Contemporary Approaches To Intervention With Children At Risk Of Child Abuse And Neglect

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Public Health Approach to Child Well-being

Question 1

Advantages of a public health approach to child well-being

•    A public health approach values the well-being of children

Public health approach underscores the fact that diagnoses, treatments, and interventions have to economic, appreciated by people, and are practically convenient. A public health approach provides patient-centered medical care, thus ensuring that the health and wellbeing of a child is the basis for healthcare service. To further enhance child well-being, the public health approach fosters health education and health literacy among parents and caretakers.

•    A public health approach focuses on effectively targeting interventions.

Targeted interventions ensure effective utilization of resources because they aim at matching the health needs with service. Continued integration of the health goals of the children into the care plans alongside targeting enables institutions to assess the needs, incorporate the health needs of the children, and then allocate resources accordingly. This is fundamental to the well-being of children because varying interventions are required for different population characteristics such as age groups.

Disadvantages of a public health approach to child well-being

•    A public health approach is based on collected data.

Although different forms of child abuse take place across all forms of socioeconomic strata, only some of them are reported. The unreported cases are usually associated with children from families that are poor and socially disadvantaged. Since a public health approach is enacted on the basis of the collected data, there is a high likelihood that the welfare of some children will be disregarded thus making this approach to be ineffective where there is insufficient information about the targeted population (Pholi, 2009).

•    Doesn’t consider disadvantaged individual but disadvantaged population.

According to the World Health Organization (2016), the public health approach is based on the principle of proportionate universalism, in which actions must be proportionate to the degree of disadvantage. This implies that a specific health approach is applied to some population instead of being applied individually to the most disadvantaged.

Question 2

1. a)    Physical abuse

Norman, Byambaa, Butchart, Scott, and Vos (2012) defines physical abuse as any unintentional physical act inflicted upon a child by the child’s caregiver. The initial intention of the abuse is not always to cause harm to the child but is usually justified as a form of discipline.  Physical abuse is more often a type of abuse that is as a result of another kind of emotional abuse such as neglect and emotional abuse. Some parents have difficulties in regulating their emotions, their wrath, and conduct.

1. b)    Emotional maltreatment

Emotional abuse is the most common type of maltreatment and often occurs alongside sexual and physical abuse. It is usually expressed when love and affection are not demonstrated. A study conducted by Bowes, Arseneault, Maughan, Taylor, Caspi, and Moffitt (2009) found out that emotional abuse was rampant at school in the form of bullying.

1. c)    Neglect

According to Stoltenborgh, Bakermans-Kranenburg, and van IJzendoorn (2013) neglect is any grievous act or omission by an individual responsible for the care of a child. Neglect takes place when a child caregiver or parent does not provide the basic needs of the child due to inability or wilfulness. Some of the signs of neglect in childhood include lack of confidence, being over-anxious, aggressive, and being friendly to strangers.

1. d)    Sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is any occurrence in which and an individual, irrespective of age, takes advantage of their authority or power to involve a minor in sexual activity, or predisposes the minor to unfitting sexual conduct or material. Pereda, Guilera, Forns, and Gómez-Benito (2009) indicates examples of acts of sexual abuse to include oral sex, masturbation, fondling of private parts, etc.

1. e)    Exposure to family violence

Types of Child Abuse and Neglect

Family violence is the physical aggression between intimate partners or between members of the family. The children are not often involved directly in domestic violence, but their exposure to violence between two or more family adults affects them psychologically. This leads to poor physical health and drug abuse (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008).

Question 3

The Australian government has adopted different strategies for improving child welfare with varying degrees of success. The initiation of the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) is one of the successful primary health care interventions that has improved child welfare. The ACCHSs is managed by the local Aboriginal communities to deliver holistic, all-inclusive, and culturally considerate health care to the Aboriginal community. The foundation of this primary healthcare intervention was after the failure of the health system to meet the varying and unique health needs of the Aboriginals in the early 1970s in addition to their aspirations for self-determination (Panaretto, Wenitong, Button, & Ring, 2014).

Studies have acknowledged the ACCHS model to be the best that offers comprehensive primary health care in Australia (Couzos, Sheedy, & Thiele, 2011). The success of the ACCHS primary health care intervention can be attributed to various reasons. The ACCHS model is premised on the Aboriginal concept of health as outlined in the National Aboriginal Health Strategy. This has ensured that the model agrees with the understanding of health from the perspective of the Aboriginal. As a result, the Aboriginal community fully accepted the strategy thus improving the wellbeing of the Aboriginal children who have limited access to quality medical care.

Moreover, the ACCHSs has integrated Aboriginal organizations which are locally based.  For instance, the local Aboriginal community elects Aboriginal board of directors who run all the components of the model. This unique form of governance has built trust among the Aboriginals because the management understands the health needs of the community thus make policies and decisions that will meet the community needs. This further improves the health of the community and child wellbeing

Question 4

Varying views of school staff and students on the extent of bullying and the efforts to address it. The staff is likely to underestimate some cases of bullying as being petty whereas the student victims are likely to feel that the teachers are not being supportive and are in one way or the other promoting bullying in school (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, O’Brennan, & Gulemetova, 2011). This is a great challenge because it is likely that the recommendations I will make to curb bullying are not likely to be implemented by the school staff.  This challenge will be overcome by advocating for high-quality training seminars for the teachers to increase their knowledge regarding bullying and the most effective ways of prevention and response (American Educational Research Association, 2013).

Most of the children are less likely to report bullying to their teachers. Studies have shown that children less often report cases of bullying to their teachers, but instead, they report the cases to their parents at home (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, & O’Brennan, 2013). This also is likely to happen at Littleton school. The reluctance of the bullying victims to open up to the school staff can be attributed to the perceived lack of concern. This will make it difficult for me to decide on the appropriate approach to use to solve the problem of bullying due to inadequate information. This issue can be addressed by planning for a bullying prevention exchange programme in which the students can visit nearby school and made aware of the consequences of bullying.

Strategies for Improving Child Welfare in Australia

Question 5

Communication skills

This is the ability to relay information to the receiver more effectively and efficiently. These skills include listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  These skills are not closely interrelated as they may seem to. However, correlations may exist but to a small extent (Ghosh, 2012). Communications skills are generally important when working with families using targeted approaches to the welfare of children. This is because the targeted approach addresses the specific needs of a population with similar characteristics. This, therefore, requires that the implementing team to be able to convince the relevant authorities and beneficiaries of the significant of the given specific intervention that is to be used to offer medical care to the identified population.

Analytical skills

Analytical skills refer to the ability to gather and analyze data, solve problems, and provide solutions or recommendations (Ghosh, 2012). Analytical skills enable one to have a different view of the issue at hand and thus be able to generate a solution to a challenging situation. A targeted approach is usually aimed at a specific population segment that is considered vulnerable due to factors such as assets, income, etc. analytical skills are fundamental to the implementation of targeted approach because the health care provider is required to critically analyze the situation at hand and implement interventions to specific population

Negotiation skills

Negotiation skills involve good interpersonal and communication skills. Negotiation skills show one’s ability to convey information convincingly. It incorporates some other skills such as communication and analytical skills (Ghosh, 2012). The ability to convince policymakers and leaders of a given population of the study of the health needs of the population is important towards the implementation of targeted approach interventions.

Question 6

Desperation. Steve Evans is a desperate man, father, and husband. He doesn’t have a stable job and thus lacks money to provide for his basic needs alongside those of his family. His house is in a real mess and is contemplating getting back with his family, an idea that his wife declined for fear of being looked down upon. The issue of desperation requires guidance and counselling support wither informal or formal. According to MacPherson et al. (2013), guidance and counseling is significant in addressing issues of desperation as it fosters self-confidence and self-worth

Emotional abuse. Shireen’s teacher shows her up in front of other classmates, thus causing an embarrassment to her. The teacher publicly asks her of things like her PE kit, her absence from school among other questions. These make her emotionally disturbed because they are as a result of problems at home. Harris and Sass (2011) carried out a study on teacher training and student performance and found out that additional training seminars to teachers increased classroom relationship between the teachers and students.  

Domestic violence. The quarreling between the parents of Shireen parents makes home uncomfortable for her, and she longs that her family sits down during a meal table like that of her friends. The parents require support in marriage counseling on how to effectively deal with disagreements between themselves. Schofield, Mumford, Jurkovic, Jurkovic, and Bickerdike (2012) observed that regular marriage counseling sessions were essential for happy marriages.

Views of School Staff and Students on Bullying

Child neglect. Lewis father encourages him not to go to school, but instead, they go for taxing jobs where he is given tips. The parents of Lewis are not even concerned with the whereabouts of Lewis. There is need of support in the form of guidance and counseling both for Lewis and his parents. The parents should as well be made aware by the children’s department of the consequences of child neglect. A longitudinal study on binge drinking and child neglect and abuse found out that child neglect was the leading cause of school dropouts (Shin, Edwards, & Heeren, 2009).  

Stubbornness. Liam is stubborn at school and without. He has been accused of abusing drugs, stealing, and becoming a public nuisance when drunk. This is a serious case that requires Liam to be taken to peer guidance and counseling expert to try to ascertain his motivation and the most appropriate approach for the same (Lipsey, 2009).

Question 7

Sociological theory

Advantages

Helps in decision making about factors affecting a given population. Sociological theories help in providing information that is significant to understanding human behavior. A targeted approach is an intervention that is based on the correct information gathered about a given population and aligning the intervention according to the specific need at hand. This theory, therefore, is important in making decisions regarding the particular needs of individuals after gathering data regarding their conduct.  

A basis for further research. A sociological theory gives researchers different perspective of thinking about human behavior instead of generalizing a given behavior to the whole society. Society is a complex phenomenon that requires individual assessments of its subjects due to the variation in the environmental settings and individual characteristics. As a result of the theory, scientists can examine each in a family and then make general inferences on the domineering characteristics across the study population (Scott, 2012).

Disadvantages

The sociological theory encompasses several factors that affect or determine human behavior until it is difficult to deduce it into a mathematical formula. This makes its application in varying settings difficult thus making it subjective. As a result, the credibility of the utilization of this theory is dependent on the rigor of the researcher. Furthermore, human behaviors continue to vary even in the same environment at different times, thus making it difficult to make inferences that can be depended on a long-term basis.

The sociological theory is majorly dependent on the openness of the respondents regarding their views on their behaviors. The theory also depends on observing behavior changes to make inferences. This makes the theory difficult to implement in the case of utilizing a targeted intervention approach with families because the families may be reluctant to disclose their household issues (Scott, 2012).

Question 8

Topitzes, Mersky, and Reynolds, (2011) conducted a study on child maltreatment and offending conducts with a particular focus on gender. The authors found out that significant relationship between child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency existed in males and not in the case of females. These outcomes affirm the hypothesis that delinquency risk is fostered by maltreatment especially in the cases of males that are disadvantaged economically. These findings are significant to targeting approach to child well-being because they demonstrate the most vulnerable group of child maltreatment as the males. Thus, the results indicate that the focus of appropriate intervention should be on the males who are from a poor economic background.

Thornberry, Henry, Ireland, and Smith (2010) carried out a study to ascertain the effects of limited childhood maltreatment and adolescent maltreatment on early adjustment.  The authors found out that there was a significant relationship between childhood-limited maltreatment and depression and drug abuse. The consequence of maltreatment in teenagers included incarceration, crime, drug use, sexual immorality and diagnosis of STDs. The outcomes of this study are crucial in the utilization of the targeting approach in child well-being because they show that causal factors for adolescent behaviors. The information will help in ascertaining the most effective intervention to address their welfare.

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