Title: Personal and intimate care means crossing normal boundaries. What are the implications of this for users and workers in health and social care?
Within health and social care crossing normal boundaries may sometimes be required. Firstly, this essay will explore some common dilemmas and difficulties within care settings, and then consider how this can lead to poor-quality and unsafe practice. “Often poor practice occurs in care situations that are challenging to the care worker, for example giving intimate care or dealing with challenging behaviour,” (unit 17, pp. 11-54). Secondly, using case studies I will define and compare the implications for both workers and service users, thus allowing for the evaluation of ways in which intimate care can be provided to promote wellbeing, making people feel comfortable and safe. Finally the importance of guidelines, protocols and accountability are discussed, therefore creating good practice and safeguarding both the worker and service user.
Providing personal and intimate care often involves direct physical touch and nakedness and sometimes gives rise to emotional closeness. These are also characteristics of sexual relationships, so it is not surprising that the boundaries between care and sex become blurred (Twigg, 2006). Personal Care can be merely assisting to brush someone’s teeth or assisting with feeding; whereas intimate care is events that would usually be done in private without anyone else present. Social boundaries may vary with each individual, things such as gender, class, religion along with frame of references will all play a part on which each individual finds acceptable or not. A good overview of the difference between personal and intimate care. Maybe you could add that personal and intimate care is the completion of tasks that an individual would usually do for themselves (Lawler, J. 2008,