The Social and Emotional Wellbeing of the Australian Child and Adolescent - Term Paper Example

The Social and Emotional Wellbeing of the Australian Child/Adolescent Name: Institution: Childhood Injuries Childhood injuries remain a major health concern in Australia with the number of childhood deaths associated with accidental injuries amounting to approximately 300 school going children annually. Other than being a challenge to the Australia healthcare systems, the increasing number of pediatric injuries has become devastating for the parents and guardians. Injuries among school going children can be classified either into unintentional or accidental. The various forms of injuries present a great challenge particularly in the way of strategies laid down to aid prevent such injuries and promoting improved wellbeing among the school going children (Kuehnel, Beatty & Gleberzon, 2008). With injuries accounting for many deaths among the Australian school-going children, injury prevention is becoming a major focus within the countries health care system. Some of the common injuries leading to hospitalization and even death among children between the age of one year and fourteen years include falls, transport or road accidents, drowning and poisoning (Center for Community Child Health, 2006). Injuries exert significant pressure on the finances allocated for delivery of health care in Australia leading to significant compromise on the accessibility and provision of other services. This paper explores the issue of injuries among school going children in Australia including the contributing factors, and recommendations on the best way to address the health concern. Prevalence and Causes of Injuries Play-related injuries such as falls are the most common nonfatal injuries among children aged one to fourteen years in Australia. Home settings form the most common areas where play-related injuries are reported in the country with most affecting the head (Lam, 2009). These injuries manifest inform of cuts on the head and lacerations. Although transport accidents account for the greatest fatal injuries among this group of children, drowning and burns account for significant number of children’s death associated with injuries. Although play-related injuries may not often translate to death, they lead to hospitalization and significant pressure on the available health care facilities. Children get hurt during recreation activities within the school with common injuries being cuts and broken limbs. Studies have shown that the boy child is at greater risk of injuries compared with the girl child, especially due to the level of activeness and playfulness (Desapriya, Pike & Singhai, 2007). School going children are more vulnerable to transport and play-related injuries compared to pre-school children that face different injury risks including burns, drowning and poisoning. The transport related accidents can be attributed to careless driving and poor road use in which many children get knocked down as they cross the roads. Children in this age group are mostly unaware about traffic rules or unable to make proper judgments as they cross the roads. Other common injuries among the school age children include suffocation, choking and dog bites. Due to the height of the school age children they are predisposed to dog bites on their faces, implicating injuries on the children that in many cases lead to death (Reading, 2008). At the age in which the children learn to cycle, many school going children are exposed to different forms of injuries associated with falls as well as road accidents. Transport injuries among the children take place when the children are walking to school and accidents involving school vehicles ferrying them to and from the school. Unlike the play-related injuries, transport-related injuries require intensive healthcare, hospitalization and death. Other injury causes include burns and scalds that in many cases result from hot fluids, cooking oil, fires, improper use household appliances and hot tap water (Kuehnel, Beatty & Gleberzon, 2008). Improper storage of flammable substances is a major cause of fires that result deadly burn injuries among school age children. The children also suffer from assault injuries either inflicted by their parents or outsiders or unknown people. Again, boys face a greater risk in encountering assault injuries with some being fatal. Some of the assault injuries suffered by school age children result from bullies or children older than them. Transport accidents emerge as the leading cause of fatal injuries among the school age children with drowning emerging second greatest cause of fatal injuries. Effects on the Family The various forms of injuries affecting school age children result into adverse effects on both the children and the family. Many families have lost their children due to fatal injuries inflicted through transport accidents among other forms of severe injuries. Childhood injuries cause many families to invest a lot of capital or finances in financing hospitalization in hospitals with different non-fatal injuries (Josse, Mackay, Osmond & Macpherson, 2009). Treatment costs greatly impacts negatively on the financial position of different families as they attempt to restore the wellbeing of their children. Some of the severe injuries among these children result to disability forcing the family to deal with the child’s disability despite having given birth to a normal child. Disabilities resulting from childhood injuries often cause psychological disturbances among the parents and other family members. Such injuries can also result into family breakup as the treatment drain the families every of their coin (Klass, 2010). On the other hand, injuries directly affect the wellbeing of the injured child in different ways including having to deal with disability issues. Children are affected psychologically as they attempt to adjust to their new status brought about by the injuries. Fatal injuries often terminate the dreams of many innocent children before they can actually realize who they are or what their talents are. In addition, non-fatal injuries result in delays in the child’s development as through hospitalization or being bedridden. Injured children also experience delays in their education before they can recover and resume their normal learning. This may demoralize the child or affect their psychological wellbeing. Recommendations The best strategy for dealing with the problem of school age children injuries entails preventive measures that should be implemented by the schools, parents and the government. Since transport accidents emerge as the major causes of severe injuries among these children, the first preventive measure should entail education of the children on the proper use of roads and traffic rules. Children crossing roads should always do so with the help of a mature person. Schools should also implement strict measures in their transport including employment of experienced drivers. The school staff should also be properly educated on issues of the children safety during recreation activities. Implementation of proper safety measures recreational activities can play a critical role in reducing the number of play-related injuries (Howard, Macarthur, Rothman, Willan & Alison, 2009). Since play-related injuries also take place in the home setting, parents should also be informed about the safety measures required to minimize the number and the severity of the injuries suffered by the children as they play. In addition, the children should also be informed on the measure to take in order to avoid unnecessary play-related injuries. Schools should also deal amicably with the problem of bullying as way of reducing the number of injuries related to assaults from older children. Injuries associated with environmental hazards can be reduced through identification and mitigation of such hazards both within the school compound and within the home compound. Schools should liaise with architects and landscapers to ensure that the school compound does not expose the children to injuries in any way. The government can also play an important role in reducing childhood injuries through supervision of schools and other institutions concerned with the safety of the children to ensure that they adhere and implement standard safety measures (Crowe, Anderson, Castroppa & Franz, 2010). Compliance with the established safety standards in all areas including the school compound, roads construction, and residential building can also play a great role in reducing most of the preventable injuries among the school age children. Children affected by severe injuries that may translate into disabilities should be well counseled to minimize the psychological problems that may arise from such experiences. Affected parents and close family members should also be offered psychological support to enable them deal with such eventualities. Conclusion Injuries among the school going children pose a great challenge in the promotion of general wellbeing among the Australian children as the number of children affected by this health concern continue to increase. Severe injuries result into devastating experience for both the parents and the children especially when a child is forced to live with body deformity associated with the injuries. This problem can however be minimized through proper education of the parents, children and all other people concerned with the welfare of the children on issues of safety. The government also has a role to play which is to ensure strict adherence to safety standards in all institutions dealing the children including residential and road construction. References Center for Community Child Health. (2006). Preventing injury. Retrieved from http://raisingchildren.net.au/verve/_resources/Preventing_injury.pdf Crowe, M., Anderson, V., Castroppa, C., & Franz, E.(2010). Head injuries related to sports and recreation activities in school-age children and adolescents: Data from a referral center in Victoria, Australia. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 22 (1), 56-61. Desapriya, R., Pike, I., & Singhai, A. (2007). Analysis of pediatric injuries related to child restraint seats: Are children at higher risk of injury outside the vehicle than insided? International Journal of Injury Control & Safety Promotion, 14(3), 196-198. Howard, W., Macarthur, C., Rothman, L., Willan, A., & Alison, P. (2009). School playground surfacing and arm fractures in children: A cluster randomized trial comparing sand to wood chip surfaces. Medicine, 6 (12), 1-9. Josse, M., Mackay, M., Osmond, H., & Macpherson, K.(2009). School injury among Ottawa-area children: A population-based study. Journal of School Health, 79 (2), 45-50. Klass, P. (2010). When a child gets hurt, a sibling may be at risk. New York. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=0e593554-2ac6-43fd-8e9d- e961ae3da9fe%40sessionmgr10&vid=1&hid=11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ %3d%3d#db=bwh&AN=51237175 Kuehnel, E., Beatty, A., & Gleberzon, B. (2008). An intercollegiate comparison of prevalence of injuries among students during technique class from five chiropractic colleges throughout the world: A preliminary restrospective study. Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, 52 (3), 169-174. Lam, R. (2009). Children at play: The death and injury pattern in New South Wales, Australia, July 1990- 1994. Journal of Paediatrics & Children Health, 35 (6), 572-577. Reading, R. (2008). Area socioeconomic status and childhood injury morbidity in New South Wales, Australia. Child: Care, Health & Development, 34(1), 136-146. Read More