How your views restrict active participation

When working in health or social care you need to be positive, open minded and show respect for other people’s attitudes and beliefs, especially when they differ from your own. Your job is to care for the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of an individual and allow them, as far as possible, to live their life the way they choose, or to get back to the best health possible to allow them to do this. It is important that you remain honest and open and do not judge the individuals you are helping to support. You might agree with their wishes and choices but your role is to support the person in a way in which the person chooses and not to impose your views upon them.

Prejudicing and stereotyping have no place in health or social care and should always be challenged. Reflecting on your own attitudes and beliefs is crucial to making sure that you do not allow them to affect your quality of work.

Why is it important to reflect on your practice

Self awareness and reflection is an essential part of your care practice and being aware of your own attitudes and beliefs can help you make sure the quality of your work is not affected negatively.

Reflection is the process of thinking about your experiences in a critical way to explore what you could do differently, improve on, or remember for next time. A reflective account could include:

What happened?

What went well?

What didn’t go so well?

What could you do to improve?

How will you put this into practice?

Use to answer question 7.6b of the Care Certificate