We have already gone over how promoting dignity and rights can reduce the likelihood of an individual experiencing abuse or neglect. As well as promoting an individual’s dignity and rights, care environments can also undermine them if you are not careful. There are a number of ways in which an individual’s dignity and rights can be undermined by care environments.
For example, if you do not build relationships based on trust or ensure lines of communication between workers and individuals are always open, it could lead to the individual feeling like their rights are being undermined. It is the individual’s right to complain and comment on the quality of their care and they may feel like they are not in control if you deny them this right.
Similarly, if you do not support an individual to be as independent as possible, they may feel like their dignity is not being respected and they are not being treated like a human being. This is why it is vital you ensure that care environments promote an individual’s dignity and rights because otherwise they can undermine them and harm the individual’s well-being.