3 Doing an assessment
The last section of this week provides an opportunity for you to observe a mental capacity assessment.
Activity 3 Assessing Roger’s mental capacity
Allow about 30 minutes
You are now going to end Week 4 by taking a look at an assessment of Roger. You watched this video in Week 2, so you may want to just skim through it. This time, take note of how Tracey the social worker conducts the assessment and the skills she uses. Note also the environment in which the assessment takes place.
Make notes in the text box on how you think this helps her get a true picture of Roger’s capacity to make decisions about money. Your notes will help you in this week’s quiz.
Comment
Tracey, the social worker in the film, demonstrated a number of skills:
- She involved Roger as much as she could. This added time to the interview.
- She planned the timing and the environment carefully.
- She assumed Roger had mental capacity throughout.
- She listened to what he was saying.
- It is likely that she reminded herself of the concept of reasonable belief.
The video shows a shortened version of what actually happened. It may be that in real-life situations the interview for assessing mental capacity happens on more than one occasion.
OpenLearn - Understanding mental capacity
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