The writer has learned a lot through this course about working with Hispanic elders and their families. The writer has learned that the process of finding resources and people to help can be a long and frustrating process, the patience and listening abilities of the social worker are imperative. The ability of the social worker to create lasting relations with other agencies is very important as well. Many seniors have a variety of social and psychological problems. To resolve these problems, they most often depend on social service providers. Hence, social workers become a significant part of the social world of the elderly in their later years. While elderly persons need food, shelter, health care, and social services, they also need to be treated with respect. The extent to which the service providers treat elderly persons with respect, therefore, becomes a significant psychosocial factor that affects the quality of their later life (Sung & Kim, 2008).

In social work, respect for the client has, in fact, been considered to be the very beginning of the service process (NASW, 1996). That is, respect is to precede all forms of care and service (Gambrill, 1983). With respect, service providers can demonstrate a positive …show more content…
In a helping situation, whenever the provider demonstrates to her clients by her actions that she respects them, a relationship grows. The clients treated with respect will be more likely to freely discuss difficult topics, explore their own contributions, and involve themselves in a cooperative effort to achieve desired service outcomes (Gambrill, 1983). The writer has learned from this class that respect means more to Hispanic elders than a lot of other things and you must gain their respect before anything can be accomplished and trust is established. This was a big lesson for the writer about the Hispanic