Personal Development Plan as a Health and Social Care Worker

According to Barnard (2017), a personal development plan is a written summary of self-reflection and true evaluation of one’s own strengths and weaknesses with a clear set out goals which includes; improvement on the skills and acquisition of new qualities, providing a measure to monitor progress and determine achievable individual and professional skills in future because achieving success comes with planning ahead and setting out onset goals.

Therefore, this PDP 2 will be evaluating and addressing my learning and developmental needs so far up to this Semester 2 as well as expressing my view on the research area of my choice. Furthermore, I will elaborate on the impact of my involvement in this module on my personal integrity, principles and values both academically and otherwise, followed by a general summary of essential benefits this module has offered based on my participation.

My Learning on the Module

My most impacted learning needs was reading to understand and writing in an academic format. Academic writing is the use of effective research when considering a topic, showing skills of clear, concise, well-structured and backed up with evidence in the writing (Bailey, 2017). In the first semester, I struggled with understanding what I read to enable me use them for my writing, including taking notes and structuring my essay.

I had to prepare and build up myself ahead of time by reading important information constantly for at least three to four hours every day, to improve my understanding and practice the best ways to write effectively as a student. I had to put in extra effort by repeatedly reading the contents of the lecture notes and reading materials provided by the lecturer in order to organize my knowledge, comprehend the new concepts and terminologies taught and incorporate them in my study. The reading materials issued at the end of each class are voluminous and at times getting to finish reading the weekly apportioned sections is challenging. I dedicated more time in reading up appropriate materials for each assignment in order to clearly comprehend the requirements because I experienced a lot of assessments in other modules I took. I implemented the use of guidelines from the school academic mentors and coaches towards structuring my assessment writing. This was learning how to write good introduction, body of assessment and conclusion.

I also improved my academic writing skills through following up collaboratively with the lecturer who actively engages us in discussions throughout the lecture period by calling our names and frequently asking questions. This made me to upgrade to being an active learner and a critical thinker, which I incorporated into my reading and writing.

During my first semester, I was regularly faced with time management to meeting deadlines and commitments. Time management skills are skills that helps in managing times well when achieving a task. I soon realised that I had to be more efficient and improve my planning skills, including organising my study materials, prioritising my assessment task based on the due dates and setting goals in order to achieve the aim of my objectives (Morris, 2011). This is because, in the first semester, we were bombarded with so much information and assessment from this module and other modules and I felt I could not manage with doing so many assessments within a short period of time. Then I made use of my personal diary, mnemonics and electronic calendar, target-setting schedule and improvement timetable to organise and plan efficiently for my school work (Morris, 2011). This allowed me set time to complete tasks according to its importance through making to do lists for the completion of my work.

My research interest was based on mental health disorder. This is because, I found out during my reading and researching time that mental health disorders affect every age, sex, gender, ethnic and socioeconomic group. Therefore, researching on this topic will deepen my understanding, experience and knowledge that will equip me in my practice as a health and social worker (Homden, 2019). Mental health disorder can be explained as a disorder that affects people’s behaviour, thoughts and feelings. Mental health disorder can be in the form of depression, anxiety, psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Mental health disorders can be determined by various factors such as peoples, genes and family history, life experiences which involves stress and abuse, biological factors like brain imbalance, brain injury, alcohol misuse and isolation caused by lonely feelings (Legg and Holland, 2018). Mental health disorder can be treated based on a person’s diagnosis which involves either therapeutic interventions, medications, social support and intensive treatments which may involve being admitted in a psychiatric hospital.

I preferred the qualitative research approach which does not base its search on determined theory because it gathers and evaluates data and produce results that solve problems (Walliman, 2011). Also, the researcher is at liberty to go beyond the original answer from the subject. It is less cost, time and labour intensive. I can easily express how this approach contributes novel information and understanding, acknowledge my limitations and justifications.

Also, the qualitative research method involves the use of smaller quantities and has a flexible data collection approach and analysis which is not numerical or statistical but based on observation and interaction particular issue studied at various stages (Walliman, 2011). I prefer the qualitative method because it is exploratory, easier, descriptive, communicative and uses less rigid and formal materials and sources which allow the subjects a level of natural freedom rather than mandating them to choose form options not suitable or comfortable for their mood or conduct.

Also, a primary research method will be the basic methodological approach of my choice. Primary research can be defined as a means of directly collecting data instead of relying on data that has already been collected from an already done research. This is because, I will prefer using it as a survey in which the experimental subjects will respond freely to open questions in a questionnaire or interview. I may embark on One-on-one In-depth Interviews, to obtain people’s detailed and broad opinions and perceptions, or a case study research or comprehensive examinations of contents to examine the variables ideal to the case under investigation in its individual original situations (Gaillet and Eble, 2015). I may also use the participant study or focus groups by studying the sample in their normal nature.

I prefer the primary research because it will have a fresh and accurate result, and focus on mental health disorder directly for an in-depth analysis on the health topic rather than combining other health issues with the research (Gaillet and Eble, 2015). However, primary research is time consuming due to conducting of interviews and time investment with ethical approval and survey communications, and therefore, will require my time management skills to achieve the aim of the research.

I will be adopting the Gibbs reflective cycle to elaborate on my challenging experiences with my principles and values towards my participation of this module.

Description: Keeping up to with the ever-changing fast pace in a foreign university was a huge challenge I witnessed. I originated from Nigeria and my family and friends who usually assist me all lived in Nigeria. Getting myself acquainted with the currency differences was challenging because I had to mentally calculate the prices of items to avoid overspending beyond my budget. The costs and prices of course essentials were a bit on the high side than in my country. I struggled with cultural misunderstandings. I developed psychological stress which had a negative effect on me generally.

Feelings: I felt home sick and felt disconnected both emotionally and practically and struggled with adapting to meet with academic expectations, associating, studying concentration, developing good conducts and keeping safe relationships, managing cultural and social diversities and staying healthy.

Evaluation/Analysis: Practicing and encouraging self-talk would have kept me focused on my goal and improved my confidence. I felt so vulnerable, frustrated, stressed and overlooked when I realised that there is a great difference in social and cultural adjustments amongst international students.

Changing my eating and drinking habits by keeping hydrated, eating healthy and balanced meals, getting enough good night rest and regularly visiting my GP clinic would have been ideal in refreshing my whole self. Also, listening and associating more with other students would have relaxed my nervousness and encouraged my quick understanding of their cultures and languages.

Action plan: I will prioritise all my events and schedules to avoid stress. In future, I will endeavour to cope with the cultural misunderstandings by making new friends who have like minds like me and are supportive. I will learn from my mistakes and copy what others do. I will endeavour to ask questions if in any doubt.

Conclusion

Personal development plan has helped improve my interpersonal skills and societal growth which are of great importance because I was deficient in academic writing skills, time management and relating with others.

Participating in the various aspects of this module has boosted my transferrable skill acquisition in academic and non-academic activities and increased my professional capabilities. PDP has improved my variety of skills through improving my learning needs, choosing a research topic that interests me for my future years in the university, reflecting on my experiences and preparing me for balancing my daily activities in my future professional practice as a health and social care worker and private life in the areas of organization, prioritization, goal-setting and planning ahead.