score, cardiac care teams must be aware of
potential shortcomings in the delivery of care and investigate reasons for any dissatisfaction;
even provision of information about the nature of cardiovascular disease or its treatment may
improve the satisfaction score.

4.3 Analyse strategies like setting clear boundaries/targets time out reward & sanction, for
working with challenging behaviour associated with specific needs.
Health education as a part of health promotion is defined as a planned communication activities
designed to attract well being and ill health in individuals and group through influencing the
knowledge, belief, attitudes and behaviour of those in power of the community at large. For
people with learning disabilities, health education might promote social inclusion through
decreasing negative stereotyping by valuing and respecting their needs. On a more individual
level, people who receive health education messages have a choice to decide whether to follow
or not the message given..
Building partnerships between nurses, careers, other professional and people with learning
disabilities is essential in order to promote and educating health by identifying their physical and
mental health condition. A partnership is not only the way to bring up to date statutory services
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but also is about developing and acknowledging the collective responsibility for the health and
wellbeing of the community which they belong.
Having the opportunity to make choice about their healthcare is critical to their sense of
inclusion in society. It is also a key factor in allowing individual like Anil to feel in control of his
life. The NMC (National Midwifery Council) code of 2008sets out number of responsibilities on
nurses to promote choice and respect the decisions of those they care. Nurses need to help them
making their choice by making some simple adaptations. The first step can be taking a little more
time to explain something and giving the person with learning disability more time to understand
what is being said.
Other approach could be the involvement of relative or paid career not to make choice on behalf
of the person with learning disability but to use their knowledge of the person to help the care
professional interpret or to explain treatment options. In all this processes, nurses need to ensure
that they obtain consent before they begin assessment and treatment. Any decision to be taken by
the staff must be in the interests of the person and must regard to his or her human rights
(Michie, 2007).
The UK has over 10 million disabled adults and 770,000 disabled children. Despite these
statistics, disabled people have historically suffered from widespread discrimination and
marginalisation. The earliest model of disability, the moral model of disability viewed disability
asretribution for sin of an individual or of parents. This affected the way disabled people were
treated, mocked and patronised. The Poor Laws of the 17
th
Century qualified disabled people for
support within their communities, but later amended the support to be confined to the
workhouses. This was the conception of institutionalisation and segregation of disabled people.
Laws to deal with disabled people gained the attention of legislators as a result of the number of
disabled ex-servicemen from the two world wars. Consequently, the Disabled Persons
(Employment) Act 1944 and the Education Act 1944 were enacted to deal with disabled people.
From 1951, the medical and social models of disability have been dominant and influenced
legislation.


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