Reflective Account: Compassionate Person-Centred Care in Practice

This reflective account details a student's experience initiating compassionate, person-centred care for a patient named Rose, who has autism spectrum disorder. The student uses the Gibbs reflective cycle to analyze the context, thoughts, feelings, evaluation, analysis, reframing, and future actions related to Rose's care. The account highlights the importance of forming a personal bond, providing emotional support, and encouraging social interaction to alleviate depression and anxiety. The student describes the implementation of a care plan that included medication management, social activities, and encouragement of self-expression. The analysis reflects on the positive outcomes of the implemented care plan, including improved mental and physical health for Rose. The student also discusses areas for improvement, such as taking Rose outside for trips and teaching her more about her condition. The account concludes with reflections on the sensitivity required in caring for patients with mental disorders and the importance of emotional care and connection, and how the student plans to use these learnings in the future.

Running head: Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
0
Reflective Account:
Initiating Compassionate Person-Centered Care
STUDENTS NAME:
1/24/2019

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
1
Reflective account on the implementation of compassionate person-centred care
initiated whilst on Placement Learning Opportunity
In this reflection, an imaginary name that is Rose will be used in order to maintain
confidentiality according to the Data Protection Act, (1998). This act provides a guideline for
all the employees working in the healthcare sector. It states that privacy and confidentiality of
patient’s information must be maintained in all cases in order to protect their rights.
Context
I presently work in a recovery orientated low secure service for women aged over 18 with
learning disability and/or autistic spectrum condition. I am responsible for the health of a 14
year old patient named Rose suffering from autism spectrum condition. Autism spectrum
disorder influences the nervous system and affects the overall emotional, cognitive, social
and physical health of the affected individual (speaks 2011). She was born to very old parents
that caused her disease in the first place. This is because a big cause of autism is being born
from older parents. Her parents died when she was 10 years old and she lives here ever since.
A lot of care and medication has been provided to her all these years but she is still not able
to fully recover and that is why I will be personally investing all my time and energy to make
sure she recovers. In this reflective her condition will be analysed in depth and the measures
taken for her treatment and also weather or not the effects turned out to be beneficial for her
or not will be highlighted. The entire process of her care as well as recovery will be talked
about in depth in this reflective.
Thoughts
When the responsibility of Rose was handed over to me I was determined to help her and do
all that it takes for her to recover. Rose is a very young girl and due to her learning disability
is not capable to be independent and thus needs to be taken care of all day long and that is
what I am determined to do. I have worked for patients with similar health issues in the past
thus am well aware of how she has to be treated in order to achieve fast and affective
recovery. With this experience my thought process was instantly active and I had a plan ready
to implement.

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
2
Feelings
I have a younger sister of almost her age and that is what makes me emotionally attached to
Rose even more. It breaks my heart to see her in a state she is and that is why I treat her like
my own sister and provide her with emotional support along with proper medication because
it is evident enough that recovery from any disease is not possible without mental and
emotional peace (Smith et al. 2010). The disability that Rose has demands more emotional
affection and connectivity and that is what I aim to achieve (Schwenck et al. 2012).
Evaluation
A person suffering from a mental disability requires person centred care all day long because
their disability makes them unable to take care of themselves and also leaving them alone
may lead to worse consequences as they are incapable of understanding what is god for them
and what is harmful (Hobson 2016). In this case Rose was suffering from severe depression
caused by her disability. The loss of her parents was also a significant sorrow she carried in
her heart.
My method of treatment was to form a personal bond with her along with providing her
medical care. Rose generally did not talk a lot to people but the comfort I established with her
in the time I took care of her made her feel comfortable enough to talk to me and share her
feelings with me which acted as a stress reliever.
Social interaction is a very important part in recovering from any mental disorder. I
encouraged Rose to talk more and make new friends to keep her happy and occupied all day
long. The less a patient thinks about the reasons of their depression the less depressed they
feel. I encouraged her to indulge in activities such as colouring (Singh et al. 2014). Activities
such as colouring help patients with mental disabilities as it is easy and acts as a stress
reliever due to the involvement of positive factors such as life and colours in a picture
(Stasolla, Damiani & Caffòb 2014). This activity also kept her busy enough to not sit ideal
and cry about her sorrows that she was earlier doing. I took care of her proper and on time
medication to speed up her recovery (Banda, Hartb & Gitzb 2010).
My method of treatment encouraged her to be more occupied that resulted in significant
decrease in the rate of her depression. Her anxiety levels were significantly low. She started
to interact with other people and was more happy and healthy.

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
3
Analysis
Rose is a patient suffering from Autism Spectrum Condition. This was caused because she
was born to old parents. After the death of her parents there was no one to take care of her
who is why she was shifted to our care centre by her relatives. Since her birth she had a
learning disability and was thus unable to attain a proper education, also due to financial
crisis and lack of opportunity her parents were not able to provide her with world class
treatment and facilities (Makrygianni & Reed 2010). The girl went into depression post the
death of her parents and that left her absolutely traumatised. Looking at the extent of her
sickness and the care that her overall health demanded her relatives shifted her in the care
centre. Being away from her left over family was more traumatising for the girl and only
worsened her condition ((CDC) 2012).
When I was given the responsibility to take care of her personally I was determined to help
her recover as much as she can. I studied her entire case that comprised both her personal as
well as medical history. By studying it in depth I was able to come up with an organised plan
to take care of her in order to make sure that she recovers fast and effectively (Tustin 2018).
My plan consisted of the following guidelines:
1. Give her all the medications provided by the doctor in correct time and dosage.
2. Check her entirely every single day and whenever her health decorated even slightly
and inform the doctor if even slightest action was required.
3. Treat her with love and care and try to establish a personal bond with her to encourage
her to overcome her depression (Magnuson & Constantino 2012).
4. Make her more socially active.
5. Keep regular track of her mental and physical progress.
6. Treat her with utmost love care and affection so that she never feels unwanted and
unloved.
7. Try to develop the feeling of self-love in her.
8. Make her aware of her talents by helping discovering it and making her practice it
every single day.
9. Assist her in day to day activities such as bathing, cleaning and using the toilet.
10. Encourage her to indulge in activities such as indoor and outdoor sports that do not
require heavy physical labour, colouring, light exercise, singing, dancing etc.

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
4
11. Give her regular, easy and fun academic tasks to help her learn.
12. Take proper care of her diet and ensure that she is eating on time and getting all the
nutrients in the correct amount that her body demands (Fukumoto et al. 2011).
13. Keep her relatives updated about her overall wellbeing and issues.
This plan allowed me to properly take care of her to ensure fast and effective recovery and
essential care. I tried to stick to this plan as effectively as I could. I was determined to be very
disciplined and punctual when it came to taking care of Rose. I set targets for myself in
terms of my patient Roses health progress to measure how well we both are doing. My
methods proved to be helpful for achieving this target as positive progress had started to be
witnessed as far as her health and wellbeing was concerned.
Rose started to recover very fast by the help of these measures. She was not sad anymore and
shared each and every feeling and experience with me. She found her happiness and feeling
of being content in dancing and danced her heart out to lovely music for at least an hour
every day. This activity not only enabled her to sharpen her talent but also worked as a stress
reliever for her and also because it is a physical activity her physical health drastically
improved when this was teamed up with an excellent, fulfilling and nutrient rich diet. She
made many friends and was more social. Daily mental exercises I was making her do proved
to enhance her mental capability over time and she started to learn little by little every day.
The only negative consequence she might face over time due to this experience is the fact that
she might get sad again once I have to go away from her and if this kind of treatment and
love is not regularly provided to her healthy might become worse that it was. She is now into
habit of being taken care of all the time and she has me as her companion this might leave her
in a difficult state if she does not get the same facility in future.
Reframe
I agree to the fact that in the presence of more facilities my job could have been performed
more effectively and accurately.
I could have made more effort to take permission from the care organisation I work for and
took her out on a little trip. She stays indoors all the time and has not seen the world outside
for a very-very long time. Seeing the world outside and the beautiful nature and by visiting
fun and beautiful places her happiness and mental peace would have elevated even more. I

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
5
wish that I got approval to take her out and make her feel loved and happy (Subramanyam et
al. 2019).
I could have tried to make her more informed of her health and disease framing it in an easy
manner that she could have understood better so that she became more capable of taking care
0f herself at times when she was alone. I could have done this in presence of more time.
I could have taught her to dance myself in order to sharpen her skills in the field of her talent
even more by taking guidance from some youtube videos and video references as
Involvement of any outsider might be very risky in such sensitive case (Lindenberg & Tost
2012).
All these little measures might have added more value and benefit to my job and helped Rose
to recover and become healthier physically as well as mentally.
Future action
From this practice I have learned the sensitivity of patients with such disorders and how I am
supposed to take care of them. Unlike other health issues disorder associated to mental health
of an individual requires more emotional care and connection and that is what I have
significantly learned from this case.
Depression is a very common phenomenon in Autism Spectrum Disorder and this case
provided me an opportunity to take care of a patient suffering from this dreadful condition.
The society looks at depression, as only mental sorrow and fails to understand the extent of
its severity. This case allowed me to analyse it closely and I also implemented the same in the
case of Rose.
With the help of my learning of the disorder this case allowed me to learn to form emotional
connection with the patient to make him/her comfortable enough to be able to talk about their
issues so that they can achieve proper treatment.
I also learned the practice of being punctual when it came to provision of care to the patient
be it giving medication on time or showing up to the patient whenever they require any
assistance.
It is important to keep providing, Rose the extent and method of care that I provided her in
order to make sure that her progress is maintained and her health does not suffer ever again in

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
6
the future. The organisation must be more involved in looking at personal level issues of the
patients in order to be able to take necessary actions (Daley, Singhal & Krishnamurthy 2013).
For ensuring this the organisation must determine to listen closely to the demands to the
nurses providing care to particular patients (Zubrycki & Granosik 2016).
Reference List
(CDC), CFDC&P 2012, 'Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders — Autism and
Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 14 Sites, United States, 2008', Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report: Surveillance Summaries, vol 61, no. 3, pp. 1-19.
Banda, R, Hartb, SL & Gitzb, L 2010, 'Impact of training peers and children with autism on
social skills during center time activities in inclusive classrooms', Research in Autism
Spectrum Disorders, vol 4, no. 4, pp. 619-625.
Daley, C, Singhal, N & Krishnamurthy, 2013, 'Ethical Considerations in Conducting
Research on Autism Spectrum Disorders in Low and Middle Income Countries', Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol 43, no. 9, pp. 2002–2014.
Fukumoto, A, Hashimoto, T, Mori, K, Tsuda, Y, Arisawa, K & Kagami, S 2011, 'Head
circumference and body growth in autism spectrum disorders', Brain and Development, vol
33, no. 7, pp. 569-575.
Hobson, RP 2016, Autism and the Development of Mind, Routledge, New York.
Lindenberg, A & Tost, H 2012, 'Neural mechanisms of social risk for psychiatric disorders',
Nature Neuroscience, vol 15, pp. 663–668.
Magnuson, M & Constantino, JN 2012, Characterization of Depression in Children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders, viewed 24 January 2019,
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3154372/>.
Makrygianni, MK & Reed, P 2010, 'A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of
behavioural early intervention programs for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders',
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol 4, no. 4, pp. 577-593.
Schwenck , , Mergenthaler , , Keller , , Zech, , Salehi , S, Taurines , , Freitag, CM, Warnke, ,
Schneider, W, Schecklmann , & Romanos , 2012, 'Empathy in children with autism and

Reflective Account: Initiating Compassionate Person- Centred Care
7
conduct disorder: group‐specific profiles and developmental aspects', The Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry, vol 53, no. 6, pp. 651-659.
Singh, , Connors, L, Macklin, EA, Smith, D, Fahey, JW, Talalay, & Zimmerman, AW 2014,
Sulforaphane treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), viewed 24 January 2019,
<https://www.pnas.org/content/111/43/15550.short>.
Smith, LE, Hong, , Seltzer, M, Greenberg, S, Almeida, DM & Bishop, L 2010, 'Daily
Experiences Among Mothers of Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder',
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol 40, no. 2, pp. 167–178.
speaks, A 2011, What is autism, viewed 24 January 2019,
<https://educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/Parent-
Factsheets_April2010_Autism.pdf>.
Stasolla, F, Damiani, R & Caffòb, O 2014, 'Promoting constructive engagement by two boys
with autism spectrum disorders and high functioning through behavioral interventions',
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, vol 8, no. 4, pp. 376-380.
Subramanyam, AA, Mukherjee, , Dave, M & Chavda, 2019, 'Clinical practice guidelines for
autism spectrum disorders', Indian Journal of Psyciatry, vol 61, no. 8, pp. 254-269.
Tustin, F 2018, Autism and Childhood Psychosis, Routledge, London.
Zubrycki, I & Granosik, 2016, 'Understanding Therapists’ Needs and Attitudes Towards
Robotic Support. The Roboterapia Project', International Journal of Social Robotics, vol 8,
no. 4, pp. 553–563.