Decision Case Study- A Caring Heart

This case study explores the responsibility of a care giver in providing support and care to a family suffering from mental illness. It discusses the macro, meso, and micro factors, legislation, and ethical considerations involved in the decision-making process. The report also presents an action plan for providing healthcare services to the family.

Decision Case Study- A
Caring Heart

Table of Contents
SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Macro, Meso and Micro Factors and legislation.........................................................................3
Laws needs to be taken into consideration in NSW context.......................................................4
Application of AASW codes of ethics to the case.......................................................................4
Social work values and ethical responsibilities relevant to this case...........................................5
Factors and stakeholders needs to be considered while taking decisions....................................5
Action plan...................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

SUMMARY
In the decision case study- A caring heart it is found that a Madison family with husband, wife
and a son was suffering from mental illness. Mrs Madison was suffering from chronic dementia
and son was down syndrome. The case study that has been selected for evaluation includes the
analysis of the situation of Charlotte in the Madison Case and the decisions that she has to take
regarding the responsibility of the wife and son of Mr. Madison who has now deceased. As
Charlotte convinced Mar Madison to get his test done and visit to doctor and gathered all
information so, she needs to take responsibility of Mrs Madison and his child.
INTRODUCTION
The current report aims to highlight the measures that can be taken in order to provide
support and care to the wife and son of Mr. Madison who was the patient of Charlotte. The report
will highlight the macro, meso and micro factors and the AASW code of ethics as well as
decision making process related to the case will be evaluated. The decision making process and
plan of action will also be presented in the report. Lastly, it will discuss some laws which can
help health care providers and care giver in taking better decision about treatment and improving
health of people.
MAIN BODY
Macro, Meso and Micro Factors and legislation
Macro: The macro factors are the ones that can be identified as the one where the societies at
large are taken into consideration. Under this, in relevance to the present case study, the macro

factors that can be included in the assessment of the case study include the analysis of the overall
care taking and support that is available to the individuals and older age patients who have no
support (Smith and et.al., 2019). This covers all those patients which might be included in the
category where patients do not have any immediate family or connections. It includes: focusing
on social and human development specialist who can provide information and care to Madison
family
Mesco: The meso factors are on the other hand in between the micro and macro factors where
the smaller institutions, group interactions etc. are taken into consideration. In the current case,
the factors that have been taken into analysis on the meso scale include the overall social system
and the unwillingness of the niece of Mr. Madison to take care of his wife and son (Alston,
Hazeleger and Hargreaves, 2019). The stereotypes that have been set regarding the patients with
down syndrome or the lack of care taking attributes of the family can be identified in relation to
the present case study.
Micro: The micro factors refer to the individual factors that relate to the specific need of the
individual only where one particular individual is given importance rather than overall
population. In reference with the current study the micro factors that need to be considered are
the lack of proper verification and cross checking on behalf of the care taker which shows the
inability to perform work with required diligence (Boetto, 2016). Another factor is lack of any
attention by the niece of Mr. Madison who was entitled to receive all the wealth of him but was
not ready to take care of the wife and son of Mr. Madison. There is requirement of focusing
housing, health care and social services.
Laws needs to be taken into consideration in NSW context
The legislative aspects that need to be considered in the reference with the present case include
the Aged Care Act, 1997 which states that the patients must be provided required care and
attention based on the funding, regulation, quality of care, standards etc. and in the present case,
the duty was to seek medical care for Mr. Madison sooner than it was done in the present case
(Luu, Wright and Cashmore, 2019). The another relevant legislation is Duty of Care in NSW
welfare services which states that a thorough examination must be done of the patients that are
being admitted and hence it was necessary to include and verify the nominee details of Mr.
Madison (Mills, 2017).

Aged care quality commission act: As per this law care giver can perform specified functions
relating to the giving of advice and taking responsibility of taking care. Sharing information of the family
with commonwealth funded aged care services in order to make them know that all is going well.
Application of AASW codes of ethics to the case
Codes of ethics of Australian association of social workers refers core values which needs
to be used by social workers while dealing with patients and community based people.
Respect for human dignity: Social workers require respecting beliefs, religious, values,
desire and culture within framework of social justice. They also need to make sure that their
clients are having easier access to basic and important resources.
Safe and sensitive practices: Social workers require understanding of their clients and
their perspectives like their values, cultural affiliations, identities etc. They also require
recognizing diversity and providing equal and fair services to all.
Commitment to human rights: Social workers require using anti oppressive practices for
eliminating negative discrimination and protecting rights of people. They also need to provide
assistance to clients in an objective manner.
Social work values and ethical responsibilities relevant to this case
As per the ethical consideration, there is a responsibility of Charlotte as a care giver to take
care of Mr Madison family after his sudden demise because she promised and convinced to Mr
Madison that she will hire the best respite worker for taking care of his family. While taking
information from Mr Madison, Charlotte also knew that after his death he would call his niece
for taking care of his son and his wife. So, as a care giver there is ethical consideration to seek
for help and providing housing, social, health and other care services and also approach to his
niece.
Rather than, social justice, dignity, integrity and maintaining human relation are all important
and considered as social values (Kochoska and Gulevska, 2018). As per these social values,
Charlotte requires taking responsibility of taking care of Mr Madison family and providing better
treatment to Mrs Madison with dementia and Ryan with Down syndrome. It is also important to
interact with patients in a calm and effective manner, using patient centre care approach in
engaging patients and making them feel comfortable.

Factors and stakeholders needs to be considered while taking decisions
In this context it can be said that as a social care, Charlotte require approaching to Mr.
Madison niece as Mr Madison stated that his niece is the only one who can take care of his
family after his demise. So, as a social care, finding a responsible person is important.
In addition, it can also be said that by focusing on micro factors like ensuring better housing,
social and health care services by taking help of NHS and other organization, she can take care
of Madison family (Gunn and et.al., 2019). Charlotte can make an alignment with clinical social
workers and hospitals from where Madison family can have easy access to take treatment and
diagnose mental health problems. As a social worker it is also important to take help of
supervisor, educational institutions who work for community and have willingness to provide
quality if live for needy people.
Action plan
In the context of Mr Madison family it is found that Mrs Madison is suffering from
dementia and at severe stage and her some Ryan is suffering from Down syndrome so, it is
important as a care giver and social workers to provide them access to health care services. There
are several medicines and treatments are available and after getting laboratory and other tests
done and after knowing the intensity of the disease appropriate interventions and medicines can
be suggested to Mrs Madison. Some appropriate medicine which can help Mrs Madison in
treating dementia include: Memantine: this medicine helps people in increasing learning power
and helps patient in performing their brain functions like memory and learning. Donepezil is
other medicine which also work by boosting levels of a chemical messenger involved in memory
and judgment (Moskowitz and et.al., 2019).
Rather than this, it is also important to engage patient in treatment process by making use of
patient centre care approach and making het feel comfortable and able to take participate in
social activities.
For Ryan and treating down syndrome there is requirement of taking help of speech therapists,
occupational therapists and special educators who can make Ryan feel comfortable and engaged
in treatment process. By providing regular medical care like early intervention, educational
therapies, physical, occupational and other therapies Ryan can be made able to perform his
function as like normal people and feel pleased.

CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that ethical consideration and social work values
played a vital role in improving healthcare services and dealing with critical situations in an
effective manner. Further, it has also discussed some Australian association of social workers
codes of ethics which needs to be considered while giving care and taking decision as a care
giver.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alston, M., Hazeleger, T. and Hargreaves, D., 2019. Social work and disasters: A handbook for
practice. Routledge.
Boetto, H., 2016. Developing ecological social work for micro-level practice. Ecological social
work: Towards sustainability, pp.59-77.
Gunn, V. and et.al., 2019. The influence of welfare state factors on nursing professionalization
and nursing human resources: A time‐series cross‐sectional analysis, 2000–
2015. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75(11), pp.2797-2810.
Luu, B., Wright, A.C. and Cashmore, J., 2019. Contact and Adoption Plans for Children Adopted
from Out-of-home Care in New South Wales. Australian Social Work, 72(4), pp.404-
418.
Marsh, C.A. and et.al., 2017. Characteristics and outcomes of newborns entered who entered into
care (EIC) within 7 days of birth in NSW, Australia. Children and Youth Services
Review, 81, pp.261-267.
Mills, M., 2017. Dementia and guardianship: Challenges in social work practice. Australian
Social Work, 70(1), pp.30-41.
Moskowitz, J.T. and et.al., 2019. Randomized controlled trial of a facilitated online positive
emotion regulation intervention for dementia caregivers. Health Psychology, 38(5),
p.391.
Smith, T., and et.al., 2019. A study of macro-, meso-and micro-barriers and enablers affecting
extended scopes of practice: the case of rural nurse practitioners in Australia. BMC
nursing, 18(1), p.14.