what is the importance and relevance of values to social caere?

Answer 1

How can one be a carer without values? Preferably values that esteem the acts and feelings of caring.

If the carer holds the "person-centred core conditions" of empathy and unconditional esteem for the client, and genuineness in themselves (self awareness; plus not pretending, not 'wearing a mask', not being a jobsworth) and of seeking to ensure that the client receives you as being such a person, chances are that both you and your client will feel the experience of a caring relationship.

This applies in a whole range of contexts. Example 1: My wife recently experienced the benefit of it because the social work visitor from the sense-impaired team came from this inner place of being. Example 2: A friend of mine works in a "care home" and manifests these qualities herself, but experiences that htey are very absent from most of her colleagues. The colleagues, she says, treat the patients as objects or as duties, uncaringly.

There are other values that are also relevant. For example, do you believe that blind, deaf, bedridden, senile or incontinent people are just as valuable, just as much matter, as those with all their faculties and senses? Do you believe that smokers deserve the same healthcare access as non-smokers? Do gay people and/or intravenous users of illegal drugs who have Aids deserve equal the same access to care as people infected by a bad blood transfusion? What about the "right to die"? Or dying at home vs hospice vs hospital? If hospice places are scarce, who gets them? Why?