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Reflections on social welfare and social work
My understanding of the social work profession
Essays on quality of life
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Recommended: Reflections on social welfare and social work
For this essay, I will be providing a reflective account on my personal views, experiences and concepts from various professionals regarding the factors that can impact on quality of life. The different perspectives of the ideas of health, well-being and quality of life will be examined and a conclusion will be made, in conjunction with various theories, ideologies and my own interpretations being explored. I will compare different theories of what affects the quality of life and use what I have learnt from the module materials to support any declarations made. I currently work within Social Services and experience daily, factors that can affect quality of life. We provide services to help promote independence and meet people’s needs, may it be home help, access to community groups etc. From my experience, I believe the factors are wide ranging depending on the individual and quality means many different things to people. Furthermore, the needs to achieve a good quality of life include basic and subjective needs that are relevant to individual. Factors that could affect quality of life include basic needs, medical conditions, social exclusion or isolation. Increased personal awareness and levels of power and participation can work alongside each other to create a better quality of life. Quality of life is defined as the physical, …show more content…
It equates for four types of need; normative, felt, expressed and comparative. in the older generation, they may not think they have a felt need or want to say what they need. Whereas the younger generation, may feel they are deserving of all needs. A critical approach now used due to the changes in the Care Act, give focus to both basic needs and the needs for a sense of subjective wellbeing as the main consideration is for a person’s well-being and what is important to them and their family which goes beyond Maslows theory. Quote pg
The Troubled Families Agenda (2012) came about in response to Social need as it is a central concern of the welfare system, introduced by the coalition government. There are various types of need; Baldock (2012) introduced four types of need, these being Felt, Normative, Expressed and Comparative. Firstly, Baldock defined felt needs as what an individual believes they ‘need’ this can often be unrealistic and subjective to what the individual may want instead of need. Secondly normative, this is how an expert or professional identifies a need compared to a set of standards. Moving on to Expressed need, Baldock believed that this was where a felt need became a demand, it does not necessarily imply that people need it but are becoming demanding.
Humans are mortal beings, therefore with life comes death; this is a certainty. What is not so certain is the quality of life which one will lead thereto; and the variances they will face in life which will underwrite a person’s health. Health, which can be measured, regulates the quality and longevity of people’s lives. People have long since philosophised that it is “luck of the draw” as to who are inflicted with illness or disease. In fact, through research and consensus reports, analysis has concluded that social, economic and environmental influences are contributing factors. This essay will explore some of the main issues regarding health and consequences of lifestyle choices. Furthermore, recognition and critique will be focused on the principal reports and recommendations therein regarding health inequalities.
According to Maslow men and women have individual needs such as Biological, safety, attachment, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization and Transcendence . Each need must be met before moving to the next level of need. Maslow's hierarchical theory of needs is often represented as a pyramid (see attached)
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” from Kaiser Permanente, is a good quote to tell us the important of mental, physical, and social well-being for our health. If a person doesn’t have all of three conditions, he/she doesn’t have a healthy body and healthy life. Tuyen, my aunt’s brother in law, is an example. He needed to work twelve hours per day without day off and health care to take care of his family. Therefore, he often feel tired, stressed and depressed about his job over twenty years. One day of five years ago, Tuyen got a terrible sick and became mental retardation after that. So, he looked like a baby boy and couldn’t make money for the family
Maslow suggested that there are five levels of need. Level one needs are basic needs such as food and shelter which need to be meet before moving to the next level of need. Each level should be meet in turn up to level five, self-actualisation. An example of this in current practice is providing children with snack and water during the school day fulfilling basic needs and providing opportunities to develop friendships and feel safe at school to express their feelings can fulfil needs in levels 2 and 3 of Maslowâ€TMs hierarchy of
Health is described as physical and mental well-being and freedom from disease, pain or defect. However, such descriptions only superficially define the actual meaning of health. There may be many occasions when individuals are not necessarily ill or in pain but may be overweight, stressed or emotionally unstable. Health is a quality of life involving dynamic interaction and interdependence among the individual’s physical state, their mental and emotional reactions, and the social context in which the individual exists. There are many factors that influence your health, but three major components contribute to general well-being: Self-awareness, a balanced diet and, regular physical activity.
Also the essay will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each approach as this can be an indicator if this approach is applied, whether it can address inequality and improve the health and well being of that individual or society. The essay will use the Dahlgren and Whitehead social determinants of health of need to exemplify the determinants of health showing how these determinants can influence the way health is viewed as holistic or merely an absence of disease. Lastly, the essay will analyse the evaluation with these approaches plus the importance of evaluation to present programs and future programs or activity.
The strength of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that it has influenced practice in childcare settings as it aids in the understanding of the child more clearly and children and young people can be helped in ensuring that their basic needs are met in order or them to learn and make the correct choices about their health, safety and well-being. However a weakness of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that it cannot be tested or measured precisely if one need has been fulfilled before the next need has to be achieved.
...all these definitions define health and wellbeing in either positive, negative or take a holistic approach. There are many different criticisms regarding definitions. Although, it is vital to remember that these definitions have changed throughout the years and will carry on changing within the future regarding what people believe to be healthy. As established throughout this essay, there is a wide range of genetic, social and environmental factors which influence the health and wellbeing of children regarding the area or district which they live in both positively and negatively which have been analysed within this essay in depth. Factors such as the quality of housing in the area which they live, the availability and location of quality services and the type of people which live in that area and the influences which they have on others have been greatly analysed.
The health of an individual and their communities is affected by several elements which combine together. Whether an individual is healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment.1 To a greater extent, factors such as where an individual lives, their relationships with family and friends, the state of their environment, income, genetics and level of education all have significant impacts on health, however the more frequently considered factors such as access and use of health care facilities regularly have less of an impact.6 Determinants of health is a term which was introduced in the 1970s as part of a broader analysis of research and policy on public health. Researchers argued that there was a lot of attention and too much expenditure on health being dedicated to individuals and their illnesses, and little or no investment in populations and their health. It was decided that public health should be more concerned with social policies and social determinants than with health facilities and the outcomes of diseases.7 The determinants of health include social and economic environment, physical environment and an individual’s behaviour and characteristics. The environment of an individual determines their health, holding responsible an individual for having poor health or acknowledging them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are not likely to be able to control several of the determinants of health. These determinants that make individuals healthy or not include the factors above, and numerous others.6
Unlike many of his colleagues at the time who were focusing on psychopathology, or what is wrong with individuals, he focused on how individuals are motivated to fulfill their potential and what needs govern their respective behaviors (McLeod)). Maslow developed the hierarchy over time, adjusting from a rigid structure where needs must be met before being able to achieve a higher level, to where the individuals can experience and behave in ways across the hierarchy multiple times daily depending on their needs. The hierarchy is comprised of 5 levels; Physiological, Safety and Security, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The bottom two levels are considered basic needs, or deficiency needs because once the needs are met they cease to be a driving factor, unlike psychological needs. Loving and Belonging and Esteem needs are considered psychological needs, and are different from basic needs because they don’t stem from a lack of something, but rather the desire to grow. Maslow theorizes that individual’s decisions and behavior are determined based on their current level of needs, and the ideal level to achieve full potential culminates in self-actualization; however, operating on this level cannot be achieved until the preceding levels of needs have been
This is the acknowledgment that quality of life/well-being has both objective components which are the components external to an individual and measurable by ‘others’ and subjective components which are personal assessments of one’s own life or of particular aspects of life using measures of satisfaction, happiness, or other self-assessment scales.
Abraham Maslow did studies of the basic needs of human beings. He put these needs into a hierarchical order. This means that until the need before it has been satisfied, the following need can not be met (Encyclopedia, 2000). For example, if someone is hungry they are not thinking too much about socializing. In the order from lowest to highest the needs are psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. The first three are classified as lower order needs and the last two are higher order (Hierarchy, 2000). Without meeting these needs workers are not going to be as productive as they could otherwise. The first three are considered to be essential to all humans at all times. The last two have been argued but are mostly considered to be very important as well.
In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a theory of basic human needs: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. His theory suggests that embedded in the very nature of each human being are certain needs that must be attained in order for a person to be whole physically, psychologically, and emotionally. First, there are phys...
When questioned about values and health perception, the husband states that health is being free of illness. In addition, the husband expressed that being able to perform daily activities including employment is good health. On the issue of maintaining health and health