Ethical Dilemma in Health and Social Care: A Case Study Analysis

This report presents an analysis of an ethical dilemma within the context of preventative health campaigns in healthcare. The assignment uses a case study to illustrate the ethical challenges that arise when campaigns fail to consider cultural and linguistic diversity. Specifically, the case study focuses on a breast cancer awareness campaign that neglects the language and literacy levels of its target audience. The report critically examines the ethical misconduct, including violations of patient rights, human rights principles, and the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It discusses the implications of discrimination, the importance of inclusive treatment, and the need for personalized care. Furthermore, the report identifies stakeholders and recommends solutions involving government intervention and non-profit social equality initiatives to address the identified ethical concerns and promote more effective and equitable healthcare practices.

Running head: ETHICAL DILEMMA IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Ethical dilemma in health and social care
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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ETHICAL DILEMMA IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Table of Contents
Introduction: 2
Case description: 3
Critical analysis and discussion: 4
Conclusion: 8
References 9

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Introduction:
The society has transformed absolutely in the past and that is the reason the continuous
process of urbanization and modernization transfer each and every symptom of the society.
Starting litigation to Healthcare impact of globalization and modernization has not let anyone
touch Revolutionary changes Healthcare industry has taken the entire world by a storm
(Tengland 2012). However, among the different challenges and complications and arising in the
health care industry, there have been efforts and dedication put forth by the National and global
health authorities to combat and prevent these health adversities from manifesting and worsening
(Parkin et al. 2011). There are various long term and short term goals and strategies developed
by the authorities to combat and prevent the different challenges and hurdles, and among all the
different strategies optimal patient education and preventative campaigning has to be one of the
most impactful and crucial strategies. Although, the concept of large scale preventative health
educational planning has gained quite considerable popularity, there still are many ethical
constraints associated with this strategy (Thompson and Kumar 2011). This assignment will be
highlighting the ethical dilemma that can arise in the context of preventative health campaigning
taking the assistance of a relevant case study, and will provide a case study response on it.
Case description:
Preventative health campaigning can be considered as one of the most basic strategies to
enhance the awareness of the target populations in an efficient, productive and yet cost
effectiveness be manner. Preventative campaigning can be of various types, and each kind has
specific array of benefits for the society undoubtedly. In this case, the case study represents an
ethical dilemma regarding the most commonly observed health prevents be and promotional

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campaigning, with handouts. The topic on which this campaigning is focusing on, the handout
program is specifically about breast cancer. The breast cancer one of top three public health
priorities contributing to a considerably higher mortality and hospice referral rate in the nation.
In this context, the case study represents a situation, where the time, money and other
resources invested in the preventative programs is not being able to bear results due to a
fundamental flaw if the administrative authority. It has to be mentioned that in this case study,
the most important flaw in the planning procedure is the neglect that the local native language
has Received. The community that is the target group for the campaigning is not comfortable
with English language, and the literacy level of the most of the community is also very low
(DeSantis et al. 2014). Despite, the authorities being completely aware of the lack of literary
understanding of English in the local natives, the authorities have taken no initiative to address
this issue. Furthermore, it had to be mentioned in this context as well that despite the authorities
having full knowledge of this issue, the alternate solutions like providing translation and audio
visual representation of the handouts has also been rejected by the authorities. It has to be
understood in this context that the authorities had a clear and succinct idea of the fact that
English is the not the operational language of the majority of the residents. Hence, despite the
preventative campaigning targeted for the benefit of the majority of the female inhabitants of the
target community, they are not being able to access the health informative campaign, which
should have been primarily focused on them.
Critical analysis and discussion:
Health promotion and informative communication campaigns are associated in general with a
large number of external and internal factors that may influence the efficacy and the ethical

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integrity of the program. Now it has to be mentioned in this context that the importance of the
preventative and promotional campaigning is not just to initiate a level of awareness in the target
population, but also persuade and propel them towards a change in their health behaviours and
norms (Tengland 2012). It has to be mentioned in this context that the lifestyle standards and
health behaviours are often ingrained within different communities from a very early age. Along
with that, it has to be mentioned as well, that in case of ethnic communities, the impact of their
cultural trends and traditions have a significant impact on the everyday health behaviours of the
individuals belonging to ethnic communities (Lupton 2014). Hence, tremendous resistance will
face any change that is being facilitated by a promotional campaigning that threatens the
ingrained behaviours or cultural norms. The case study selected as the focus of this response
assignment represents a very similar situation where the promotional campaigning has not taken
into account the societal norms that the community is accustomed with. On a more elaborative
note, the target group under focus for the handout campaigning had been the community which is
native and is not very comfortable with the language English.
Hence, it can be stated, that handouts written in English, which they cannot read or
understand will be of no use to the target population of middle- aged ethnic or culturally diverse
group of women. Now according to the health care practice standards, any care activity, direct or
indirect, has to be concerned with the preferences of the target group taken into consideration
(nhs.uk. 2018). The very first ethical misconduct in this case scenario is the absolute disregard
given to the cultural and linguistic inclusion in the promotional campaigning. Along with that, it
has to be mentioned that violating patient education rights also violates a couple of human rights
principles of the human rights act of United Kingdom. On a more elaborative note, the target
group under focus for the assignment can be considered an ethnic group with little to no

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understanding go English. Hence, the disregard for their not being included into the promotional
campaign on breast cancer violates the article 14 of the Human Rights Act in the demographic
context of the United Kingdom. The article four of the human rights act is called the protection
from the discrimination, which protects the cultural and traditional beliefs of the ethnic
minorities and safeguards the best interests of the culturally diverse minorities in the target
population. Now discrimination can be defined as any activity that involves treating the minority
population less favourably and equally than the mainstream society in a similar situation
(Thompson and Kumar 2011). However, it has to be mentioned in this context, that the situation
presented in the case study demands a slight variation from the abovementioned justification of
the discrimination. This act also takes into consideration a scenario where a disadvantaged or
backward group is treated in the similar manner as the rest of the mainstream society in
circumstances that demands special treatment for the disadvantaged groups.
However it also needs to be mentioned that the in this case the target group affected can only
exercise the discrimination protection legislation only in circumstances where they can represent
one of the human rights acts section being violated due to the discrimination. In this case the
target population is not being included in the promotional campaigning for the breast cancer for
the fact that they cannot read English. This situation represents a scenario where the authorities
are degrading the needs of a particular minority group. The article 3 of the human rights act
states that all the citizens will be eligible for getting the freedom from any kind of inhuman or
degrading treatment from any section of the society (Legislation.gov.uk. 2018). Here, the
authorities conducting the promotional campaigning for breast cancer awareness are violating the
basic human right ethics of inclusive treatment for all socio-economic sectors of the society.

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The health and social care Act 2008 also has profound implications in this case. Exercise
the benefits of the social welfare practices like the promotion campaigning in this case, without
any unnecessary burden or inaccessibility due to discrimination. According to the section 1b of
Health and social care act 2010, the secretarial authority of the national healthcare system
mandatorily best exercise health services that are both promoting equality within all sectors of
the society and reducing any chances of inequality or in accessibility. Along with that it has to be
mentioned that the health and social care act also and tales that the health and social care
practices beard preventative on promotional has to be comprehensive to the needs of all of the
social groups of England. According to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 regulations 2014,
any service user must be treated with equal respect and dignity as the rest of the service users.
There are three subsections to this act, the first section in shows the privacy of the service user.
The second sub provision in the Act shows and supports the autonomy, independence, and
involvement provided equally to the community of the service users regardless of any
confounding discriminating factors. Lastly it mandates having you regards to any relevant and
authentic protect the characteristics of the Equality Act of 2010 that has any Association with the
community of service users. On a more elaborative note it has to be mentioned that in this case a
particular group of the target population and their Health Promotion education needs and not
being made by the service provider. According to that the autonomy, independence, and
involvement of those particular group of service users are being violated by service provider
and along with that the protective characteristics of equality act for the minority group is also
being violated by the service provided in this case study. Along with that, as per the Care
Commission Quality Regulation 9 of Health and Social Care Act, each eservice user deserves a
personalized care. In this case the service provider of the handout based promotional

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campaigning had not abode by the person centred care regulation and had not taken into
consideration the personalization requirements of the linguistically disadvantaged group
violating this regulatory section as well (Legislation.gov.uk. 2018).
On the other hand and the oppressive practice is also an integral element of the health and
social care practice standards of NHS. This is an interdisciplinary approach that defines the
social work that ends any socio economic oppression. It has to be mentioned that anti oppressive
practice is a core structural elements of the health and social community care service functional
in the UK demographic. This code of practice criticizes, corrects and prevents any power
imbalance in the public service sector depending on the socio-cultural or economic mix
differences. In this case study, service provider is engaging in oppressive practice by not
addressing the language barrier of the community with English. Hence, not providing any
alternative audiovisual or paper based educational handout with languages that the community's
familiar with is a direct violation of the anti oppressive practice standards of NHS.
In terms of stakeholder assessment, there are various stakeholders associated with scenario
represented by the scenario. First and foremost, the concerned government authorities of the area
are the primary stakeholders along with the human rights protection committee and the cultural
diversity protection authorities (Ali et al. 2010). Along with that, the target population receiving
the promotional campaigning and the campaign management authorities are also primary
stakeholders in this situation. Here the responsibilities of all the stakeholders are being neglected
in this scenario, both the government authorities and the campaign management bodies need to
design and implement a promotional campaign that includes all different minority groups of the
society, along with respecting and addressing the special needs of the minority groups as well.
Along with that, the implications of the human rights and cultural diversity protection

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committees cannot be ignored as well (Lupton 2014). As recommendation solutions, intervention
from both the government and not for profit social equality organizations can be considered. It
has to be mentioned that the recent statistics, breast cancer is the most common health adversity
of the population of United Kingdom, and the incidence rate in the ethnic women in the past
decade had been 68%.. Hence the need for preventative and awareness campaigns are very high;
the most of the need for health literacy is experienced by the culturally diverse background
communities of the developed and developing nations. Hence, in this case scenario as well the
focus of the campaigning should have been the minority groups. As an intervention strategy, the
handouts should be made with the language that the target population is accustomed with. Along
with that, there should be health literacy workshops with audiovisual presentation so that the
women can easily understand the implications of the symptoms and can understand the
preventative measures more easily (Hoffman and Rowe 2010).
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be stated that breast cancer is a growing public health priority,
and in many scenarios, the cases are not reported in early and controllable stages. The most
important contributing factor is the lack of health literacy and understanding of the early signs
and symptoms. The promotional and awareness campaigning is attempted to increase this basic
understanding in the target group, the women over the age of 50. Although the case study
explains a scenario where the most important consumer group is being neglected while designing
and implementing the campaigning the strategies. Hence, the recommendations for this case
study response plan focuses on the culturally diverse target groups. The recommendation
strategies attempt to bridge the language barrier for the handouts, and improve the scope and
effectiveness of the campaigns by audiovisual workshops. With co-operative efforts from both

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the government and not for profit stakeholders, the recommended strategies can be easily
implemented.

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References:
Ali, R., Barnes, I., Kan, S.W. and Beral, V., 2010. Cancer incidence in British Indians and
British whites in Leicester, 2001–2006. British journal of cancer, 103(1), p.143.
DeSantis, C., Ma, J., Bryan, L. and Jemal, A., 2014. Breast cancer statistics, 2013. CA: a cancer
journal for clinicians, 64(1), pp.52-62.
DeSantis, C.E., Fedewa, S.A., Goding Sauer, A., Kramer, J.L., Smith, R.A. and Jemal, A., 2016.
Breast cancer statistics, 2015: convergence of incidence rates between black and white
women. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 66(1), pp.31-42.
Ellis, E. and Watson, P., 2012. EU anti-discrimination law. Oxford University Press.
Faden, R. and Shebaya, S., 2010. Public health ethics..
Forbes, L.J.L., Atkins, L., Thurnham, A., Layburn, J., Haste, F. and Ramirez, A.J., 2011. Breast
cancer awareness and barriers to symptomatic presentation among women from different ethnic
groups in East London. British journal of cancer, 105(10), p.1474.
Hoffman, D. and Rowe, J.J., 2010. Human Rights in the UK: An Introduction to the Human
Rights Act 1998. Pearson Education.
Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening, 2012. The benefits and harms of breast
cancer screening: an independent review. The Lancet, 380(9855), pp.1778-1786.
Legislation.gov.uk. 2018. Human Rights Act 1998. [online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents [Accessed 6 Feb. 2018].

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Legislation.gov.uk. 2018. The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities)
Regulations 2014. [online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111117613/contents [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018].
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nhs.uk. 2018. Breast cancer in women. [online] Available at:
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Tengland, P.A., 2012. Behavior change or empowerment: On the ethics of health-promotion
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Thompson, L. and Kumar, A., 2011. Responses to health promotion campaigns: resistance,
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