Safeguarding adults: from realism to ritual

Date12 December 2016
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-06-2016-0011
Pages329-340
Published date12 December 2016
AuthorHeather Yoeli,Sarah P. Lonbay,Sarah Morey,Lara Pizycki
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse
Safeguarding adults: from realism to ritual
Heather Yoeli, Sarah P. Lonbay, Sarah Morey and Lara Pizycki
Heather Yoeli is a PhD
Graduate at the Department of
Public Health and Wellbeing,
Northumbria University,
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Sarah P. Lonbay is a Lecturer in
Advocacy and Engagement at
the Department of Social Work
and Communities, Northumbria
University, Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK.
Sarah Morey is a Post
Graduate Researcher at the
Department of Health and Life
Science, Northumbria
University, Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK.
Lara Pizycki is based at the
Department of Social Work and
Communities, Northumbria
University, Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK.
Abstract
Purpose The landscape of adult social care, and in particular of adult safeguarding, has shifted
considerably over the last decade. Alongside policy changes in the responses to adult abuse, there have
been shifts in professional and public understanding of what falls within the remit of this area of work. This
results, arguably, in differing understandings of how adult safeguarding is constructed and understood.
Given the increasing emphasis on multi-agency inter-professionalcollaboration, service user involvement and
lay advocacy, it is important to consider and reflect on how both professionals and lay people understand this
area of work. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach This study employed Augusto Boals model of Forum Theatre to explore
how a variety of professional and lay groups understood, related to and engaged with how the Care Act 2014
defines and describes adult safeguarding.
Findings Lay participants responded to the scenario in a variety of ways, upholding the construct validity of
adult safeguardingand the authority of the social worker. Social care and health practitioners sought
orderly, professionalised and sometimes ritualistic solutions to the adult safeguardingscenario presented,
seeking carefully to structure and to manage lay involvement. Inter-professional collaboration was often
problematic. The role of lay advocates was regarded ambiguously and ambivalently.
Originality/value This paper offers a number of practice and research recommendations. Safeguarding
practitioners could benefit from more effective and reflexive inter-professional collaboration. Both
practitioners and service users could benefit from the more thoughtful deployment of the lay advocates
encouraged within the Care Act 2014 and associated guidance.
Keywords Advocacy, Adult safeguarding, Service user involvement, Emancipatory methodologies,
Forum Theatre, Multi-agency working
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Society has long believed that adults less able to care for themselves must be protected from harm,
and frameworks of professional governance have generally reflected this (Butler, 2002).
Nevertheless, the challenges of balancing individual autonomy and liberties against their right to
protectionhave alwaysbeen both ethicallyand legally problematic.The currentframework for adult
safeguardingin use in England was created by the 2014 Care Act (UK, 2014). The statutory
guidance which accompanied this legislation (DoH, 2014) describes adult safeguardingas:
[] protecting an adults right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about people and
organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect,
while at the same time making sure that the adults wellbeing is promoted including, where
appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action
(DoH, 2014, p. 1).
Section 42 of the 2014 Care Act defines adults at riskas those who are unable to protect
[themselves] against [] abuse or neglect or the risk of itas a result of their needs for care and
support(UK, 2014). In the reporting period from 2014-2015 there were 103,900 safeguarding
referrals within England. During the previous reporting period, 63 per cent of adult safeguarding
Received 16 June 2016
Revised 8 September 2016
25 September 2016
Accepted 29 September 2016
The authors acknowledge the
inspiration of Ira and Marie
Lightman, Catherine Dunn and
Matt Hargrave in the preparation of
the initial anti-model Forum
Theatre script. The authors
acknowledge the guidance of Mick
Hill, Toby Brandon, Alison Steven,
Pauline Pearson, Donna Burrows
and Ollie Harness in the
preparation of the Forum Theatre
workshop formats. The authors
acknowledge the scrutiny of Cat
Meredith and Andy Fletcher in their
comments upon drafts of this
paper, and extend their thanks to
their proofread Wendy Morton and
to the two anonymous peer
reviewers who scrutinised the initial
submission.
DOI 10.1108/JAP-06-2016-0011 VOL. 18 NO. 6 2016, pp. 329-340, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203
j
THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
j
PAG E 32 9

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