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Personal Care, Hygiene, and Grooming

A guide to help Direct Support Professionals understand the importance of health maintenance and the professional ethics that apply when providing personal care. Personal Care Guidelines are also included in this unit.

Outcomes:

• • • • Understand why personal hygiene is an important part of good health maintenance Understand what areas are included in health maintenance Know when to offer choices when providing personal care Understand that professional ethics should always be applied when providing personal care

Personal Care, Hygiene, and Grooming

The most important aspect of maintaining good health is good personal hygiene. Personal hygiene which is also referred to as personal care includes all of the following: Bathing and Showering Hair care Nail care Foot care Genital care Dental care Personal hygiene is keeping the body clean, and helps prevent the spread of germs. Grooming is caring for fingernails and hair examples of these activities would be styling hair, shaving, trimming and painting fingernails. Maintaining good health also includes the following areas: Nutrition, Leisure/recreation opportunities, sleep, and exercise. As you can see, there are many factors that contribute to feeling and looking good. Feeling and looking good are important to each individual’s emotional and physical wellbeing. In your role your responsibilities’ will vary from assisting to providing personal care. These activities are very important and unique for each individual. The DSP’s toolkit includes a set of professional ethics that guide the DSP in everything he or she does. When assisting individuals with personal care, the DSP should be especially mindful of professional ethics. These ethics or principles become routine as they are practiced and applied each day. As a DSP, you will want to apply your professional ethics every time you assist and support an individual with personal care skills. • Respect: As a DSP, I will...