The lived experiences of support and care workers who are exposed to work violence and personal danger

Abstract

This dissertation’s main aim is to bring forward, analyse and understand lived experiences of support and care workers who are working within the social sector, and who are feeling a sense of personal danger or who are working within a violent environment. It is not often that one links personal danger or violent environment conditions to support and care workers working within the social sector. Many tend to see the work as easy, however, many tend to overlook that these workers are working at times, under violence induced environments which might lead to injury whilst on duty. The study adopted a qualitative approach and participants were recruited through social media platforms. Participants partook in an interview with open ended questions, and unlimited possibility of open discussion. The study demonstrated and explored the lived experiences of support and care workers working within the social sector, who are working under stress with increased levels of personal danger. The study concludes and outlines the several experiences of the support and care workers, their feelings and thoughts and how they cope during their work days and in the aftermath of an incident. This study also explores if the support and care workers perception of the service-user was altered after an incident and if their experiences changed in accordance to what they perceive.