Abstract One of social workers’ fundamental mandates is to promote individuals’ active participation in decisions that affect their lives and well-being. This commitment includes the duty to inform and empower citizens regarding legal decisions that impact their lives, as is the case under the Legal Regime for the Accompanied Adult (LRAA). The aim of this research is twofold: first, to review and critically discuss the emergence of the LRAA, noting that it represented an evolution from a paternalistic mentality based on interdiction and disqualification to an accompaniment and support model aiming at autonomy and respect for the beneficiary’s wishes, respecting their human right to self-determination; and second, to analyze whether social workers recognize the duty to inform older adults about the LRAA as part of their professional competencies, assess their training regarding this legal regime, and identify whether they effectively exercise this competence in their daily work. A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted with 201 social workers working in social services for older adults in Portugal. Most consider it their responsibility to inform users about the Regime and feel they can exercise this competence, even without training. However, training significantly predicted the integration of this competence into professional practice. The ability to assume and exercise this competence, even without specific training, indicates social workers’ commitment to the ethical and conduct standards expressed in the Code of Ethics, especially those related to empowering clients to exercise their rights, in line with an exercise of social work based on human rights.
Daniel et al. (Fri,) studied this question.