Prompts for practitioners

You can use these as starting questions to reflect on how best to approach and discuss online behaviour and possible risks, and how to mitigate them, with the people you are supporting:

Do you know how the person you are supporting interacts with the online environment?

• What’s important to them in their online interactions?
• What is their use of social media?
• What groups are they members of?
• Who do they contact and what do they share?

How can you talk with the person being supported and others involved (family, carers, other agencies) to discuss this usage?

What can you do to discuss and acknowledge the risks with them, and also agree boundaries and how to stay safe?

These can be aligned with the Health and Social Care Standards that set out what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland. The Standards are based on the principles of:

• Dignity and respect
• Compassion
• Be included
• Responsive care and support
• Wellbeing

Keeping these Standards central in your mind when you are considering online use with people you are supporting will help keep what is important to them (and others who support them) at the centre of decisions and help bring to the forefront the value that this activity can bring to people’s lives, as opposed to just seeing the risk of online interactions.