Introduction to Health and Social Care

What am I required to do in this assignment?

For assessment two, you will be given examples of case studies that outline a short interaction between a professional and a client requiring health or social care services. You will need to pick ONE of these example interactions and reflect on the one-to-one communication skills and what the professional did or did not do well in the scenario and what values or ethical issues may potentially arise from the interaction.

Your 1000 reflective essay will therefore be an analysis of the interaction. Your written reflection must consist of:

• An introduction – setting out what you are writing about – your essay aims and objectives

• An analysis of and reflection on the one-to-one working skills required in your chosen case study/scenario. This will be an interplay of how practitioner and client engaged and responded to each other.

• Information and analysis of what the ethics and values were might come into play in your chosen scenario. Mention the difference between personal values and professional ethics and the professional worker might deal with this. Again, you should support your discussion here with academic sources/references.

• State the strengths and the weaknesses of the interplay/meeting/interview. Say what did not go well and what would could be done differently to improve the interaction.

• Conclusion – this should be a summary, demonstrating where your assignment met the aims and objectives in your introduction.

7) References – this is a list of sources you cited in the text

You will be expected to draw on parts of at least six sources, only one can be an Internet source and the remaining five should be academic/peer-reviewed sources (that is academic books or academic journals), to support your discussion. The six is a minimum; students are encouraged to carry out wider reading.

Written expression is an important element of good written communication, so try to write clearly and accurately. Proofread your work before handing it in and/or ask a trusted person to read it through for you.

No more than 5 –10% of the assignment should be in the form of quotations.

You must use the Harvard referencing system to identify the source of all the information used in your assignment. You must reference systematically throughout the work itself and include a reference of the sources cited in your work. Please pay particular attention secondary referencing in the referencing guidelines. You will find a copy of the latest referencing guidelines on the unit’s BREO site. Also read the section headed ‘Plagiarism and Bad Academic Practice’ in the Assessment and Feedback section of the unit’s BREO site.

Your work must be word processed, double spaced and page numbered. You must also include a word count.

You are reminded that plagiarism of any type will be penalized and result in your work not being marked/failing.

What do I need to do to pass? (Threshold Expectations from UIF)

In order to pass Assessment 2, you will need to:

• Reflect on the one-to-one working skills of effective communication (active listening, feedback and empathy, good techniques of questioning, etc.) required to work with individual clients within a given scenario.

Reflect on and assess the role played by the professional in a given scenario and one-to-one working skills used and identify ways to improve future practice.

Identify the values, skills and ethics underpinning work with vulnerable groups and the importance of boundaries within practice and conflict that can arise between personal values and professional ethics.

How do I produce high quality work that merits a good grade?

Read this assignment brief carefully including the marking criteria on the next page. You need to read widely drawing on a range of appropriate academic books and/or peer-reviewed journal articles. You will avoid relying on non-academic web sources.

You will demonstrate clear understanding of the ethical issues and problem area involved in your chosen scenario and how these should have been addressed.

You will apply the Harvard referencing rules accurately throughout the text of your essay and in your reference list. Your reference list will be in alphabetical order with all sources cited in the text appearing in your reference list and all sources in your reference list will appear in the text. An exception is when you cite a secondary source that you read about in a source you read/a primary source. In that case only the primary source (the source you read) should appear in the list of references. It is important to ensure you use secondary referencing, i.e. you use the ‘cited in’ expression in the text, where it is needed so you avoid poor academic practice/plagiarism.

You will write in your own words and always cite in the text where you got the information from. Your referencing will be systematic – every paragraph you write in the main body of your essay will be full of references correctly formatted.

You will make sure you thoroughly proofread your work before submitting and seek support on referencing if necessary.

How does this assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?

The aims of the assignment are to develop your reflective skills and for you to demonstrate your own learning and show an awareness of your own values and attitudes in relation to work and working with others in the health and social care sector. It links to the teaching in part two of the lecture programme on one-to-one working skills. This will enable you to apply your reflective and communication skills by linking your learning in lectures to your wider reading.

How will my assignment be marked?

Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations and the criteria on the following page.

You can use them to evaluate your own work and consider your grade before you submit.