Adult Safeguarding and Promoting Independence: A Comprehensive Report

This report delves into the crucial topic of safeguarding adults and promoting their independence within health and social care settings. It begins by defining safeguarding and its importance, followed by an exploration of various forms of abuse, including physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, along with their respective indicators. The report then analyzes the factors that can contribute to abusive situations, such as vulnerable adults, environmental influences, and the behavior of abusive individuals. It also highlights the significance of key legislations and regulations, particularly the Care Act 2014, in protecting adults from abuse. Furthermore, the report outlines effective working strategies and procedures to minimize the risk of abuse, including staff recruitment and training, sector guidance, and strategic approaches. The role of supportive relationships in fostering a safe and positive environment is also emphasized. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reinforcing the importance of proactive measures in safeguarding adults and promoting their independence. The report provides a detailed overview of the content and highlights the importance of safeguarding vulnerable adults.

Safeguarding Adults and
Promoting Independence

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 & P2 Forms & Indicators of abuse experienced by adults ..............................................1
P3 Factors that can lead to abusive situations........................................................................3
P4 Key legislations and regulations governing safeguarding.................................................4
P5 Working strategies and procedures to minimize the risk of abuse....................................4
P6 Role of supportive relationships........................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Safeguarding adults is considered as one of the basic responsibilities of any person that is
working in a health and social care. It is also termed as a way or means of promoting
independence because in any health and social care organisation, it is their responsibility to
provide proper care and support along with the safety and security (Lang and et.al., 2014). The
report is about various types of issues such as abuse that happens with adults in these care
organisations and various factors that leads to it. Also, it consists of various policies and
strategies that can be used by the carer to provide some solutions for this. Along with this, it also
implies the importance of supportive relationships for minimizing the risk of abuse and related
factors.
P1 & P2 Forms & Indicators of abuse experienced by adults
Types of Abuse
There can be various types of abuse through which
the adults can go through. Some very well known
and common examples are discussed as under :
Physical abuse
Physical abuse can mean any sort of
assault, hitting, scalding etc. In which someone
tries to harm some specific person. In a health and
social care as well, there can be some elements
present that may abuse some patient physically.
Forcibly doing anything to a specific person means
abuse.
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse is considered as a sort of
Psychological abuse
Psychological abuse can be
classified as emotional as well as mental
abuse. Many adults experience this as
some are being discriminated by people
there as they are being given less attention
and care as compared to the other ones, so
it causes a sense of depression.
INDICATORS OF ABUSE
There can be some factors or indicators by
means of which it can become easy for the
carer to understand that the adult may be
going through some abuse or issue. Some
of these indicators are discussed as under :
Behaviour
When an adult must be going
through some abuse or any other issue,
there is a high probability that it may be
visible enough on their behaviour and face.
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abuse in which the person is being forced for some
undesired or unwanted sexual intimation or
behaviour (West and et.al., 2015). Stimulating an
adult sexually is also involved in this. Therefore, in
many cases, adults in the health and social care
experience sexual abuse as well.
Therefore, if any behavioural changes are
seen in an adult, the carer can make a
guess that the person may be going through
some abuse.
Confidence
When an adult may be going
through abuse, they must be experiencing a
low confidence level and lower self-esteem
and it is visible enough while making a
conversation. Therefore, lower level of
self-confidence and esteem can act as a
sign that the person must be going through
some sort of abuse.
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P3 Factors that can lead to abusive situations
Factors for abusive
situations
There can be various
reasons that may lead to
abusive situations and
cause further issues. Some
of these factors are
discussed as under:
Vulnerable adults
Vulnerable people
can be considered as ones
who are not able to
anticipate and resist with
the impact of some
specific situations (Ash,
2011). These people can be
ill or hurt and because of
that only can cause issues
for the other ones. So,
more involvement of these
people can make the
situation complex and also
can lead to various abusive
situations.
Environment
In context with the
environment, various
factors that can relate to
are community centres,
hospitals, day care,
residential care etc.
Therefore, environment
has also an impact on
leading abusive situations.
At all these places, the
environment of the
following must be different
as in some case, may be
the staff is not friendly and
does not treat the patient
better, then it can lead to
some abusive situations.
Abusive people
There can be some
people in a health and
social care or can also be
related to the family of the
adult as well that do not
cooperate with an adult
who is sick. Also, because
of their own personal
stresses may cause some
troublesome situations for
the adults, so in that case,
it can lead to some abusive
situations.
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P4 Key legislations and regulations governing safeguarding
Although there are various policies that have been made to protect and safeguard the
adults from abuse, but The Care Act 2014 can prove much helpful in some situations. Some
features that can help in abusive situations are discussed as under :
 It helps in giving a proper guidance on the factor that how it can be used in practice. It
includes the factor that the treatment which is to be provided to the adults must be done
with respect.
 There should be no sort of disrespect or abuse because it however affects on the mental
stability of the person which can further create more issues with their health (Teaster,
Dugar and Mendiondo, 2015). So, all the treatment procedure must be done with
efficient care, support and respect.
 The participation must be done in a way that there should be no sort of emotional or
physical stress as well on the adult because if there will be so, then that can create more
conflicting situations such as abusive ones as well. So, the law says all the processes
must be done with patience and with cooperativeness.
P5 Working strategies and procedures to minimize the risk of abuse
Some ways and strategies can be used that can help in reducing the risk of abuse in a
health and social care and these are discussed as under :
Recruitment
At the time of selecting and recruiting the staff, it is important for the organisation to
train the employees in an efficient way and provide them all the guidance regarding their roles
and responsibilities. It also includes the way they should treat with the patients because they can
be mentally weak, so the carer must deal with them very patiently and friendly (Lymbery, 2010).
So, the organisation can provide a proper training to the staff members about it.
Sector guidance
Giving them the proper information about different schemes and ways regarding it which
they have to involve for working in such situations as working with vulnerable groups etc
because these groups can hurt the person physically as well as mentally. So, providing a proper
guidance is important.
Strategies
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Involving strategies is also one of the efficient ideas that one can adopt for dealing with
abusive situations. It can also mean involving all the employees in the decision making process
as it is also a sort of strategy as by this way, every member can consider the fact that they are
important for the organisation and it further helps them in staying focused towards the work.
P6 Role of supportive relationships
Supportive relationships can prove to be very helpful in a health and social care. A
supportive relationship can be based on the level of interaction between two bodies. The main
role of supporting relationships in the organisation is that it helps in maintaining healthy and
happier environment (Björkqvist, Österman and Berg, 2011). When the surroundings and
environment will be happier enough in a work place, similarly the chance for any conflicts and
risks reduces to a huge extent. Also, when some person is in need of a help or support,
cooperating with them may help them and reduce their problem, so in case of any person
suffering from some from problem, the other one should help them and try to resolve the issue. It
also helps in creating that level of trust between individuals and thus, abusive situations can be
avoided as well.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that there can be various types of abuse that can happen with adults
in a health and social care organisation. Also, there are some sort of signs and indicators by
which it can become easy for the carer to analyse that the person must be going through some
abusive situation. Various policies are there to deal with such situations and some strategies can
also be involved to minimize the risk. Along with this, supportive and cooperative relations with
people can also act as one of the helpful factor in reducing the risk.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ash, A., 2011. A cognitive mask? Camouflaging dilemmas in street-level policy implementation
to safeguard older people from abuse. British Journal of Social Work. 43(1). pp.99-115.
Björkqvist, K., Österman, K. and Berg, P., 2011. Higher rates of victimization to physical abuse
by adults found among victims of school bullying. Psychological reports. 109(1). pp.167-
168.
Lang, G. and et.al., 2014. Measuring older adults' abuse: evaluation of formative indicators to
promote brevity. Educational gerontology. 40(7). pp.531-542
Lymbery, M., 2010. A new vision for adult social care? Continuities and change in the care of
older people. Critical Social Policy. 30(1). pp.5-26.
Teaster, P. B., Dugar, T. A. and Mendiondo, M. S., 2015. The National Committee for the
Prevention of Elder Abuse; The National Adult Protective Services Association. The
2004 Survey of State Adult Protective Services: Abuse of Adults 60 Years and Older.
West, N. A. And et.al., 2015. Trends in abuse and misuse of prescription opioids among older
adults. Drug and alcohol dependence. 149. pp.117-121.
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