Professional boundaries in a person-centred paradigm

Abstract

Since Valuing People (Department of Health, 2001), there has been a marked change in landscape for housing support and service provision for people with a learning disability. Care and supported living options are now provided by a myriad of providers across the healthcare, social-care and independent sectors. Due to the complexity of such individualized care arrangements, and the non-traditional roles of such service professionals and providers, examination of professional role boundaries with service users is essential; traditional role boundaries are not easily transferable or considered within such professional supports and services. This article discusses important facets of professional boundaries that impact directly on such contemporary, learning disability, person-centred services.

Do professional boundaries limit trust?

“…Rather, they are simply people who offer care in its fullest sense, with little differentiation between the boundaries of clinical, social, and friend. Their blurring of professional/personal/family ignores the cues to possible boundary problems listed by Parkes and Jukes ().…”

“…What would it have felt like to be the manager in this situation? Gina was going well beyond what is normally considered to be the boundaries of professional practice (Parkes & Jukes ). The journey required her to be with this family well beyond her hours of work, so much so that she was asked to take some of it as annual leave.…”

“…In reviewing the literature on professional boundaries, we were struck that most of the writing gives examples of boundaries being breached with negative consequences (Martsolf ; Brous, ; Gardner et al . ), or offers firm guidelines on how to keep within boundaries (Badawi ; Griffith & Tengnah ; Holder & Schenthal ; Parkes & Jukes ; Peternelj‐Taylor & Yonge ). Boundaries relate to maintaining the client relationship within the contracted time allowance, receiving no additional payment, and staying within the space allocated to the therapeutic encounter (Arnd‐Caddiganm ).…”

“…Boundaries relate to maintaining the client relationship within the contracted time allowance, receiving no additional payment, and staying within the space allocated to the therapeutic encounter (Arnd‐Caddiganm ). A breach might reveal an overinvolvement, especially in relation to touching, comforting, and sexual contact (Parkes & Jukes ; Peternelj‐Taylor ). Staff are advised to avoid revealing personal information, allowing relatives to accompany them on client visits, going on holiday with a client, or accepting inappropriate gifts (Griffith ; Parkes & Jukes ).…”

“…A breach might reveal an overinvolvement, especially in relation to touching, comforting, and sexual contact (Parkes & Jukes ; Peternelj‐Taylor ). Staff are advised to avoid revealing personal information, allowing relatives to accompany them on client visits, going on holiday with a client, or accepting inappropriate gifts (Griffith ; Parkes & Jukes ). Nevertheless, Gardner et al .…”