Handout 1: What Is a Holistic Approach?

Facilitate person centred assessment planning, implementation and review

Handout 1: What is a holistic approach?

Learning outcome 1, Assessment criteria 1.1

It seems logical that health care workers should focus on an individual’s ‘health’ problems, the specific things that are causing an individual pain or which are not working as they should be. Similarly, it seems logical that social care workers should use their knowledge and skills to focus on an individual’s need for personal and social support and assistance. This ‘logic’ has informed the way that health and social care services have operated for a long time. Services and care workers developed expertise and specialisms that reflected this. However, individuals’ needs are more complex and care-giving is a more complicated process than this ‘logical’ approach suggests. Individuals with ‘health’ problems often also have ‘social’ support needs in addition to, or as a consequence of their ill-health. Individuals with ‘social’ needs are also often living in circumstances that affect their physical and mental health and wellbeing.

A holistic approachto care planning, implementation and review recognises the complexity presented by individuals with health and social care needs – see figure 1 and table 1. Essentially it brings the logic of separate ‘health’ and ‘social support’ approaches together by acknowledging that health and social care workers need to focus on the broad, interrelated needs of the whole individual. Holism means looking at the whole individual. Taking a holistic approach requires the care worker to find out about and to take into account all aspects of the individual’s life when carrying out assessments, planning and delivering care and support. When you work with an individual with care needs, it is important to see beyond their apparent physical illness, social isolation or mental health problem. You also need to recognise and understand that the apparent primary problem or difficulty an individual has will also impact on other parts of their life and care needs.

A holistic approach takes all aspects of an individual’s life into account

Figure 1: A holistic approach to assessment

Table 1: Aspects of holism