Summary
- Support workers need to understand some of the main aspects of a person’s life, culture and religion, and be able to access this information when they need it. This shows respect for the person’s beliefs and practices.
- Differences may be categorised into social, such as class, gender, sexuality, age, disability, religion and ethnicity; cultural, such as beliefs, values, customs and attitudes; or spiritual, such as a person’s sense of wellbeing and contentment, or their religion.
- You have a responsibility to respect the rights of all people to hold differing views, values and attitudes. A person’s values are what they think is important in life and will determine their priorities. A person’s attitude refers to the tendency they have to respond positively or negatively towards a situation or person or idea.
- Imposing your own values or attitudes onto the people you work with can negatively affect the working relationship and outcomes for the individual.
- You should consider a person’s stage of life and their developmental stage when providing options to meet their individual needs.
- You can support people to overcome any barriers to expressing their sexuality. To achieve this, you must recognise and overcome your own prejudices and preconceptions about sex and sexuality. Acknowledge any of the person’s unmet needs and develop strategies to address them wherever possible.
- The activities you offer a person should reflect the needs that have been identified as part of developing their individualised plan. These needs may be physical, psychological, social, cultural or spiritual and some activities could meet one or more of these areas of need.
