Rights-Based, Person-Centred Social Care for Service Users Essay

This essay explores the benefits of employing a rights-based and person-centred approach in providing social care to individuals with disabilities, highlighting the increasing popularity of these methods in Ireland due to their effectiveness in promoting well-being and recovery. The rights-based approach emphasizes that care is an entitlement, not charity, fostering a sense of dignity and promoting better health outcomes. The person-centred approach focuses on individual needs, promoting inclusivity, and striving for positive results through holistic care involving various stakeholders, including family and friends. It values the patient's priorities, strengths, and desires, ensuring cultural and religious beliefs are respected, and adapts dynamically to the patient's changing needs. The essay further explains the usefulness of a multi-disciplinary and interagency approach, emphasizing that disability is often a combination of physical and mental ailments that necessitates the involvement of various specialists and agencies to ensure holistic development and effective treatment, citing examples of visual and auditory impairments and the specialized care required for each.

Running head: SOCIAL WORK
SOCIAL WORK
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Discuss the benefit of rights-based, person-centred to a group of service users of your
choice
For answering this particular question, the chosen group of service users shall be persons
with disability. The discussion shall be thus based on assessing the benefits of a right based and
person centred approach in extending social care to persons suffering from physical disabilities.
These particular approaches in providing social care to the individuals suffering from disability
are increasingly becoming quite popular in Ireland given the benefits of them in ensuring the
well being of the individuals suffering from disability. Survey reports conducted have shown that
the rate of recovery and the chances of return to mainstream life is quite high compared to the
most other methods employed in providing social care to such persons (Hunter, 2016).
The right based approach on providing social care to the persons with disability is quite
beneficial for several reasons. The core principle of the right based approach is that it views each
and every individual is entitled to good health and in case they fall ill then they are supposed to
be provided with good care. It is the right of the individual suffering from disability to seek
assistance and care. The individuals suffering from disability are more often than not considered
as burden and the care provided to them are but a matter of showering of kindness to the person
in the generic forms of care provided to them (McCormack, 2017). It is viewed more as a charity
being done to them rather than a form of service which the persons with disability are supposed
to receive. The right based approach in providing care to the individuals on the other hand is a
departure from this strand of thought and it considers treatment and care to be the right of the
disabled person. The right based approach exalts the position of disabled persons above that
which have been accorded to them the society. It is based on the principle that if a person has to

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be cured of disability then the feeling that he or she is less than other discourages progress of the
health, both physical and mental (Clouder et al., 2016).
The benefits of person centred approach in providing a healing touch to the patients
suffering from disability are as follows.
Subjectivity- As the name of the approach suggests, it places the person with disability at
the centre of analysis. All the planning and the strategizations meant for providing treatment to
the patient are done on a subjective basis, which implies that special care is taken of the patient
on the basis of thorough diagnosis trying to find out the specific issue areas bothering the patient.
The scope for a generalized approach in providing treatment and care is eliminated. In that way
the mode of providing social care that is quite holistic, and that is reflective in the faster rate of
recovery (Lohman & Amon, 2015).
Inclusivity- This persons suffering from disability often feel that they are treated as
liabilities and the generic mode of care provided to them focuses solely on the point that the
individual is sick and needs treatment. Person centred approach on the other hand ensures that
the individual suffering from disability is not made to feel that he or she is sick. Rather it focuses
on both medication and enabling the patient to take up challenges and tasks that persons without
disability take up (Stein, 2017).
Result Oriented- The person centred approach is focussed on providing holistic care to
the individuals suffering from disability in order to ensure that the end results are positive. The
spirit to relentlessly strive for bringing about positive result for the patient is very much
immanent in the approach. That is considered as essential for the betterment of the patient
concerned (Brooker, 2003).

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Broad based- The person centred approach in providing social care to the disabled
individuals are not a one person show, wherein just one individual is at the helm of affairs. In
this particular approach, it is ensured that the viewpoints of various people and agencies attached
to the patient is taken into account, and thereby core deciding upon what could be the best for the
betterment of the patient. The viewpoints of not just the doctors and care providers are important,
but also that of the family and friends of the patient concerned. This approach strictly believes
that a patient can have many well wishers, hence their views are equally important in providing
care to the patient (Epp, 2017).
Focus on the priorities, strengths and desires of the patient- As it is has already been
mentioned that the person suffering with disability who has been or is likely to be subjected to
social care based on this particular approach focuses on the likings and disliking of the patient
concerned. The mental predispositions of the patient is taken quite seriously and the treatment
focuses on both the present and the future plans of the patient, and accordingly the patient is
mentally and physically prepared to follow their dreams. Care is taken to ensure that the cultural
values, religious beliefs are respected by the care providers (Nolan et al., 2016).
Dynamism, Regularity and Continuity- The care providers governed by the core
principles of the person centred approach ensures that the process of treatment keeps on
changing with the changing needs of the patient. The intensity of the treatment keeps on
changing as per the needs of the patient. If the patient deteriorates then the patient shall be put
under intensive care to ensure that he or she is brought back to normalcy, and the care provided
when the patient is showing signs of healing, the nature of treatment also changes, which is
reflective of the element of dynamism. When a patient shows sign of healing, the treatment does

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not stop, as that shall be causing the health to deteriorate of the patient. This is reflective of the
factor of regularity and continuity of the person centred approach in social care (Brooker, 2003).
References
Brooker, D. (2003). What is person-centred care in dementia?. Reviews in clinical gerontology,
13(3), 215-222.
Clouder, L., Adefila, A., Jackson, C., Opie, J., & Odedra, S. (2016). The discourse of disability
in higher education: insights from a health and social care perspective. International
Journal of Educational Research, 79, 10-20.
Epp, T. D. (2003). Person-centred dementia care: A vision to be refined. The Canadian
Alzheimer Disease Review, 5(3), 14-19.
Hunter, D. J. (2016). Desperately seeking solutions: rationing Health Care. Routledge.
Lohman, D., & Amon, J. J. (2015). Evaluating a Human Rights-Based Advocacy Approach to
Expanding Access to Pain Medicines and Palliative Care: Global Advocacy and Case
Studies from India, Kenya, and Ukraine. Health & Human Rights: An International
Journal, 17(2).
McCormack, B. (2017). Negotiating Partnerships with Older People: A Person Centred
Approach: A Person Centred Approach. Routledge.
Nolan, M. R., Davies, S., Brown, J., Keady, J., & Nolan, J. (2004). Beyond ‘person‐centred’care:
a new vision for gerontological nursing. Journal of clinical nursing, 13, 45-53.
Stein, M. A. (2017). Disability human rights. In Nussbaum and Law (pp. 3-49). Routledge.

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Explain why a multi-disciplinary and interagency approach is useful to this service user
group
The chosen service user for this particular purpose has been the persons suffering from
some form of disability. The group has been taken as an organic whole, but any attempt to
homogenize its specifications have been ruled out. In the country of Ireland, the person centred
approach and the right based approach is successful because it has been able to extend it to the
needy ones with a multi disciplinary approach involving many agencies. This particular systemic
arrangement that has been devised in Ireland has been done keeping in mind the logic of division
of labour (Housley, 2017). It is believed that it cannot be possible for one person to tackle a
complex situation especially if the expertise of the person is on just one field of enquiry or
discipline. In the other hand it can also not be decisively said that the nature of ailment one is
suffering from cannot be an amalgamation of several ailments. In that case, to find an ideal
method of treatment, a multi disciplinary approach and the involvement of several agencies are
necessary, for the holistic development of the health of the patient (Hogden et al., 2017). In this
particular section, the utility or the usefulness of the multidisciplinary and the inter agency
approach shall be discussed, in light of its benefit for the development of the health of the
patient.
The question of using a multi disciplinary approach is quite crucial, as it has to be kept in
mind disability is more often than not a mixture of both physical and mental ailments. Even if the
patient who has been rendered disabled due to the malfunctioning of a particular body part, and
not necessarily a patient of mental illness, can tend to grow mentally retarded over a particular
period of time. Mental illness can also induce physical disability as a result of lack of motivation
to indulge in any kind of activities like a normal and healthy person does (Rooney et al., 2015).

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As it is quite evident from this discussion that disability is different from the generic notion of
illness. Naturally, the generic mode of treatment or providing care to the patients suffering from
disability is not at all appropriate. The needs of a person suffering from disability is quite
different and unique. This is the prime reason why a multi disciplinary approach is useful
(Rooney et al., 2015).
Let the case of physical disability be taken. It can be induced due to various reasons. An
individual might be disabled right from the birth, or can be rendered disabled due to some
unfortunate incident as well. Let the instance of blindness be taken. If a person who has been
rendered visually impaired shall very logically consult an optician (Bakker et al., 2015). The role
of the optician is to try his or her best to ensure that the vision of the individual is restored. It can
so happen that the doctor cannot very decisively state that the patient shall be healed. It can so
happen that the person shall never be restored of the vision. In that case the need of persons who
have been trained at guiding the visually impaired persons to take up responsibilities on their
own. The best example in this regard shall be the ones who teach such patients how to sense the
surroundings and walk safely just by the means of touch, smell and sound. The ones teaching the
visually impaired ones about how to go through the braille documents and read the content also
have a key role to play in ensuring that the patient can participate in mainstream life to a certain
extent of course (Connolly et al., 2015). For instance, the case of deaf persons cab also be take
into consideration. The doctors can enable or can even fail to enable the individual to be able to
hear. But that does not mean the deaf person shall be at the mercy of others to fulfill his or her
needs. There are several ways in which the deaf person can be made to convey their feelings,
either buy gestures or can be made to speak if they are able to hear by the help of hearing aid. It
becomes quite evident that the patients suffering from disability require special sets of care, to

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ensure that the specific medical issues are treated, which are being faced by the individual. Also
there is an added need to ensure that the positive effects of the treatments are maintained (Reilly
et al., 2018). For example, a person who has been rendered disabled due to some accident. After
the preliminary treatment and diagnosis, the doctor shall be referring the patient to avail of some
services that are ancillaries of the process of treatment provided by the doctors. Those ancillary
services may include physiotherapy, which is not something the doctors are trained at providing
to the patients. They shall be performing the necessary diagnosis, perform the surgeries,
prescribe the medicines and conduct the regular check ups. The patient who has been rendered
disabled due to an accident cannot heal simply by these treatments, he or she needs
physiotherapy and other therapeutic aids to be able to return to a specific level of normalcy
(Rees, 2015).
From the above discussion it becomes quite clear that the main motive behind helping a
disabled individual to be healed is to ensure that he or she can be inducted into the mainstream
life. The philosophy is to make such persons capable enough to take up the tasks a physically and
mentally fit person is capable of. The objective is to ensure that the persons overcome their
disability and participate in the challenges of life. It is not enough that diagnosis and treatment
shall be bearing all the desired fruitful results. Apart from doctors, the need of therapists,
counsellors are equally important so that the benefits of the treatment done by the doctors can be
enjoyed and experienced by the patient (Pinkerton & Campbell, 2016). Hence, that is why
separate sets of discipline are there which work in tandem with each other to ensure that the
patient can live life to the fullest. Thus multidisciplinary and inter agency approach is not just
useful but also inevitable.

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References
Bakker, M., Creemers, H., Schipper, K., Beelen, A., Grupstra, H., Nollet, F., & Abma, T. (2015).
Need and value of case management in multidisciplinary ALS care: a qualitative study on
the perspectives of patients, spousal caregivers and professionals. Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 16(3-4), 180-186.
Connolly, S., Heslin, C., Mays, I., Corr, B., Normand, C., & Hardiman, O. (2015). Health and
social care costs of managing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): An Irish perspective.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 16(1-2), 58-62.
Hogden, A., Foley, G., Henderson, R. D., James, N., & Aoun, S. M. (2017). Amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis: improving care with a multidisciplinary approach. Journal of multidisciplinary
healthcare, 10, 205.
Housley, W. (2017). Interaction in multidisciplinary teams. Routledge.
Pinkerton, J., & Campbell, J. (2016). Social work and social justice in Northern Ireland: Towards
a new occupational space. British Journal of Social Work, 32(6), 723-737.
Rees, M. (2015). Northern Ireland: a personal perspective (p. 20). London: Methuen.
Reilly, S., Challis, D., Burns, A., & Hughes, J. (2018). Does integration really make a
difference? A comparison of old age psychiatry services in England and Northern
Ireland. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 18(10), 887-893.
Rooney, J., Byrne, S., Heverin, M., Tobin, K., Dick, A., Donaghy, C., & Hardiman, O. (2015). A
multidisciplinary clinic approach improves survival in ALS: a comparative study of ALS
in Ireland and Northern Ireland. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 86(5), 496-501.

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Discuss how three models of practice (problem-solving, empowerment and emancipation)
can be used to increase service users ‘social capital’ and societal involvement for a service
user group of your choice.
The service user chosen for this particular answer shall be the persons with disability.
Three models of social work practice shall be taken up for discussion to demonstrate their utility
to help the disabled ones increase their social capital and societal involvement. Before the
discussion begins, the factors of social capital and social involvement must be explained, along
with their importance to a disabled person. Social capital refers to the web of functional relations
among the members of a particular society who live together and earn their livelihood. This is
the basis on which the society functions effectively. It is basically an economically deterministic
concept as the sole reason behind entering into the network of inter personal relationships with
other members of the society is to secure the life chances of an individual by means of economic
means. It is a system of interdependence and cooperation which ensures that the persons help to
secure the economic needs of other persons and in turn their own economic interests get fulfilled.
For the generation of social capital, societal involvement is inevitable. Until and unless an
individual involves or engages oneself in the societal activities, it is not possible to generate
social capital. They are complementary to each other. This is not just important for the physically
and mentally stable persons, but also for the persons suffering from some form of disability. The
treatment, the care and the mental support that are provided to the disabled persons are aimed at
making them capable enough to generate social capital by taking up activities that are
conventionally indulged in to earn the necessary livelihood. In that process, the induction in to
the mainstream life is also enabled for the disabled persons, and that also opens up scope for the
greater inclusivity. For the physically and the mentally stable persons the induction into the

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mainstream life is easier than the ones suffering from some of disability (Harris & White, 2018).
Hence, there are special methods to help the disabled persons increase their social capital and
social involvement. Threes such models chosen for discussion in this particular section are
problem-solving, empowerment and emancipation.
Problem solving approach in social care is driven by the philosophy to enable the clients
to undertake the challenges of life on their own rather than telling them what they ought to do.
The goal is to make the clients capable enough to apply the problem solving approach to their
own lives and solve their problems by themselves by finding the most relevant solution. This
particular model can be used to ensure that a sense of self dependency is imbibed into the client
so that he or she does not fear challenges and try to fight them instead of avoiding them (Coady
& Lehmann, 2016). Thus problem solving approach used counselling as a means to instil the
sense of confidence in the client that he or she can be capable enough to secure his or her own
interests. The social worker who uses this approach carries out the diagnosis of the client whose
case is being considered. It is necessary to reach a conclusion on the basis of the analysis of the
behaviour of the individual. Having done that the social worker gets a fair idea about the
strengths and weaknesses of the individual being considered. The next step that the social worker
undertakes is to ensure that the weaknesses of the client is strengthened and the strengths of the
client is cultivated (Knott & Scragg, 2016). The basic tools that the social worker uses to help
out a person with disability with the help of this particular approach are those of motivation,
encouragement and treatment. This approach seeks to boost up the morale of the person
concerned and also treat any serious physical or mental ailment. This approach also includes the
imbibition of the skills that are necessary for an individual to secure one’s own interests and life