Plagiarism – the College takes plagiarism and academic misconduct seriously and therefore, suspected plagiarism will be investigated and if found to have occurred will be dealt with according to the procedures set down by the College. Please see your Student Handbook for further details of course of action for plagiarism issue.

‘Plagiarism’ is presenting somebody else’s work as your own. It includes copying information directly from the Web or books without referencing the material; submitting joint coursework as an individual effort; copying another student’s coursework; stealing coursework from another student and submitting it as your own work.

Student Declaration – all coursework submission will need to bear a declaration signed by you.

Submission Regulations

1. You are required to submit your coursework on-line through the College’s Virtual Learning Environment, (VLE) which can be accessed through http://stpmoodle.net . Detailed information about this is available in the
   Student Handbook.
2. Details of submission procedures and related course of actions can be obtained from the Academic Administration Department or the Student Handbook.
3. If you are unable to submit your coursework on time due to extenuating circumstances, you are required to make an application to your respective Schools for it to be considered, using an ‘Extenuating Circumstances Form’ available from the Academic Admin Office. Do not ask the lecturers responsible for the course – they are not authorised to award an extension. The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick.
4. Specific requirement or subject specific requirement for coursework submission will be stated further in the assignment brief or will be advised by your lecturer.

Learning Outcomes

Task 1

LO1: Understand how significant life events impact on individuals and their social networks

1.1 Explain the impact of significant life events on individuals

1.2 Analyse possible group responses to significant life events that occur to one of its members

1.3 Analyse the impact for others in health and social care when an individual experiences significant life events

Task 2

LO2: Understand the support available for individuals experiencing significant life events

2.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of organisational policies and procedures in supporting individuals and their social networks affected by significant life events

2.2 Explain how others in social networks may provide support to individuals experiencing significant life events

2.3 Evaluate the suitability of external sources of support for those affected by significant life events

Task 3

LO3: Be able to analyse responses made by health and social care services to support individuals experiencing significant life events.

3.1 Analyse possible organisational responses to the need to support individuals experiencing a significant life event

3.2 Reflect on own personal contributions to the support of individuals experiencing significant life events

3.3 Make recommendations for improving the support available in a health and social care organisation for  individuals and their social networks when affected by significant life events.

Scenario/Case Study: Dying and Bereavement

Sue and Tom lost their daughter Jill to leukaemia approximately one year ago. Tom suggested that Sue attend Professional Counselling because she still doesn’t seem to be able to cope with everyday living

Her husband Tom feels that she should be more advanced in her recovery because he himself is coping much better and ‘getting on with life’. Sue is dwelling on guilt prone thoughts such as “Why her, she was so young, I’m still
alive”, “I didn’t tell her I loved her before she died” and “What did I do wrong”.

Sue and Tom have a son David who is 12 and are currently divided on parenting styles, whereas before the death they were fairly similar in their approach. Tom feels that David should be able to do what he wants. He feels that life can be short and therefore doesn’t want to be restrictive. Tom feels that Sue is being over protective whereas Sue feels that she has already lost one child and doesn’t want to lose another. She feels that she couldn’t protect Jill and is now doing everything she can to protect David.

Jill was diagnosed with leukaemia only six months before she passed away. Sue was working part-time before Jill was diagnosed but gave up work to be with Jill during treatment. Sue has not returned to work. Before, when Sue was working part-time she was also doing all the housework, now Sue can’t “even” (her words) get the housework done.

Professional counsellor also discussed the length of time (6 months) that Sue had to come to terms with her impending loss before the loss actually occurred. Sue felt more relieved by discovering that it can be normal for someone to become stuck in a stage when they have little time to come to terms with a death beforehand.

At the end of this session Sue left with an affirmation that she had constructed with the assistance of Counsellor to affirm the normality of her current Grief and Loss behaviour. The affirmation Sue constructed was “The feelings I am
experiencing are normal for the stage I am in. I will progress to the next stage when I am ready”. As Sue and Tom’s communication skills are quite good Sue is also going to discuss the stages of grief with Tom and highlight to him that people progress through the stages at different rates, in order to ease Tom’s concerns about Sue’s progress.

In the following sessions it was apparent that Sue was feeling more comfortable with the stage she was at and was now accepting her feelings. Consequently, other issues could now be worked upon to assist her to progress smoothly
through the remaining stages of the grief process.

This left future sessions to explore the new parenting issues which the loss has created. Sue agreed for Tom to join the counselling process at this stage to explore the differences. Once Tom and Sue acknowledge each other’s thoughts and feeling about the loss of Jill and how this impacted on their thoughts and fears regarding David they were in a better position to co-develop a suitable solution.

Once this issue was resolved there was no further need for counselling. It is important to note that Sue has not finished the grieving process but now has more skills and resources to deal with the final stages without continued
counselling support.