Personal Values, Attitudes and Beliefs

Your experiences, attitude and beliefs are part of what makes you who you are. They affect how you think, what you do and how you do it. Your background, upbringing, experiences and relationships will all have played a part in the way you see things. Sometimes your attitudes and beliefs could lead you to assume things about people that are not right or fair. It is important that you realise this and develop self awareness so that you can learn to check that this does not happen. You should take the time to learn about and understand the different attitudes and beliefs of others so that you can work with individuals in a way that takes these into account.

Beliefs are:

• things in life that you feel strongly about, that guide you in your daily life and are linked very closely to your morals and values. An example of a belief is to practice a religion such as Catholicism etc.
• Our beliefs might not necessarily be based on facts but an opinion.
• Our beliefs are not just formal ones e.g. about religion but can be about other things such as what we regard as right or wrong

Attitudes – are the approaches, opinions and mind-set that you have develop through your upbringing and life and learning experiences.

Personal Values are:

• The principles and standards upon which we lead our lives
• They are influenced by our beliefs, our background, education, and our individual and wider social networks
• Some of our personal ideas can originate from prejudice, myths and assumptions
• We need to be aware of how our values influence what we do
• We were not born with values but acquire them throughout our lives. They are something that can be changed.

Professional Values are:

• The principles which guide our professional practice.

Organisational Values are:

• The principles which guide the services we provide.

Conflicts between personal and professional/ organisational values

• When we work in social care we need to be aware that some of our personal values might be at odds with the values which we are required to hold with our work.
• Previous experience in our private and working lives and the way we have been socialised and educated together with those with whom we socialised and live, can be positive or negative influences on what think and do.
• Through education and professional training we are able to become aware of the impact of our actions, identify and address our prejudices and assimilate the values of our profession.
• When we take on a post in social care we are agreeing to hold and apply the values of the profession and have a contractual obligation to work with them.

Use to answer question 1.1d of the Care Certificate