Unit 204 – Principles of safeguarding and protection in health and social care
The numbers in the bracket after each question relate to the assessment criteria in the standards
1. Define the following types of abuse: (1.1.1)
a. physical abuse
This doesn’t mean that you have any physical marks on you if you’re the victim, but it is usually a physical act resulting in abuse here are some examples; being pushed or shoved, being slapped, bitten, kicked punched ETC, being denied access to places like the toilet or the ability to wash, and in more extreme cases being burned, attempted to kill or actual murder.
Signs and symptoms of physical abuse; a person may be withdrawn or hide away when in the presents their abusers or maybe even anyone at all, may be quite or not speak at all, they may not want to see people, abuse can lead to the person neglecting themselves (see answer to 1f for description). They may have physical injuries like bruises, burns, and even broken bones. Cowering, flinching and weight loss are also common, Physical abuse is related to Emotional/psychological abuse there are further signs and symptoms there.
b. sexual abuse
With sexual abuse there is normally one party who is in a position of power this could be anyone to the victim, a family member, care worker, friend, they use their position of power to their advantage to assert their influence over the victim, it is common for there to be an age difference and the person in the position of power to be older than the victim. Sometime the victim is not even aware of what is going on and it may not be until after that they fully understand the implications of what has happened.
A few examples of sexual abuser are; penetration of any body part with an object, finger or a penis, sexual exploitation, threatening a person about sexual activities, exposing someone to pornographic material.
Signs and symptoms of sexual abuse; as a result of the above similar to physical abuse the victim may have physical injuries like bruises, burns, and even broken bones. And again the person may become withdrawn, or hide away when in the presence of their abusers or other people, as with physical abuse cowering, flinching and weight loss are common.
Urine infections, soreness or bleeding around the genital area, or any orifice, excessive cleaning or masturbating, all of these things could lead to the person neglecting themselves (see 1f), this leads to emotional abuse as below.
c. emotional/psychological abuse
Most forms of abuse have an emotional edge to them, over time these forms of abuse take away the persons self-confidence and can have long lasting effects, here are some forms of abuse which are just emotional; bullying, making threats, shouting, swearing, constant teasing, racial abuse, humiliation and withdrawing or refusing affection.
Signs and symptoms of emotional abuse/psychological abuse; most abuse relates to emotional abuse in one way or another, the individual can become withdrawn or isolate themselves, are prone to self-neglect and may show a loss of confidence, these signs may not show straight away but may develop over time, so may not be obvious straight away, other symptoms anxiety, irrational fear, depression, but the most obvious would be any notable changes to the individuals behaviour.
d. financial abuse
Financial abuse if fairly straight forward, it is abuse of someone’s finances, the people who take residence in a care home are vulnerable to financial abuse, as they have limited understanding of finances.
Some forms of abuse would be; stealing, allowing others to steal from a Service User, and refusing individuals to manage their finances if they are able to.
Signs of financial abuse; money may go missing or be short when returned to do the finances, loss of receipts, not able to pay their bills, recent changes to the deeds on a property, or basic needs not being met.
e. institutional