Health & Social Care: Research Paper Analysis and Implications

This report provides an analysis of three research papers focused on health and social care. The first paper examines the perspectives of service users and practitioners on targeted violence and abuse within the context of adult safeguarding, highlighting key findings such as fear of violence, difficulties in reporting abuse, and the need for user-led prevention strategies. The second paper investigates the impact of internalized, experienced, and anticipated stigma on the quality of life of individuals with chronic illnesses, revealing the direct and indirect effects of stigma on care access and well-being. The third paper explores the reporting of abuse incidents in care homes, uncovering underreporting and concealment of abuse by staff, and the importance of protecting staff who report abuse. The report emphasizes the implications of these findings for health and social care practices, including the need for person-centered care, improved safeguarding measures, and addressing the impact of stigma on patient care and staff well-being.

Introduction to Knowledge and Inquiry
in Health & Social Care - Component 1

Table of Content.
Research paper 1..............................................................................................................................1
1. Description of main findings...................................................................................................1
2. Approaches that author/s have used to carry out the research.................................................1
3. Key implications of the approach............................................................................................2
4. Use of this research in health and social care..........................................................................2
Research Paper 2..............................................................................................................................3
1. Description of main findings...................................................................................................3
2. Approaches author/s have used to carry out the research........................................................3
3. Key implications of the approach............................................................................................4
4. Use of Research in health and social care...............................................................................4
Research paper 3..............................................................................................................................4
1. Description of main findings...................................................................................................4
2. Approaches author/s have used to carry out the research........................................................5
3. Key implications of the approach............................................................................................5
4. Use of Research in health and social care...............................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Research paper 1
1. Description of main findings
By the interview of service users:
Risk and vulnerability assessment
Common themes that were experienced across the interviews were fear of violence,
abuse, and feeling unsafe. Risk and vulnerability are experienced by those who have been
victims of such violence and abuse.
Reporting targeted violence and abuse
Service users explained that reporting targeted violence and abuse is a difficult task for
them because their feel was unworthy. They also believe that services will not respond
appropriately to them.
Additional multi-factorial abuses
Many service users explained that they faced some additional multifactorial abuses and
discrimination impacting their mental health such as racism, sexism, discrimination, abuse based
on disability, gender identity, etc.
Positive strategies
The majority of service users use positive strategies to cope. They often had to deal with
both positive and negative ways to cope in absence of adequate responses from service.
Experience in adult safeguarding
Generally, users were not aware of the adult safeguarding in mental health. Few users
found it satisfactory, while few had not heard about it or thought that it did not apply to them.
Practitioner of mental health and adult safeguarding
A viewpoint on vulnerability and risk
Practitioners generally felt a risk of coercive control by family or friends, abuse by
neighbors, and financial exploitation.
A viewpoint on the professional role
Practitioners showed they're feeling afraid to take responding due to fear of retaliation.
2. Approaches that author/s have used to carry out the research
Authors have used different methods such as:
 Literature review.
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 User-controlled interviews.
 Group discussion between mental health practitioners and safeguarding adults.
 Two sessions on Twitter of Practitioner-led discussion.
 A stakeholder event about the discussion of findings for adult safeguarding in mental
health.
3. Key implications of the approach
The approach has the following key implications:
1. The experience gained by targeted violence and abuse should be contributed to defining
disability hate crime.
2. Trauma histories, multifactorial abuse, mental distress, and psychiatric disqualification to
be addressed in adult safeguarding practices.
3. User-led prevention and protection should be emphasized with safety planning and
safeguarding outcomes agreed with the user during care planning.
4. Police, housing partners, etc. safeguarding are easily accessible and quick for the
incidents of targeted violence reported by service users.
5. Service users who experience targeted violence and abuse should become members of
local adult safeguarding boards. Equal powers should be given to them.
6. To establish a collective and individual responsibility between agencies and individual
practitioners.
7. To make adult safeguarding person-centered and easily accessible and effective for users,
staff should be supported and responsible.
4. Use of this research in health and social care
People with mental health problems face various targeted violence, abuses, and
safeguarding issues. The research is built to find the perspectives of both the service user and
practitioners on targeted violence in the context of adult safeguarding and keeping control of it.
The research is the qualitative exploration of the experience of service users on the grounds of
targeted violence and abuses they have faced so the implementation of such approaches in health
and social care will bring positive change for both the practitioners and service users. The
research aims to make adult safeguarding person-centered and outcome-focused. The research
study informs about policy implementation and development of practices as per the service user's
perspective so its findings are useful to keep control of any kind of violence that may impact a
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mental health service user. It guides the practitioners and the staff to be responsible towards the
service user as their ignorance of them makes the user feel the victim of targeted abuse. The
research finds out that the users require mental health and adult safeguard practitioners, police,
and house officers to listen and believe them and take ownership of issues, and in the end, help
them with it. This implication can be proven beneficial for health and social care as well as for
the mental health service users (Keeping control: Exploring mental health service user
perspectives on targeted violence and abuse in the context of adult safeguarding, 2020).
Research Paper 2
1. Description of main findings
This article includes a discussion on the impact of internalized, experienced and
anticipated stigma on the quality of life of about 184 participants. The main findings of the
articles state that there were no statistically different gender differences in any of the variables
considered for the study. Internalized stigma had strong declining direct effects on care access
and
quality of life were stronger The indirect effects of internalized stigma through other variables
taken in the study were less strong than the direct effects. Anticipated stigma indirectly affected
the quality of life of the participants and had no direct effects. The article suggested that the
relationship between the anticipated stigma and quality of life was mediated by care access. The
experienced stigma has the same case as the anticipated stigma. Experienced stigma also did not
have any direct effects on the quality of life of participants but did have some indirect effects
which also suggested that the access to the care mediated the relationship between the
experienced care and quality of life.
2. Approaches author/s have used to carry out the research
The study received responses from 447 students that fulfilled the required criteria of
being a participant that is the students should have a medical condition that requires a visit to the
doctor at least more than a couple of times in the past few years. Out of these 447 students only
187 students were retained in the study which reported 48 different illnesses. For analyzing the
impact of internalized stigma total of eleven items were included, five of which were adapted
from the stigma scale of the Negative Self-Image subscale of HIV, and the rest six were
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developed from the current study. The score of internalized stigma was given by averaging the
score of the chosen eleven items.
The model used for analyzing the impact of experienced stigma is the measure of
perceived discrimination by Kessler et al. The participants were given 17 checkboxes with
included examples of experiences of experienced stigma and the score was decided based on the
number of checkboxes checked by the participant. The measuring scale of anticipated stigma was
adopted from the subscale of the Chronic Illness Anticipated stigma scale. The participants were
made to mark the chosen four items on a scale of 1 to 5 and the score was given by averaging the
markings.
3. Key implications of the approach
The key implications of the applied approaches suggested that the internalized stigma is
directly linked with the anticipated stigma as well as with care access and quality of life. The
models also led to an implication that the experienced stigma is directly related to the anticipated
stigma but is indirectly linked with the care access and quality of life. The main implication of
this article suggests that the impact of internalized stigma is way different than the impact of
experienced stigma on the well-being of the participants of the study. It can also be concluded
that the impact of experienced stigma is arbitrated by anticipated stigma and that internalized
stigma has a much more direct effect than the rest two.
4. Use of Research in health and social care
This research can be used for deciding the changes that need to be brought in the care-
providing process for patients suffering from chronic illness. This study provides an insight into
the impact of stigmatization on the quality of life and the care accessed by such patients. This
information is necessary to provide such patients with the most efficient care and care where
they are not stigmatized with any type of the three types of stigmatizations (The Impact of Stigma
in Healthcare on People Living with Chronic Illnesses, 2011).
Research paper 3
1. Description of main findings
Findings showed that a significant number of respondents were not reported their
awareness of acts of abuse within the care home(s) they had worked or to the external
authorities. Some respondents were aware of their reported abuse but no desired action was taken
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on it. Findings of research showed that the majority of respondents included in the research had
witnessed abuse. Out of all the respondents of witnessed abuse, the majority of respondents
indicated that their abuse incidents had been reported to the manager or the proprietor of a
related care home. Though a few respondents stated that their incidents of abuse had not been
reported anywhere. A significant number of respondents indicated that not all abuse incidents of
them had been reported as some staff members were aware of multiple incidents and some of
which had been reported earlier and some not. Following the reports of abuse to proprietors and
care managers, a majority of care staff who were the witness of abuse confirmed that the action
had been taken on the incident but few stated that no action had been taken and a few stated that
action is not always taken. More than half of the respondents confirmed the involvement of
external agencies in the investigation of abuse, while a few denied the same. A significant
number of respondents who witnessed the abuse stated that they were aware of the abuse. A few
respondents described the methods that were used intentionally by care home managers to
conceal the abuse.
2. Approaches author/s have used to carry out the research
An anonymous questionnaire was prepared that was used among newly appointed staff in
11 newly opened care homes to derive quantitative and qualitative data concerning the reporting
of abuse incidents within the care homes in which they previously had worked. In total 391
questionnaires were returned, out of which 285 indicated that the respondents had witnessed
abuse at least on one occasion.
3. Key implications of the approach
The implications of this approach were established with the experiences of only 285
respondents of the questionnaires who had witnessed abuse at least on one occasion. A
significant proportion of abuse remained unreported though. Implications of the approach
established that significant numbers of people are there in each scenario. A few numbers of
people had their incidents reported while few did not. The objective of the study was to reveal
under-reporting and a few times concealment of abuses in private home care for older people.
Findings implicate that it is necessary to extend the protections for the staff who reports the
abuse and the reported changes should be applied to current methods of scrutiny to whichever
care home requires it.
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4. Use of Research in health and social care
The research defines the importance of justification of reported abuse of staff members
in-home care. The research findings suggest that abuses occurring in the old people population
are likely to be underestimated. The research describes the existing barrier between the staff
members and upper sources that are responsible for the creation of such unresponsive reports of
abuse incidents. Significantly, these findings reveal the true culture of some care homes. The
implication of the approaches made by the research reveals the fear of staff associated with care
homes, these findings in social care are responsible to provide staff their rights about the abusive
incidents and will give them the protection feeling, that will not only boost their morale but will
also be beneficial for care homes (The sound of silence: evidence of the continuing under-
reporting of abuse in care homes, 2019).
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REFERENCES
Online:
Keeping control: Exploring mental health service user perspectives on targeted violence and
abuse in the context of adult safeguarding, 2020 [Online] Available through:
<file:///C:/Users/Acer/AppData/Local/Temp/Rar$DIa2336.40861/Article%201.pdf>
The Impact of Stigma in Healthcare on People Living with Chronic Illnesses, 2011 [Online]
Available through: file:///C:/Users/Acer/AppData/Local/Temp/Rar$DIa2336.3554/Article
%202.pdf
The sound of silence: evidence of the continuing under reporting of abuse in care homes, 2019
[Online] Available through:
file:///C:/Users/Acer/AppData/Local/Temp/Rar$DIa2336.10082/Article%203.pdf
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