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SWK278
AU
University of the Sunshine Coast
Please select one case study for consideration in this assignment.
You may add relevant details – likely to be feasible details - to this case study should you find the need to do that in order to address it clearly.
Note, it is not acceptable for a student to use ‘not enough detail in the case study’ or similar as a reason for not fully engaging with the essay topic or ethical dilemma assessment. By their very nature, case studies cannot give all information you would have or be able to obtain in a ‘real life’. You will be expected to fully answer the question.
Special note: In the interests of you being able to think clearly about the assignments as a piece of assessment, we ask that you select a case study that does not have a significant emotional impact on you. Should you, in your personal lives, be currently dealing with issues of this nature, we would ask that you select another case study.
You may need to adjust your role (eg social worker, human services worker, counsellor, psychologist) to suit the case study, to ensure you are writing from the perspective of your own program of study.
Bec is a 36 year old woman who is in the early stages of her first pregnancy. She and her partner were not expecting to have children for a few years as they are concentrating on their careers in advertising and stock broking respectively. They are aware, due to her age, of the higher possibility of the baby having a number of physical or intellectual conditions (including Downs Syndrome). You are a genetic counsellor, whose role is to discuss the issues with women in order to make recommendations for the screening. New technology is available to genetically screen pregnant women over 30 years of age. The early screening provides an indication for women of the genetic odds that their baby has such a condition. The screening is undertaken by a private medical provider and you are aware that the provider strongly advises in favour of the screening. You are also aware of a growing demand for this screening from women who are making choices for abortion on the basis of this prediction. Bec comes into your office demanding the screening, stating she has no wish to have a ‘deformed baby’.
You are working in a hospital with a young, male surgeon who regularly uses recreational drugs such as Ecstasy. Tim, aged 32, has seen you twice in the last month, at the insistence of his fiancé. Tim has always maintained that his drug use is recreational and confined to weekends; something to help him to relax after stressful days at work, yet separate from his working life. You have been dubious about this, and your fears are confirmed when he discloses to you that he sometimes uses Cocaine before going to work. He tells you it improves his performance, giving him increased capacity for clear thinking and confidence. This concerns you: not only is he driving, while under the influence of illegal substances, but the responsibilities of his occupation mean that he has other people’s lives in his hands on a daily basis. He has a brilliant reputation as a surgeon. When you express your concerns about his drug use, he tells you he has a right to act as he wishes and that it is none of your business.
You are working with Pam, aged 26. Pam has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Pam is refusing to have medical treatment. She says she wants to explore alternative therapies. Pam’s oncologist has advised that there is an excellent chance that Pam will go into remission with a course of chemotherapy, but Pam is adamant that she is opposed to this treatment. Pam’s parents and partner are desperate for Pam to have the treatment that they believe will save her life. They plead with you to persuade the patient to have the medical treatment recommended by the doctor, and if that doesn’t work, they want you to explore taking over Pam’s power of attorney, so that they can ensure she receives the treatment she needs.
You are an intake worker at the Department of Child Safety. A teacher from a local school in an Indigenous community has contacted you to make a notification about 7 year-old, Cherise. The teacher indicates that Cherise’s mother is involved in the gambling circles that happen weekly at the community. She explains that on pension day, a number of women meet and gamble (sometimes for 2-3 days) until one person walks away with all the money that has come into the community that week. This often later results in conflict and violence between various community women. The teacher says Cherise’s father died from alcoholism 4 years ago. The teacher, who resides in the remote community, tells you that Cherise frequently comes to her house, complaining of being hungry, and saying that mum is drinking and sleeping all the time. The teacher tells you that Cherise has also been displaying sexualised behaviours, which is a potential indicator of sexual abuse. The teacher believes that Cherise needs to be removed from the community and placed with an external family, who can protect, provide and care for her immediately. You have heard of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle which is meant to be followed in such circumstances, but you’re not sure you have the time to find out about it.
You provide external supervision to a school counsellor who is working in a particularly disadvantaged area. You have worked with this practitioner, Sally, for 4 years and have generally admired her commitment to her role and to the children and education staff at her school. Sally has recently had some personal problems (including marital breakdown) and she is struggling to maintain her practice within her school context, which is fraught with highly conflictual office politics. Her workload in the last 12 months has increased significantly, and she tells you some things that are concerning (i.e. inappropriate professional boundaries with some of the teachers and parents, and refusal to take new clients on, due to her inability to manage her workload). Sally tells you she is not coping with the demands of her work.
She tells you she omits details from their case notes because she doesn’t have time to follow up everything. You worry about her judgments and feel conflicted about what you should do in your supervisory role. On one hand you can understand her desperate situation, and as a colleague, you feel you want to continue to support her so that she can be effective and accountable in her role. On the other hand, you have recently made excuses for her problematic practice to yourself. You are beginning to feel complicit with it, and are concerned about what to do.
You are a recent graduate working as a tertiary rehabilitation counsellor for a private employment rehabilitation agency. Your role is to work with people who have been long term unemployed due predominantly to illness or disability, to assist them to re-enter the workforce. You have recently had an initial meeting with Bill, who you would like to continue working with. Bill is aged 56. Bill has worked as an industrial builder for 30 years. Two years ago, Bill suffered a major stroke, which has left him seriously impaired – he lost movement and feeling down his left side. Since the stroke, Bill has undergone intensive primary and secondary rehabilitation, so that he can now live independently, but he will not be able to return to his dream of being a builder because his body will not allow it. There may, however, be other roles, which you could explore with Bill, and he seems interested to explore these.
In the last 12 months, Bill has been diagnosed with depression, and has developed a dependence on alcohol, which is a concern for his doctor. Bill insists drinking enables him to get through the day. You would like to work with Bill around these issues, but you know that if you include an accurate account of Bill’s situation in your assessment, the organisation that you work for will not accept Bill as a client due to his age, level of disability, mental health and substance abuse issues.
You work as a mental health support worker. You have been working with Sarah (aged 32) for the past 4 years. Sarah has had a long history as a consumer with a number of mental health services in your local area and has a diagnosis of ‘depression’ and ‘recurrent suicidal ideations’. She is also a survivor of childhood sexual assault. During a recent meeting with Sarah, she tells you she has been feeling pretty good. She says she is not feeling so flat all the time, and she is sick of being on the medication, which she says makes her have foggy thinking and has made her gain weight. Sarah tells you she has started to reduce the dose of her medication prescribed by her psychiatrist, with a view to completely stopping in a few weeks. Sarah has been taking this medication since before you started working with her and you are very concerned about the impact of this decision on her mental health and safety.
Additionally, Sarah also confides in you that although she has felt pretty good, she also alludes to a growing tension in her relationship with her partner Sally. You have previously been concerned about Sally becoming violent with Sarah, but when you express concern about Sarah’s safety now, commenting on a large bruise on her arm and another possible bruise on her chest that Sarah has told you about, Sarah withdraws from you and tells you there is no problem.
Sarah is resolved in her decision and pleads with you not to talk with Sally or to mention your concerns about the safety issues or the changes to the medication at her case planning review meeting, which is scheduled for next week with the psychiatrist and other team members.
You work in an aged care residential setting as a human services worker. The residential service provides high (nursing home) and low (hostel) care, independent living units with graduated care and support options, including meals and home care services to the independent units, and day care activities. While you do not have a ‘hands on’ role with the residents (the tasks carried out by nursing and aide staff), you do know the residents well. Your work entails support for the residents and their family members in relation to adjustment issues and decisions around transitioning from lower level care to higher care. You also provide support and liaison with the local hospital on an as needed basis assisting with information and discharge plans for your residents. You also work extensively with the staff, supporting them as their workloads increase and the pressures mount.
Some time ago you noticed that some residents were losing weight and that some had bruising. While this is not unusual given the frailty of many of the residents, some people that didn’t previously appear to be frail have begun to lose weight. Some family members were beginning to ask questions. You have asked the staff about this and receive conflicting answers about the provision of food, with some concerned as to the amount and nutrition of the meals and others not seeming to be interested, and still others convinced that everything is OK.
The bruising was explained as being caused by accidental slips and falls of the residents when they were on their own. The questions by the family members are increasing. You see the manager of the home, who indicates that her budget has been cut recently, and she is doing her best to provide care to the residents. You would like to investigate these issues further but are fearful that further harm might come to the residents, and that your job may be on the line.
You are a worker in a community based youth organisation. Your work brings you into contact with the local police on a regular basis, as they visit your organisation looking for particular young people, and as you support young people apprehended by police for various reasons. You have become aware of reports by your clients that some police ‘pick on’ young people based on what appears to be racial grounds. You are aware that young people of dark skin such as Indigenous and middle eastern males are over-represented in the juvenile justice system, and you also have first hand experience of this when you visit the local police station and juvenile justice facilities. You are also aware that your work depends on you having productive relationships with the police.
One day as you arrive at work, one of your regular clients, Abdul, a young man of middle eastern heritage, is there waiting for you. You immediately notice that his face is cut and bruised. He proceeds to recount how he was chased out of a corner shop by the owner who thought he was shoplifting, although he says he wasn’t. Having been accused of similar crimes before, he just kept running. He told you the police caught up with him, tackled him to the ground, then they started beating him. Abdul does not want you to take the matter any further in fear of retaliation from the police on either him of his friends. He told you they said they knew where he lived and who his friends were. The next week you learn through your contacts that Abdul’s friends have also been beaten, however they too do not wish the matter top be pursued. There is disquiet around your organisation and you notice that some young people are not happy with the way you are dealing with the situation.
You work for a neighbourhood centre that is involved in a range of community building/strengthening projects. You have been approached by an Indigenous worker from another organisation who wishes to partner with the centre to conduct a training course to assist women learn skills that will enable them to re-enter the paid workforce. You have never worked in this field before, that is, with Indigenous communities, and you feel this is an important project; you want to do what you can to help. You get involved in writing a submission for funding, and subsequently this is successful.
You have little to do with the planning of the program, as it is the Indigenous worker who has the relationships with Indigenous community members and their needs. The program starts, and you are not involved in the day-to-day running of the program. Women start coming along, and from time to time they arrive with their children ranging in ages from two years to six years. No formal child care has been organised.
One day you are away from the centre and you get a phone call from an upset administration worker who says a person living nearby to the centre has come in and complained that the children are playing in an area adjacent to the centre. The neighbour is concerned for the safety of the children as that area has a culvert running through it and during heavy rain it tends to collect water. You approach the leader of the group about this, and you are told the smaller children are being appropriately cared for by the oldest child in the group. You get the impression that you are interfering and suspect that there are cultural factors in play that you are not aware of. However, you feel you have a duty of care to those children, and then there’s the complaining neighbour, the centre’s standing in the community and issues around risk management.
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