Do nurses and social workers have different values? An exploratory study of the care for older people

Abstract

This study explored the different values of staff from two care homes for older people in which the managers had different qualifications (social worker vs. nursing). Their views were examined to explore whether the values of the staff might reflect any value difference originating in the professional backgrounds of the managers. There was little evidence of awareness in either home of the ethical principles underlying day-to-day decisions. However, a distinction based on care qualification did appear with “care-qualified” staff (defined in terms of qualification requirements for this care work) demonstrating a more reflective response and fewer ageist assumptions than their non-care-qualified colleagues. The study found no difference in values between the nursing and social worker-led homes. All respondents, regardless of the profession of their manager, were keenly aware that they have a “duty of care” and overwhelmingly they defined that as their duty to keep the resident safe, as opposed to allowing her to exercise autonomy. The study results suggest that value base constitutes a commonality between professions involved in the care of older people rather than a barrier to collaboration, as is sometimes posited.

Keywords::

• Ageism
• ethics
• nursing
• shared decision-making
• social work
• values

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Social Workers' Educational Trust, without which this work could not have been undertaken. The help and support of the managers of the homes studied was invaluable as was the co-operation of the staff who completed the questionnaire. Dr Sheila Hamilton provided the statistical analysis that was essential to the presentation of the data and her careful work is much appreciated. Finally, we acknowledge the help, support and guidance of the reviewers and, in particular, of Professor Scott Reeves.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the writing and content of this paper.