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Building capacity and bridging the gaps: Strand 1: Social care practice with older people, people with learning disabilities and physically disabled people who use alcohol and other drugs: final report
- Authors:
- DANCE Cherilyn, ALLNOCK Debbie
- Publisher:
- University of Bedfordshire. Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 68
- Place of publication:
- Luton
This report conveys the findings of one part of a three strand project which set out to examine the current state of training to work with alcohol and other drug problems (AOD) in social work and social care. This strand highlights the experiences and needs of social work and social care practitioners when encountering AOD problems in their work with older people, adults with learning disabilities and physically disabled adults. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from a survey undertaken in 2010-11, this secondary analysis has identified that practitioners in these areas encounter AOD problems relatively infrequently (compared with child protection or adult mental health fields), but that significant challenges are faced when they do so. Many practitioners in these fields feel under-prepared for this work; and they struggle with a lack of confidence in their knowledge about AOD, and with balancing their duty of care with respect for an individual’s right to self-determination, each of which affects their sense of entitlement to discuss AOD issues with service users. The current mode of service delivery, case management, focuses on signposting and referring on, and thus limits the perceived opportunities for practitioners to develop the sort of relationships with service users which would permit meaningful discussion of their AOD use. In addition, there is a lack of clarity about what is, or should be expected of adults’ social practitioners with respect to problematic AOD use. While the focus of the new Health and Well Being Boards is yet to be established, it is hoped that by bringing together health and social concerns under one body responsible for strategic planning and commissioning of services might offer the opportunity for tackling some of these issues. The project was funded by Alcohol Research UK. (Edited publisher abstract)