An examination of differences in how health disciplines view and respond to risk within adult guardianship investigations of self-neglect

The BC Adult Guardianship Act (AGA) is legislation that guides when adults can and cannot make their own decisions about their health care and financial management. Under the AGA, certain agencies are designated to respond to concerns of abuse, neglect, and self-neglect. Adult guardianship investigations are completed by designated responders, most often social workers and health care professionals such as registered nurses. Designated responders often work within interdisciplinary health care teams, in community and acute care. Research shows there is no common definition of risk or self-neglect, but there are themes of perception and interpretation amongst each profession. The differences in perception and interpretation of risk affect how social workers position themselves in interdisciplinary health care teams, and their approach to adult guardianship investigations. This major paper uses a thematic review of literature to examine the research question “How does perception, and interpretation of risk impact a social worker’s role within an interdisciplinary health care team when investigating concerns of selfneglect?”