Adults
Most adults are able to lead independent lives and rely on the support of friends and family when needed. However, many adults do receive practical help and assistance because they cannot live completely independent lives. Adults with learning difficulties may continue to need support in order to make appropriate decisions. Adults with physical disabilities may need a range of physical and practical care, such as assisting with moving about, cooking and dressing etc.
Older adults (old age)
Many older adults need support with physical care such as getting dressed and bathing. Also, help with medicine is essential because older adults need all the help and care they can get. When people are dying they need lots of physical and emotional support. This could be pain relief, help with walking, feeding and cleaning and just someone to talk to.
At this stage, many people need care plans where their needs are assessed and provided for. For example, some people may need to move into a care home, home helps might be needed to go into an old person’s home to help with housework or shopping.
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow (1934-1970) had a theory. His theory was that, human beings have all these different needs and that we all need to make sure we succeed in accomplishing our needs.
He devised a pyramid showing all the needs of humans. Starting at the bottom with out ‘basic needs’, also known as physiological needs. This includes:
- Breathing
- Food
- Water
- Sex
- Sleep
- Warmth
- Air
- Shelter
All these are what we do in everyday life. With out most of these (Breathing, water, food and air) we probably won’t be alive.
Next in the pyramid came ‘safety needs’, this included:
- Security
- Limits
- Stability
- Protection
- Order
- Law
These things are for our safety and protection, (Security, protection and stability) if we didn’t have the majority of these we could be in danger and life itself would be out of control (Law, order and limits).
Then there would be ‘Belonging and Love’. This includes
- Relationships
- Family
- Groups
- Affection
All these needs have something to do we our Social needs, if we didn’t have any of these, our social life would be very low and our social needs would be very negative.
‘Esteem’ needs is next. This part has needs like:
- Responsibility
- Status
- Reputation
- Achievement
- Confidence
All listed above have something to do on how we see ourselves and how other people see us. Some people might have views on how responsible we are and what we have achieved. Then we would think of our selves as popular or not. Any of these could affect our confidence therefore, deciding if our self-esteem is high or low.
Finally at the top of the pyramid there is self-actualisation, this includes:
- Personal growth
- Fulfilment
- Creativity
- Acceptance of facts
All this means what we have to accomplish or complete to make ourselves perfect. We have to be aware of what is going on and why it is going on.
Its obvious, the higher the pyramid is, the less likely we are going to fulfil all those needs. We can’t keep up to that standard all the time because it’s just not possible.
Care Needs and Self-Concept
Some people need care workers to help meet their needs and help them develop a good self-esteem. The care worker needs to make sure that the person needing help feels special and unique; they should feel that they are being treated like an individual and not the same as lots of other people. The care worker also needs to make sure that they think about the background of the person such as their religion and culture. This will help develop the person’s self-esteem and help them emotionally. They need to make sure the person feels safe and protected and that they are in a safe environment. People who feel threatened have a lower self-image and lower self-esteem.
The care worker needs to be able to talk to and listen to the person they are helping and let them see that they are going to do something to help them. Some people just need to feel that they are being listened to. They will feel supported and they will build a strong relationship with their carer and this will help develop the person’s self-concept too. The person needs to feel like they are developing independence and this is important in childhood and adolescence. They need to feel this is valued and therefore will help support their self-esteem. Older people may need more support to stay independent, especially with their physical needs. Care workers need to make sure that the person is allowed to make choices otherwise it could be difficult for the person to develop a self-concept if they don’t get the opportunity to make choices.
Everyone needs to feel respected and maintain dignity during interaction with other people. Without this, people will develop a low sense of self-esteem