Support for planning and reviewing your development can be obtained from many sources. Asking for feedback from colleagues, clients, client’s families and other professionals can help identify areas of development to consider. Quarterly supervisions and annual appraisals can also be used and mutually agreeable targets between yourself and your manager can be set. Quarterly observations and professional discussions can also be useful. Team meetings are also a great forum to discuss the service provision. Externally, you can get support online from a myriad of Internet sites as well as formal training on personal development.
DIPLOMA LEVEL 3 IN HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE
Describe how socio-cultural factors and religious beliefs can influence an individual’s sexual development
Socio-cultural factors that can influence an individual’s sexual development are manifold. During childhood, ideas, views and opinions relating to sexuality will be learned from immediate family. This can include topics such as gender roles, contraception, sex before marriage or promiscuity. Children will be heavily influenced by what they see in the family home. Habitual norms will also influence a child’s sexuality such as marriage, single-parent families, cohabitation and same-sex partnerships.
As a child gets older, their sexual development will be influenced by groups outside of the family home such as friends, teachers and the media. Individuals that go to same-sex schools may have difficulty mixing with the opposite gender in later life and individuals that are ‘sheltered’ by their loved ones may not have the opportunities to grow sexually. The media may present ideas about sexuality that lead to stereotypes.
Religion can also play an important part in sexual development as the ethical and moral codes of many religions have strong views about promiscuity, sex before marriage and homosexuality. This can lead to an individual having conflicting views about sexuality.
Individuals with learning disabilities in particular may have reduced chances of normal sexual development as they may be excluded from sex education and taught that sex is a taboo in an effort by their loved ones to ‘protect’ them despite it being obviously discriminatory.
Explain how an individual’s background can influence the way they communicate
The background of an individual will have a big influence on how they communicate.
In some cultures, eye contact is viewed as impolite or disrespectful in certain situations, such as between a father and daughter or a professor and student. Similarly, some cultures display emotion and feeling in their communication whilst others are more subdued.
An individual who has been brought up in a close, loving family with lots of affectionate touching may naturally hug everyone they meet, even when it would be considered socially inappropriate, whilst an individual that has been abused in the past may be timid or cower away from people in close proximity to them.
Education (or a lack thereof) can limit an individual’s ability to communicate. They may not be able to read or write and may have a limited vocabulary with which to express themselves.
If an individual is from a different country, their knowledge of the English language could be limited, making it difficult for them to communicate their needs.
Explain how a PDP can help a social care worker identify improvements in their knowledge, understanding and practice.
A Personal Development Plan (PDP) is a record of a social care worker’s professional achievements over time. By keeping an up-to-date PDP, a social care worker can see how their knowledge, understanding and practice has progressed as well as the current objectives and goals. Also, writing a PDP forces a social care worker to think about any gaps in their knowledge or areas where they would like to perform better and design a roadmap to get to their objectives. In addition, it provides evidence of continuous improvement to others.
Describe how genetic factors can influence the sexual development, sexual expression and sexual health of an individual with a learning disability
In genetics, the sex chromosomes determine whether an individual is male or female. An individual will get an X-chromosome from their mother and a second X-chromosome from their father if they are a female (XX). Males get an X-chromosome from their mother and a Y-chromosome from their father (XY). Therefore, sexual development is based on genes.
Variations on chromosomes can lead to variations in the sexual development and sexual expression of an individual. For example, if a male has an extra X-chromosome (XXY) they will have biological features resembling a female and if a male has an extra Y-chromosome (XYY) they will be taller and often have a learning disability. There are other genetic conditions that do not affect an individual’s sexual development but are the cause of a learning disabilities that make it difficult for them to have the cognitive and emotional structure to manage their sexual expression and sexual health in socially acceptable ways. Fragile X syndrome is an example of this.