Factors That Affect the Health and Personal Development - Assignment Example

Answer 1:

There are several factors which affect the health and personal development of people in the society. Such changes affecting the well-being of individuals usually occur over time, creating various significant health impacts depending on the environment. Genetic history, environmental science, and environmental hazards are some of the specific factors which bring about the negative impact on health resulting into a person being diagnosed with complicated physical and mental health problems (Working together p. 93). Just like in Justin's case from this study, there are many interrelated risks faced by the Aboriginal people which actually affect their social and emotional well-being. Such risks include racism and discrimination, unresolved life misery and loss, life fear, drug abuse and physical health problems.

A recent research carried out in Australia indicated that racism is the major cause of stress and socioeconomic loss experienced by the Aboriginal people together with their families leading to adverse consequences on social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) and other health effects including depression, risk of suicide, mental and physical ill-health, emotional difficulties, drug abuse and poor oral health. Several types of research have proven that social factors can greatly influence the physical and mental health of human beings. Nevertheless, it should be noted that physical and mental health are interconnected in a way such that physical health can adversely affect the mental health and vice versa.

Unsettled emotional distress or devastating grief can also lead to impaired mental health. Actually, grief and loss have been identified as the major factors which have had a serious impact on the health status of the Aboriginal people.

Another research shows that diabetic people are vulnerable to the risk of suffering from depression. Diabetes, like any other chronic condition, requires intensive condition management on a daily basis, to avoid exposing an individual to depression. There is also a high possibility of an individual suffering from depression to develop diabetes complications. Diabetic people always have difficulty in performing their daily duties, forcing them to live a distressing life. In the long run, managing diabetes through regular checking of the blood sugar level in the body, frequently seeking medication, adhering to the healthy diet as provided by the physician and doing physical exercises become costly. Such demanding situations may increase the risk of depression thereby making the attempts to control diabetes, a futile process.

Answer 2:

Aboriginal people have got various perceptions to mental health with regard to health and well-being of an individual. They generally view mental health as social and emotional functioning within a person and always referred to it as the spirit or personality of a deceased individual, and not as a disease which can be treated. Actually, it is an issue which has been stigmatized by this community. Talking about mental illness within the setting of Aboriginal people may trigger a mixture of reactions depending on the level of understanding capacity of an individual and the manner in which the language is used. In fact, they went further to give instructions on the right use of the term so as to depict on other meanings than the earlier proposed context. Such meanings are associated with experiences learned from family members who have been engaged in the mental health services and also through witnessing the behaviors of individuals suffering from mental illness.

Answer 3:

Many people in the helping profession industry such as social workers, nurses, psychologists, and counselors have to be cautious enough, so as not to dictate their own attitudes and morals to the patients. Establishing own desired attitudes and values may clash with the patients' feelings and wishes thereby interfering with the healing process and their sovereign will. One should be aware of the effects of his or her values on the attitudes, norms, and reactions of different groups of population or community, who may be sick or healthy. In a situation where there is a disagreement over an issue, the desired values suitable for both parties should be devised in a manner to benefit both the worker and a client. Such ideas evolving from a consensus should also be communicated in a way that will offer an immediate solution.

Answer 4:

The replacement of psychiatric mental hospitals with the community based mental health services (deinstitutionalization) more so in the western world has caused a burden of responsibilities to the families of the distressed individuals. This includes the parents, siblings, and friends who usually go out of their way to assist the mentally ill individuals without any offer of payment. The level of participation of family members in the mental health services may take different approaches built upon the degree of need and available services in the institution. Ordinarily, the mental health services range from basic responsibilities and duties to specialized treatment from the health experts. At the complex and specialized level, the families are still consulted by the experts to negotiate for better conditions with their clients to speed up the healing process. Through this process, the family may assist the client to follow treatment plans to ensure a good progress and avoiding any situation which may cause a crisis. Indeed family engagement in the process always results in successful treatment and even shortens the time required for full recovery.

Answer 5:

Staying away from the family and community may result in trauma, a condition associated with severe mental pain and poor health (AMHFA). A study shows that most life distress is always connected to the emotional and behavioral frustrations experienced by one in life. Such frustrations may occur when a person cut the link with the family and community, interfering with the cultural and social perspectives of his or her life. For example, moving from the village to the city may cause fear to some individuals causing disturbances which may result to ill health. In order to create a productive and favorable work environment, it is crucial for the health workers to understand the cultural practices of all groups of people including the isolated people like the Aboriginals.

Answer 6:

The culture of a given group of people will determine their perceptions of poor health and on how they will seek assistance from relatives, friends and even the professionals on the health issues. This implies that every staff or health provider should be competent enough to understand cultural practices of different groups of people, especially the Aboriginal people to provide the required mental health services while taking care of a person's spiritual background and other personal behaviors. It should also be noted that Aboriginal people experience demonic observations such as seeing the spirits or hearing voices of the deceased family members. Such observations from the Aboriginal people have really underestimated the ability to understand whether one should be diagnosed with mental illness or not. To avoid such scenarios, effective communication system should be established to understand the needs of every individual from all perspectives of life. When that is done, it will be easy to offer solutions to arising problems. Generally, creating conducive environment will create healthy interactions which will promote cultural safety practices. Ideally, cultural safety practices imply respecting the culture of different communities through employing the right language and behaviors, not engaging in any activity which may degrade the ability of an individual and advocate for the person's right to be accorded culturally-based care.

Answer 7:

The observations made from Justin’s case by the Mental Health Assessment and Mental State Examination indicated that symptoms of clinical depression may make a person to feel inferior and not feeling the importance of existence. Like in this case, Justin was always in the sad mood, never had enough sleep, he lost his appetite and weight, and he never wanted to social anymore with the people around him. Another grave action taken by Justin to clearly demonstrate the level of his depression was the intention to take away his life by attempting suicidal which could have added more pain to his family and the community.

Such ill-motivated intentions like suicidal as demonstrated by Justin requires immediate actions to prevent a repeat of such incidents. Some of the actions to be taken include:

• Ensuring a safe environment for a stay by getting rid of all harmful objects.
• Carrying out regular observations on his behaviors, how he socialize with people and the activities of interest.
• Establishing his relationship with the health workers throughout the period.
• Discussing with Justin about suicidal related issues to understand the reasons behind such plans.
• Help him understand how resourceful he is to the community and offering support where necessary.
• Helping him to comply with the prescribed medication.
• Encouraging him to feel free and share any feelings with the people around before taking any step on a given issue.

Answer 8:

Effective communication can only be achieved when the involved parties understand each other's social system. Therefore, the foreigners are obliged to learn and understand the sociocultural behaviors of the Aboriginals to improve on the communication processes. This is because the Aboriginals hold different views on various cultural issues.

As a mental health professional, it will be of more relevance to portray your inner quality or personalities to harmonize the demands of the Aboriginals rather than the mere qualifications attained in the career development, since cultural beliefs and values are what influences the behavior and interaction of another group of people. It is not advisable to have a prior judgment on the people who hold different beliefs, values, and experiences.

Personal communication strategies developed by the health workers to enable them to interact with Justin in a culturally safe way include:

• Becoming acquainted with the behavioral practices of the isolated communities, no matter how long it will take one to fully understand.
• Learning to be patient and taking lots of care on the sensitive issues.
• Always confirming to have understood the meaning of every word in the conversation.
• Allocating time to do a wide consultation.
• Try to use simple words that can be understood by both parties to convey relevant information.
• Silence: like in the case of Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander cultures, a moment of silence in a conversation are valued on an assumption that it means someone is keen on listening, respecting the opinions of the other party and eventually coming to an agreement. This is in contrary to other people who believe that silence implies a state of misunderstanding and disagreement. Silence and body language should be observed in a conversation, a sign showing respect and adequate time to engage in matters of concern.
• For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, avoiding eye contact is traditionally viewed as a sign of respect.
• Desist from being choosy on what to hear, instead, you should be actively involved and listen to all the proceedings in the communication.
• Avoid unnecessary interruptions in the conversation.
• Come up with more options for care from the issue raised, by suggesting the additional possible ways which may make the client to fully understand what is required out of him. May be a written note to further explain the findings from the earlier oral discussion.

Answer 9:

To help in controlling the mental health crisis among the Aboriginal people, a stable structure of support should be implemented to curb the situation. Many researchers have suggested that families can play a key role in the healing process, to ensure a healthy community.

Mental illness is a continual, recurring condition which requires both physical and emotional resources to manage. The community should leverage the available resources to offer the necessary support on this chronic condition. The will to counter the condition has been well demonstrated by the Aboriginal people who in reality lack physical resources but fully offers emotional support to the affected individuals. This kind of support is provided by the families and friends through involvement in various stages of mental illness. Unfortunately, the efforts of these people have not been recognized by the health providers jeopardizing the mutual will to ensure a quick recovery for people suffering from mental health conditions.

Answer 10:

Health care is a very complicated affair as clearly illustrated by this case study. It is affected by the cultural and language obstacles which delay solution to every condition. The communication between the health provider and the patient is a step by step procedure from socialization, diagnostic queries to final therapy. It always becomes hard to provide an immediate solution when there is a breakdown in communication, or the parties hold different views over a matter, largely influenced by the cultural boundaries. Also from the case study, I have managed to discover the therapeutic roles that social health workers and nurses believe are crucial in taking care of people with severe and growing mental illness. I have been able to gain useful knowledge concerning the attitudes towards nursing and the specified psychological treatments offered in mental health nursing. From this knowledge, it was evident that some components should be directly put into practice to achieve desirable results. Examples of the components of practice are morals, ethics, and values, quality, and efficiency at the workplace, application of knowledge to real life situations, effective communication and good interpersonal skills, recording, and sharing of relevant information and continuous professional advancement and guidance.