The Health and Social Issue Affecting Aboriginal Family - Case Study Example

THE HEALTH AND/OR SOCIAL ISSUE AFFECTING ABORIGINAL FAMILY THE HEALTH AND/OR SOCIAL ISSUE AFFECTING ABORIGINAL FAMILY Insert name: Insert course code: Instructor’s name: 14 September, 2010. Introduction The current issues affecting the Aboriginal people have deep roots in their history, as Aboriginal peoples have had to struggle to maintain their languages, cultures, and traditions as well as land rights. Aboriginal communal job practice, an up-and-coming occupation, has grown as a result of the need to build up ethnically founded resolutions to the presented problems in Aboriginal community. Issues that Aboriginal peoples encounter include: high rate of poverty along with social dependency, substandard housing and lack of adequate water systems, lower levels of and lack of access to education, high rates of unemployment, poorer health as well as issues like high rates of suicide and drug along with alcohol abuse. The Gordon family is one of the many Aboriginal families that are experiencing these problems. In this case study, we are going to look at the issues that affect the family and how this can be solved. Aboriginal health and social issues General issues Teenage pregnancy is the main issue that is facing the Aboriginal people including the Gordon family. This is caused by the poor living standards which are manifested by the number of people that live under one roof. There are other family problems that this family is facing like the family violence against both partners and children. Additionally, there are problems of fighting, communication problems, emotional neglect, and difficulty in expressing love and affection. Parenting problems like difficulties controlling and disciplining children, problems with communication, a lack of involvement and commitment to parenting are mainly affecting this family. Alcohol and drug abuse is a problem that continues to plague this family and results to family conflicts, social isolation as well as impacts of residential school experiences. Furthermore, it leads to stressful family relationships, poor parenting, in addition to parent-child role reversals. All these problems are directly or indirectly related to the teenage pregnancy. This is because they affect the teens’ psychosocial development directly or indirectly (Turner, 2005 p. 2). Teenage pregnancy Most of youths indulge themselves in drug abuse and the girls become vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies. This is the case with the Gordon family. There are teens that are now pregnant and they have no knowledge of how to take good care of their young ones. This leads to high infant mortality as well as family conflicts. It is evident that some groups of Aboriginal youth are most vulnerable. The young Aboriginal women are four times more liable than their non aboriginal corresponding persons to become single parents in addition to facing related social and economic demerits. As it is seen from the Gordon family, the teen under his roof are pregnant and have no money for upkeep. This increases the crisis within the family and some of the youths may contemplate committing suicide. It is found that 70% of aboriginal people are incarcerated at least once before the age of twenty four, and aboriginal people are four times more likely than other youths to commit suicide (Farber 2009 p. 184). Teen’s pregnancy and how it affects their bio-psychosocial development The Gordon family is a clear indicator of the occurrence in the aboriginal society. The internal colonization has led many families to be socially isolated and end up living in remote areas where they lack social support systems. The Gordon family is socially isolate and is unable to develop supportive relations with others. As a result the family members are not able to establish or maintain supportive interpersonal relationships within the family. Consequently, the teens indulge themselves in bad behaviors like drug use, alcoholism, violence and abuse in addition to pre-marital sexual intercourse which leads to unnecessary pregnancies. Single and/ or teen parents are frequently weighed down by parenting responsibilities, few employment opportunities, low incomes as well as lack of transportation, child care in addition to family support. Teens taking care of handicapped or chronically ill children or adults looking after disabled or homebound spouse or parent are as well stressed emotionally, physically, and frequently financially. This affects the teens psychologically and mentally that most of them become stressed and enters into depression. They later enter into relationships in pursuit of comfort which leads them in having sexual intercourse and become pregnant. Relationship with opposite sex becomes the only comforting thing to run to. Due to stress, the girls are always willing to do anything that can bring pleasure including having sexual intercourse. This endanger their lives and most of them become pregnant (EDELSTEIN 2005 p. 128). When we look at the Gordon family and the teens that are pregnant, we see a likelihood of child abuse in the aboriginal community. Child abuse in aboriginal family can take various forms like failure to meet basic needs for food, water as well as shelter, insufficient stimulation, emotional and physical abuse along with sexual exploitation. Due to these problems, most of the young girls become pregnant and end up being single parents (Loue 2008 p. 166). The early involvements of adolescent in sex affect their bio-psychosocial development. Most of them develop the attitude of low self-esteem, depression, and risk perception. There are four main areas of psychosocial functioning that are affected by biological maturation of adolescents; cognition, perception of self, perceptions of social environment and personal values. All these areas are affected negatively when the young girls become pregnant. There are several factors that lead adolescents to take these risks. The biological factors that influence adolescent risk-taking behavior include pubertal timing, hormonal effects, and genetic predispositions. Psychological factors related to risk-taking on adolescents entail self-esteem, sensation seeking, as well as cognitive and effective states. Social influences on adolescent risk taking include peers, parents and school. Teenage pregnancy results to cognitive immaturity of the adolescents, depression, low self-esteem, male gender, genetic predisposition, sensation seeking, low value on dependence, asynchronous development as well as hormonal effects (DiClemente, Santelli and Crosby 2009 p. 42). Adolescent vulnerability to risk-taking behaviors may be increased situationally by family disruption, school transitions, substance use, as well as peer initiation of risk-taking behaviors. Family violence and child abuse within aboriginal communities are more complex due to some other factors (Loue 2008 p. 166). The history of colonization of Australia led to marginalization, dispossession, forced removal of children, loss of land along with traditional culture and resulted to the ongoing trauma within aboriginal communities. These factors have resulted to social demerits such as poverty, racism, drug, alcohol and substance abuse as well as passive welfare (DiClemente, Santelli and Crosby 2009 p. 41). Continued assaults on aboriginal culture, kinship systems as well as law have brought about conditions where the aboriginal communities are extremely vulnerable to child abuse and family violence. Due to these problems, the teens end up in bad behaviors like abuse of substances which make them practice premarital sex and in the process they become pregnant (Eckermann et al. 2010 p. 90). There are other bio-psychosocial areas that may be affected by teenage pregnancy like disordered eating, conduct problems along with aggression and delinquency. Disordered eating and the pursuit of muscularity in adolescent males are consistently associated with biological factors such as body mass index (BMI), psychological factors such as negative affect and self-esteem as well as socio-cultural factors perceived pressure to lose weight by parents and peers. Other effects are the psychosexual disorders and high degree of impairment in the individual’s personality. Early life experiences of abuse and neglect have left these young people with anger, bitterness, as well as impairment in their ability to form attachments to others (DiClemente, Santelli and Crosby 2009). Teenage mother are more likely to have low educational achievement, live in poverty and unemployed, which results to serious constraints on the quality of their lives as well as that of their children. Most teenagers who have sexual intercourse are more worried about pregnancy and this is evident from the increase in hormonal protection, particularly among older adolescents. The teenage mother’s developmental stages as well as her resources have profound effects on the outcomes of the pregnancy. Choosing between persevering with and terminating a pregnancy is one of the most difficult issues that confront young adolescent women, as this can permanently affect the life of a young woman, particularly those with low self-esteem (McMurray, 2006 p. 189). The political environment in which reproductive choices are made is as well a key influence on the outcomes for the mother and the infant, as the social and competing policy surroundings can conspire against the pregnant woman’s reproductive choices, producing highly inflamed debates as well as polarized opinions. At the societal level, supporting teenage mothers along with their children is costly and a number of them believe it would consume funds hat could otherwise be deployed elsewhere in the health and social system (Warry, 2008 p. 117). Most of adolescents who develop STIs or have unplanned pregnancies have experienced these due to decisions that have taken place while they were affected by either alcohol or illicit drugs. Teenage mothers who smoke tobacco or cannabis increase the levels of risks to their children and to themselves. The overuse of substance including tobacco has far more reaching effects. Smoking, drinking alcohol and illicit drugs cause morbidity and mortality in adolescence and beyond (Orford 2005 p. 62). How the family can resolve adolescent pregnancy There are various methods that the Gordon family and other families can use to deal with teen pregnancy. The aboriginal community can adapt to these methods to curb the issue of teen pregnancy within the community: The family can play a fundamental role in controlling adolescent pregnancy among aboriginals. If parents are free to speak as well as talk about sex with their kids, sex might not be a big issue to the young people. This can reduce their curiosity concerning sex and minimize the trial and error experimentation. The Gordon family ought to enhance on sex education to the teens in the family. It is stated that the older people in the village appear to hold conservative ideas concerning sex. For several aboriginal children, their direct relatives are their grand-parents and siblings. They believe that sex is disgusting and unclean. This makes them not to discuss about sex with their grandchildren. If there is no open conduit for conversation on sex, their kids possibly will not have a role-model for gaining knowledge of suitable sexual attitude and behaviors. Changing the ideas of older people in the villages may be a fundamental way of reducing the high pregnancy rate of aboriginal adolescents (De Chesnay 2005 p. 299). The parents of these youths can play a great role in shaping the conduct of these adolescents. They should take the advantage of living with the adolescents and teach them from their life experiences. They should motivate the youths to change their behaviors. These include the therapeutic approaches such as cognitive behavioral approaches to improve their self-control skills. Also the nurse can conduct training on the negative bio-psychosocial consequences that these youths may face by engaging in sexual activities. The nurse should provide information about the risks of all forms of sexual intimacy as well as the knowledge and methods for preventing sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and premature parenthood. Furthermore, the nurse may help the teen appreciate the potential impact of a pregnancy on her life by asking specific questions. These questions ought to entail the patient’s plans for the next five years and how the plans can be affected if the teen get a baby (Sexson, 2005 p. 301). A nurse can assist the family by enhancing good diet to the teenage mothers. It is important for the nurse to train the adolescent mothers on how to take good care of their children. With low levels of education, teenage mothers cannot be able to fully take care of their children and thus the nurse should make regular visits to the family and offer adult education on the best and most affordable ways of taking good care of the children. Furthermore the nurse is supposed to identify the immediate needs of the individual and be sensitive and supportive in his or her response. Furthermore, the nurse ought to recognize an individual’s or family’s ability to navigate service delivery systems to receive needed services in addition to providing help as deemed necessary (EDELSTEIN 2005 p. 129). Conclusion The Gordon family has helped us comprehend the problems that are presently distressing the aboriginal community. Despite the fact that there are some programs that have been initiated with an aim of curbing these issues, there is still a lot to be done. We have seen that the youth are still struggling with the issue of unemployment, low incomes as well as poor education, not to mention dropping out of school. There is also the issue of child abuse and family violence that is affecting the community adversely. This mainly results from the high levels of poverty along with the marginalization and isolation. Teenage pregnancy has risen to be the most profound problem with the aboriginal family. Most of youth indulge themselves into substance abuse due to lack of jobs and poor education, which result to unwanted pregnancies. This results to teenage mothers who do not have understanding on how to take care of children. With enhancement on sex education, this problem can be curbed within the aboriginal community. References: De Chesnay M. (2005). Caring for the vulnerable: perspectives in nursing theory, practice, and research. MA, Jones & Bartlett Learning. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=e3jCxMv_l2YC&pg=PA299&dq=teens+pregnancy+in+aboriginal+family&hl=en&ei=pBmPTMboHYzLOLjI5akN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false DiClemente R., Santelli J.S. and Crosby R.A. (2009). Adolescent Health: Understanding and Preventing Risk Behaviors. John Wiley and Sons. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=KcrwY8eCwcQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=teen%E2%80%99s+pregnancy+and+its+influence+on+the+biopsychosocial+development+of+teens+in+aboriginal+family&hl=en&ei=ZgSPTMexMIymOKHs0L8M&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Eckermann A. K. et al. (2010). Binan Goonj: Bridging Cultures in Aboriginal Health (Edition3). NSW, Elsevier Australia. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=dZfzJNACu0C&pg=PA90&dq=unemployment+in+aboriginal+family&hl=en&ei=JkGOTLj0KZOJOLC8pa8K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=unemployment%20in%20aboriginal%20family&f=false EDELSTEIN F. S. (2005). NUTRITION IN PUBLIC HEALTH: HANDBOOK FOR DEVELOPING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES (edition 2). Jones & Bartlett Learning. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=scLL3PoA75sC&pg=PA128&dq=health+and/or+social+issue+affecting+the+aboriginal+unemployed+and+poor+family&hl=en&ei=NySOTIDMKIutOOaHpYgL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=true Farber N. (2009). Adolescent pregnancy: policy and prevention services Edition2). NY, Springer Publishing Company. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=FJg58WeMF70C&pg=PA186&dq=teens+pregnancy+and+its+effects+on+biopsychosocial+development&hl=en&ei=nBqPTJjHG8XuOcvirMQM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false Loue S. (2008). “Health issues confronting minority men who have sex with men”. NY, Springer. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=FIgTWh7ZFbsC&pg=PA166&dq=health+and/or+social+issue+affecting+the+aboriginal+unemployed+and+poor+family&hl=en&ei=NySOTIDMKIutOOaHpYgL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=true Maureen C. (2008) Transgender Youth, Adolescent Decision-making, and Roper v. Simmons; 56 UCLA L. Rev. 725 (2008-2009). Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/uclalr56&div=22&id=&page= McMurray A. (2006). “Community Health and Wellness”: A Socio-ecological Approach (edition3). NSW, Elsevier Australia. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=njQpCNMTS0UC&pg=PA146&dq=health+and/or+social+issue+affecting+the+aboriginal+unemployed+and+poor+family&hl=en&ei=NySOTIDMKIutOOaHpYgL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=true Newman B.M and Newman P.R. (2008). Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach (Edition10) London, Cengage Learning. . Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=FqwzGlvU_1EC&pg=PA127&dq=teens+pregnancy+and+its+effects+on+biopsychosocial+development&hl=en&ei=nBqPTJjHG8XuOcvirMQM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false N Adelson N. (2005). The embodiment of inequity: Canadian Journal of Public Health. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://pubs.cpha.ca/PDF/P24/22247.pdf Orford J. (2005). “Coping with alcohol and drug problems: the experiences of family members in three contrasting cultures”. NY, Taylor & Francis. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=CWMfhgsv_xQC&pg=PA61&dq=unemployment+in+aboriginal+family&hl=en&ei=SfOTI73KaeXOP2YsesM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=unemployment%20in%20aboriginal%20family&f=true Sexson S. B. (2005). Child and adolescent psychiatry (Edition2). Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved September 15, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=MP0t4D4MKMMC&pg=PA301&dq=teenage+pregnancy+and+how+it+influences+the+biopsychosocial+development+of+the+teens&hl=en&ei=mWGQTLjPPI2OjAeot62SDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false Turner F. J. (2005). Encyclopedia of Canadian social work. Canada, Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=tZNNqCo9O7IC&pg=PP1&dq=a+case+study+to+identify+the+health+and/or+social+issue+affecting+the+aboriginal+unemployed+and+poor+family&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false Tsey K, Wilson A., Haswell-Elkins M. and Australasian M. (2007). Empowerment-based research methods: a 10-year approach to enhancing Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://informahealthcare.com/doi/full/10.1080/10398560701701163 Warry W. (2008). Ending Denial: Understanding Aboriginal Issues (Edition2). Ontario, University of Toronto Press. Retrieved September 14, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=sBzPMznA_4wC&pg=PA116&dq=health+and/or+social+issue+affecting+the+aboriginal+unemployed+and+poor+family&hl=en&ei=NySOTIDMKIutOOaHpYgL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=true Read More