Extended Case Study Additional Briefing Notes
Introduction Briefly introduce the agency context and your role. Why you are working with this person/family? Brief overview of the case study.
What is your legal and policy remit? Briefly introduce the 2 or 3 main themes for your study Explains how permission was obtained and how you will maintain confidentiality.
Analysis What literature and what research helped you to understand the themes? How was your work evidence informed? How has your understanding developed and why? How did theory and method inform your practice?
How did you decide on a particular intervention and/or approach? How do your values and beliefs impact on the work? How did concepts and theories of risk impact on the work? What factors affected multi-disciplinary/agency working? What has your practice and reading lead you to believe and why are they important? Was anything surprising?
Are there any alternative explanations? What research literature supports or contradicts your practice? Were these studies, valid, reliable, trustworthy, ethical, biased? How did you use different kinds of knowledge e.g. from service users and carers. practitioner experience, research, theory?
Is some knowledge more valid than others? Why? How have you reflected on your practice? Pay attention to the tensions and dilemmas. How and did you use supervision, formal and informal, to help you reflect? How have you used your creativity in this work (professional artistry) whilst conforming to the agency policy and procedures (technical rationalism)? How would you say that your practice has become more reflexive and critical?
How has your experience and leaming caused you to act differently? Could you explore the relevance of social constructionism and/or theones about power. How are views about disadvantaged people socially constructed?
Conclusion There should be no new information in a conclusion. Synthesise the significant findings, the main learning and reflective points. Do you want to emphasize what you could do differently next time? Or have recommendations for developing practice, explain these however ensure you support your thoughts.
Notes originally by Sue Jones and Helen Mayall, updated by Katie Hill.
Description
For your information:
The case study is based on a citizen Thomas (T) that I have worked with. T is a 68 year old man who lives alone and has hoarding disorder. There are many different causes of hoarding diss-order (please list). T had a happy early childhood living with his mother and father as an only child, until his mother passed away suddenly to cancer when T was 9 years old. T was then raised by his father who began to struggle with depression and developed hoarding dis-order. T believes it was the sudden and death of his mother that triggered his father’s hoarding disorder.
T now as an adult also has hoarding disorder. T admits that he has been hoarding all of his life however believes it got worse following the death of his father 14 years ago. I spent a lot of time over a period of months getting to know TL through telephone conversation and eventually conversations at his front door. I had already been briefed that his hoarding was soo sever that he could not access upstairs because the stairs were blocked by clutter/household items. Only after 3 months of getting to engage with TL did I begin to talk to him about ‘organising’ items within his home and ‘setting goals’ The language we use when engaging with hoarders is crucial. If we were to talk about throwing items in the bin or tidying up mess they are likely to disengage.
Themes must include:
Multi agency practice,carried out a joint visit with an occupational therapist. Also referred T for CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) an liaised with his GP to inform of my involvement and ascertain if GP had any concerns. Why is self-neglect important in the context of safeguarding of persons at risk? Please use the structure/format presented in the two case study notes that have been uploaded.
Legislation must be included:
Care Act 2014 (Hoarding is a part of self-neglect and self-neglect is a part of safeguarding)
Mental capacity Act 2005 (A capacity assessment carried out a year early)
Mental Health Act 1983 – Hoarding dis-order has been listed as a mental health problem.
Human rights Act – right to private and family life in contrast to Safeguarding (main ones that underpin my work with TL)
Theories that informed my practice when working with TL
Empowerment theory (empowered TL to be able to continue living in his own home safely)
Psychodynamic theory (through talking and CBT TL was able to explore and understand his emotions and unconscious patterns of behaviour in order to know one self-better and make better decisions
