Case Study: County Acres Nursing Home

In this case study Mr. Brown, who is a resident at County Acres Nursing Home is not receiving adequate social work care that address his variety of needs. Mr. Brown, is a young man that is homeless and doesn’t have financial social, peer support and requires a social work intervention. The major characters in this case study are Cecilia O’Neil, social work intern, Mr. Brown, the patient. One of the main problems in the case, is the lack of social work principles that allow Mr. Brown to be treated with dignity, respect and self-worth and with self-determination. According to the National Association of Social Workers “ethical principles are based on social work's core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance

Brown, Cecilia, would need to advocate within the community for resources that he can use. This would include housing, substance abuse treatment to address his alcohol issue, government assistance that would provide him with an income, counseling, and employment opportunities. In this case, social justice is a core principle of social work to ensure access to needed information, services and resources are obtained for vulnerable populations. “Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers' social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty” (NASW, 2018). Some positives that occurred in this case study were Cecilia, advocating for Medicaid services for Mr. Brown. In addition, she was pro-active in addressing her concerns about the way Mr. Brown was treated by her supervisor, and some of the hospital staff members. Cecilia, demonstrated a caring and respectful attitude for Mr. Brown, that showed a perfect example of dignity and worth of a person. This core value of social work allows “Social workers seek to enhance clients' capacity and opportunity to change and to address their own needs. Social workers are cognizant of their dual responsibility to clients and to the broader society. They seek to resolve conflicts between clients' interests and the broader society's interests in a socially responsible manner consistent with the

Brown to help achieve the future goal of moving out of the nursing home would consist of using Smart Goals. “These goals are specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic and timely, providing focus and direction to the work to completed by the social worker and client” (Hepworth et al, 2010, p 313). By establishing goals that would include Mr. Brown, making phone calls to homeless shelters, applying for government assistance programs, attending AA meetings, applying for jobs, or skill building, and seeking social support system would allow for him to become empowered to make changes within his life that would promote self-efficacy. By using smart goals Cecilia, and Mr. Brown can come short term goal of attending three AA meetings per week. This would allow him to gain social support along with sobriety. The Long-term goals would be for Mr. Brown, to acquire housing, and financial assistance through government funded programs. “Monitoring progress and measuring change are central to ethical practice in social work. The process not only informs you and the client about the effectiveness of strategy but also provides you with evaluative information about your practice” (Hepworth et al, 2010, p 313). Developing a treatment plan with Mr. Brown about goals and objectives that he needs to accomplish is an effective way to monitor his progress. Evaluating his progress on weekly basis will let Cecilia know if his goals are being met.