Professional Decision Making in Social Work

196 Pages·2010·1.005 MB·English

by  Brian Taylor

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Professional Decision Making
in Social Work
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Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice – titles in the series
Advanced Social Work with Children and Families ISBN 978 1 84445 363 4
The Approved Mental Health Professional’s Guide to
Mental Health Law (second edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 115 9
The Approved Mental Health Professional’s Guide to
Psychiatry and Medication (second edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 304 7
Critical Thinking for Social Work (second edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 157 9
Effective Leadership, Management and Supervision in
Health and Social Care ISBN 978 1 84445 181 4
Evidence-based Policy and Practice in Mental Health Social Work ISBN 978 1 84445 149 4
The Integration of Mental Health Social Work and the NHS ISBN 978 1 84445 150 0
Introducing Child Care Social Work: Contemporary Policy and
Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 180 7
Law and the Social Work Practitioner (second edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 264 4
Managing with Plans and Budgets in Health and Social Care ISBN 978 1 84445 134 0
The Mental Capacity Act 2005: A Guide for Practice
(second edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 294 1
Newly Qualified Social Work ers: A Handbook for Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 251 4
Practice Education in Social Work: A Handbook for
Practice Teachers, Assessors and Educators ISBN 978 1 84445 105 0
Practising Quality Assurance in Social Care ISBN 978 1 84445 084 8
Proactive Management in Social Work Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 289 7
Social Work Practice with Adults ISBN 978 1 84445 292 7
Social Work Practice with Older Lesbians and Gay Men ISBN 978 1 84445 182 1
Values and Ethics in Mental Health Practice ISBN 978 1 84445 375 7
Vulnerable Adults and Community Care (second edition) ISBN 978 1 84445 362 7
To order, please contact our distributor: BEBC Distribution, Albion Close, Parkstone, Poole,
BH12 3LL. Telephone: [phone], email: [email protected].
You can also order online at www.learningmatters.co.uk.
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Professional Decision
Making in Social Work
BRIAN J TAYLOR
Series Editor: Keith Brown
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First published in 2010 by Learning Matters Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Learning Matters Ltd.
© 2010 Brian J Taylor
The right of Brian J Taylor to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of HMSO.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 84445 359 7
Cover and text design by Code 5 Design Associates Ltd
Project management by Swales & Willis Ltd
Typeset by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Learning Matters Ltd
33 Southernhay East
Exeter EX1 1NX
Tel: [phone]
[email protected]
www.learningmatters.co.uk
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Contents
Foreword to the Post-Qualifying Social Work
Practice Series vii
About the author viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1
Roles, concepts and frameworks for
decision making 7
2
Crises, emotions and supporting client
decision making 18
3
Consent, human rights and reasonable
decisions in law 31
4
Collaborative and contested decisions 46
5
Professional judgement, bias and using
knowledge 60
6
Safeguarding judgements and predicting
harm 72
7
Taking risks: values, gains and hazards 89
v
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Contents
8
Assessment tools and decision support
systems 109
9
Dynamic decision making and care
decision pathways 126
10
Managing decisions: support, blame
and learning 140
Conclusion 154
Appendix 1 Pointers in designing or completing an
assessment to inform a decision in uncertainty 160
Appendix 2 Supported decision tool 162
Glossary of terms 164
References 167
Index 181

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Foreword to the Post-Qualifying Social
Work Practice Series
All the texts in the Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice series have been written by people
with a passion for excellence in social work practice. They are primarily written for social
workers who are undertaking post-qualifying social work awards, but will also be useful to
any social worker who wants to consider up-to-date practice issues.
The books in this series are also of value to social work students as they are written to
inform, inspire and develop social work practice.
Keith Brown
Series Editor
Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work, Bournemouth

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About the author
Brian Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Ulster where he has lead
role for post-qualifying education and training. His research and teaching interests are in
decision making, assessment, risk and evidence-based practice. He has published widely
and had a lead role in developing the Northern Ireland Single Assessment Tool for the
health and social care of older people. He previously spent twelve years as a practitioner
and manager in social work, residential care, primary school teaching and youth work. He
worked for fifteen years in social work education, training, and organisation development
in health and social care, including three years as project manager implementing new chil-
dren’s legislation. His doctorate was on risk and decision making in community care and
he has taught for ten years on the topic of risk and decision making on post-qualifying
courses for newly qualified social workers. www.ulster.ac.uk/staff/bj.taylor.html

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Acknowledgements
Firstly I would like to thank my father, Bernard Taylor, for his example of integrity in every
decision that I ever saw him make. I am grateful to many of my family, friends and
colleagues – too many to mention – for their support and encouragement during
this endeavour. Thanks too to our dog for putting up with my absent mindedness on
recent walks.
I am indebted to Dr Michael Donnelly, Reader, Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University
Belfast for his inspiring encouragement of my research on decision making and to Mr
David Carson, Reader in Law and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Portsmouth for
his invigorating enthusiasm in his work on the interface between law and professional
decisions.
I would like to thank the social workers on post-qualifying courses and other colleagues in
practice who have shared examples of their judgements, decision making and dilemmas
with me. I am very grateful to a member of the general public and colleagues who have
commented on draft chapters, exercises, bullet lists of pointers and questions, etc. from
the perspectives of clients, education and training, information technology, law, manage-
ment, regulation, and research as well as professional practice. I would particularly like to
thank Garth Agnew, Taralisa Allen, Patricia Casey, Eithne Darragh, Helen Gault, Marc
Harvey, Jan Houston, Campbell Killick, Marie McCann, Oonagh McGivern, Eileen McKay,
Rita McKelvey, Helen McVicker, Jacinta Miller, Stephen Russell, Debbie Stringer and
Richard Taylor. Any errors or omissions are, of course, the responsibility of the author.
Very many thanks to Miss Janice McQuilkin, Assistant Subject Librarian at the University of
Ulster for her help and patience in accessing and referencing legal documents. Many sin-
cere thanks to Mrs Siobhan Irwin, Mrs Sharon Lucas, Mrs Sue Gamble and Mrs Janice
Clayton for loyal administrative support over the years.
I apologise for any omissions to these acknowledgements.
Last but not least, heart-felt thanks to my wife Mary for her never-failing support not least
during these months of pulling together a decade of teaching, research, writing and
reflection for this manuscript.
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