Profession disability support worker

Disability support workers provide personal assistance and support to individuals of all ages with disability conditions, either intellectual or physical disabilities. They work with other health professionals to maximise individuals physical and mental well being. Their duties include bathing, lifting, moving, dressing or feeding people with disability.

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Personality Type

• Conventional / Social

Knowledge

• Disability types

  The nature and types of disabilities affecting the human beings such as physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional or developmental and the specific needs and access requirements of disabled people.

• Disability care

  The specific methods and practices used in providing care to people with physical, intellectual and learning disabilities.

• Legal requirements in the social sector

  The prescribed legislative and regulatory requirements in the social sector.

• Social sciences

  The development and characteristics of sociological, anthropological, psychological, political, and social policy theories.

• Customer service

  Processes and principles related to the customer, client, service user and to personal services; these may include procedures to evaluate customer's or service user's satisfaction.

• Company policies

  The set of rules that govern the activity of a company.

Skills

• Communicate with social service users

  Use verbal, non-verbal, written, and electronic communication. Pay attention to the specific social service users' needs, characteristics, abilities, preferences, age, developmental stage, and culture.

• Conduct cleaning tasks

  Perform cleaning activities such as tidying the room, making the bed, removing trash and handling laundry and other housekeeping duties, in line with organisational standards.

• Provide social counselling

  Assist and guide social service users to resolve personal, social or psychological problems and difficulties.

• Apply person-centred care

  Treat individuals as partners in planning, developing and assessing care, to make sure it is appropriate for their needs. Put them and their caregivers at the heart of all decisions.

• Support service users in developing skills

  Encourage and support social service users in sociocultural activities in the organisation or in the community, supporting the development of leisure and work skills.

• Encourage social service users to preserve their independence in their daily activities

  Encourage and support the service user to preserve independence in performing his/her daily activities and personal care, assisting the service user with eating, mobility, personal care, making beds, doing laundry, preparing meals, dressing, transporting the client to doctor`s appointments, and helping with medications or running errands.

• Build helping relationship with social service users

  Develop a collaborative helping relationship, addressing any ruptures or strains in the relationship, fostering bonding and gaining service users` trust and cooperation through empathic listening, caring, warmth and authenticity.

• Monitor service users' health

  Perform routine monitoring of client's health, such as taking temperature and pulse rate.

• Adhere to organisational guidelines

  Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.

• Advocate for social service users

  Speak for and on behalf of service users, using communicative skills and knowledge of relevant fields to assist those less advantaged.

• Accept own accountability

  Accept accountability for one`s own professional activities and recognise the limits of one`s own scope of practice and competencies.

• Tolerate stress

  Maintain a temperate mental state and effective performance under pressure or adverse circumstances.

• Report on social development

  Report results and conclusions on society's social development in an intelligible way, presenting these orally and in written form to a range of audiences from non-experts to experts.

• Support social service users in skills management

  Provide support to individuals in determining the skills they need in they everyday lives and help them in their skills development.

• Assist social service users in formulating complaints

  Help social services users and caregivers file complaints, taking the complaints seriously and responding to them or passing them to the appropriate person.

• Apply organisational techniques

  Employ a set of organisational techniques and procedures which facilitate the achievement of the goals set. Use these resources efficiently and sustainably, and show flexibility when required.

• Undertake risk assessment of clients

  Follow risk assessment policies and procedures to assess the risk of a client harming him or herself or others, taking the appropriate steps to minimise the risk.

• Follow health and safety precautions in social care practices

  Ensure hygienic work practice, respecting the safety of the environment at day care, residential care settings and care at home.

• Undertake continuous professional development in social work

  Undertake continuous professional development (CPD) to continuously update and develop knowledge, skills and competences within one`s scope of practice in social work.

• Delegate activities

  Delegate activities and tasks to others according to the ability, level of preparation, competence and legal scope of practice. Make sure that people understand what they should do and when they should do it.

• Review social service plan

  Review social service plans, taking service users' views and preferences into account. Follow up on the plan, assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.

• Protect vulnerable social service users

  Intervene to provide physical, moral and psychological support to people in dangerous or difficult situations and to remove to a place of safety where appropriate.

• Involve service users and carers in care planning

  Evaluate the needs of individuals in relation to their care, involve families or carers in supporting the development and implementation of support plans. Ensure review and monitoring of these plans.

• Deliver social services in diverse cultural communities

  Deliver services which are mindful of different cultural and language traditions, showing respect and validation for communities and being consistent with policies regarding human rights and equality and diversity.

• Listen actively

  Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.

• Manage stress in organisation

  Cope with sources of stress and cross-pressure in one's own professional life, such as occupational, managerial, institutional and personal stress, and help others do the same so as to promote the well-being of your colleagues and avoid burn-out.

• Maintain records of work with service users

  Maintain accurate, concise, up-to-date and timely records of the work with service users while complying with legislation and policies related to privacy and security.

• Apply holistic approach within social services

  Consider the social service user in any situation, recognising the connections between micro-dimension, meso-dimension, and macro-dimension of social problems, social development and social policies.

• Promote inclusion

  Promote inclusion in health care and social services and respect diversity of beliefs, culture, values and preferences, keeping in mind the importance of equality and diversity issues.

• Contribute to protecting individuals from harm

  Use established processes and procedures to challenge and report dangerous, abusive, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice, bringing any such behaviour to the attention of the employer or the appropriate authority.

• Apply quality standards in social services

  Apply quality stardards in social services while upholding social work values and principles.

• Maintain privacy of service users

  Respect and maintain the dignity and privacy of the client, protecting his or her confidential information and clearly explaining policies about confidentiality to the client and other parties involved.

• Promote social change

  Promote changes in relationships between individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities by taking into consideration and coping with unpredictable changes, at the micro, macro and mezzo level.

• Work in a multicultural environment in health care

  Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.

• Apply problem solving in social service

  Systematically apply a step-by-step problem-solving process in providing social services.

• Communicate professionally with colleagues in other fields

  Communicate professionally and cooperate with members of the other professions in the health and social services sector.

• Comply with legislation in social services

  Act according to policy and legal requirements in providing social services.

• Support service users to use technological aids

  Work with individuals to identify appropriate aids, supporting them to use specific technological aids and review their effectiveness.

• Support individuals to adjust to physical disability

  Assist individuals to adjust to the implications of physical disability and to understand the new responsibilities and level of dependency.

• Demonstrate leadership in social service cases

  Take the lead in the practical handling of social work cases and activities.

• Apply a holistic approach in care

  Use bio-psycho-social models for care and take into account cultural and existential dimensions of the healthcare user, transforming a holistic understanding into practical measures.

• Support social service users with specific communication needs

  Identify individuals who have specific communication preferences and needs, supporting them to interact with other people and monitoring communication to identify changing needs.

• Support harmed social service users

  Take action where there are concerns that individuals are at risk of harm or abuse and support those who make a disclosure.

• Apply decision making within social work

  Take decisions when called for, staying within the limits of granted authority and considering the input from the service user and other caregivers.

• Apply socially just working principles

  Work in accordance with management and organisational principles and values focusing on human rights and social justice.

• Conduct interview in social service

  Induce clients, colleagues, executives, or public officials to talk fully, freely, and truthfully, so as to explore the interviewee`s experiences, attitudes, and opinions.

• Support social service users' positiveness

  Work with individuals to identify difficulties associated with their self esteem and sense of identity and support them to implement strategies like to develop more positive self images.

• Promote service users' rights

  Supporting client`s rights to control his or her life, making informed choices about the services they receive, respecting and, where appropriate, promoting the individual views and wishes of both the client and his or her caregivers.

• Work within communities

  Establish social projects aimed at community development and active citizen participation.

• Assist social service users with physical disabilities

  Help service users with mobility problems and other physical disabilities such as incontinence, assisting in the use and care of aids and personal equipment.

• Maintain the trust of service users

  Establish and maintain the trust and confidence of the client, communicating in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way and being honest and reliable.

• Refer service users to community resources

  Refer clients to community resources for services such as job or debt counselling, legal aid, housing, medical treatment, or financial assistance, providing concrete information, such as where to go and how to apply.

• Manage social crisis

  Identify, respond and motivate individuals in social crisis situations, in a timely manner, making use of all resources.

• Assess social service users' situation

  Assess the social situation of service users situation balancing curiosity and respect in the dialogue, considering their families, organisations and communities and the associated risks and identifying the needs and resources, in order to meet physical, emotional and social needs.

• Meet standards of practice in social services

  Practice social care and social work in a lawful, safe and effective way according to standards.

• Prevent social problems

  Develop, define and implement actions that can prevent social problems, striving for the enhancement of the quality of life for all citizens.

• Relate empathetically

  Recognise, understand and share emotions and insights experienced by another.

• Handle conflicts

  Mediate in conflicts and tense situations by acting between parties, such as service users, important others like families, and institutions, striving to effect an agreement, reconciliate, and resolve problems.

• Provide in-home support for disabled individuals

  Assist individuals with disabilities in their own homes and with daily living tasks such as washing, dressing, eating and transport, helping them to achieve independence.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB