Everyone has different experiences, attitudes and beliefs, however it is important to ensure that you remain professional and do not let your personal views affect the way you work.
You should be tolerant and respectful of the experiences, attitudes and beliefs of others even if they are not compatible with your own. Similarly, you should not try to force your own beliefs and opinions onto others.
Some examples of previous experiences, attitudes and beliefs affecting a care worker’s practice are:
- A vegetarian care worker dissuading a meat-eating individual from buying meat
- A care worker that does not like soap operas telling an individual that loves soap operas that they are rubbish
- A care worker that has a negative body image refusing to take an individual to their swimming activity
- A care worker with strong anti-abortion beliefs telling an individual that has just found out that she is pregnant that she must not terminate
- A deeply religious care worker forcing their religious beliefs on a vulnerable individual
It is important that care workers try to remain as impartial as possible and when providing information to the individuals that they care for, they do so in a factual, non-biased way.
However, sometimes it can be too difficult for a care worker to step away from deeply held beliefs when dealing with a particular individual or situation and there may be legitimate reasons for it. In these cases, it is important that the individual discusses their feelings with their manager so that action can be taken to prevent an individual’s care and support falling below expected standards. This could mean moving a care worker to a different service so that they no longer work with a particular individual or changing their shift pattern so that they are not exposed to difficult situations.