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

The Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Australian Child Name: Institution: Date: Purpose This report has been written to educate parents, health care professionals and school going children about the importance of developing social and emotional wellbeing among children below 12 years of age. Particular emphasis has been placed on the role of nurses in developing children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Introduction Social and emotional wellbeing are crucial determinants of child’s entire welfare. They normally ensure that children below the age of 12 are equipped with skills, abilities and attributes that easily assist them in understanding and navigating their world in healthy, positive ways (ACF, 2012). Social and emotional wellbeing entail attending to behavioral, emotional and social functioning of a child. Nurses are expected to contribute greatly in developing the social and emotional welfare of children. They are expected to come up with health care strategies that effectively promote the social and emotional wellbeing of children aged 0-12 years. Definitions Emotional competence Emotional competence refers to ability to control emotional experience in oneself and to interact effectively with other people (Grusec, J &Hastings, 2008). Temperament Temperament is the tendency to show certain emotions with particular intensity that is not common to every individual child. Mental Health Mental Health refers to cognitive or emotional wellbeing of a person. It is about the manner in which a person thinks, feel and behave (MNT, 2009). Background In the year 2005, the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference (AHMC) and the Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Conference (CDSMC) accepted a project to create a number of national, jurisdictionally accepted headline indicators for children below twelve years of age. The main aim of the project was to assist in developing and planning policy through measuring development on several indicators that could be transformed over time. In 2006, nineteen essential areas for children’s health, growth and wellbeing were mapped out. These essential areas were recommended by the Australian Health Ministers’ conference, the Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Conference and the Australian Education Systems Officials Committee. Initially, headlines indicators for sixteen out of nineteen essentials areas were defined. From the sixteen priority areas, data from ten areas were published in Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report. Six essentials areas could not be reported since the required data was unavailable. For the three essentials areas, which were family social network, shelter and emotional and social wellbeing, further task was needed to conceptualize and define headline indicators (AIHW, 2012). AIHW was funded in the year 2009 by Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) to enhance indicator development for the remaining three priority areas (AIHW, 2009). The role of AIHW was: To set up professional working group that can offer tactical advice and input in indicators creation To conceptualize the three essential areas through defining the scope, theoretical foundation and key conceptual components To evaluate information for all priority areas and determine their relationship with health, growth and wellbeing of children To suggest indicators for all priority areas To perform data mapping task and detect data gaps in all priority areas To provide information that describes the development procedure and recommended indicators. Social and emotional wellbeing is a wide and multidimensional priority area. It is a concept that cannot be defined easily. It is believed that identifying a single headline indicator that represents essential aspect of social and emotional wellbeing for children’s results is too challenging (Benson, 2009). However, it should be noted that an indicator is not intended to measure or describe the entire phenomenon. An indicator is meant to represent part of a phenomenon that represents facts regarding trend. Several steps were followed in identifying the required headline indicator for social and emotional wellbeing. These steps included: Evaluating the information so as to define and conceptualize emotional and social wellbeing Identifying the relationships between the priority areas and the entire health, growth and well being of children Evaluate essential national and global frameworks and indicators reports Consulting essential professionals and stakeholders Developing information paper and recommend on social and emotional wellbeing headline indicator Discussion Research on social and emotional wellbeing among children aged 0-12 is still at its early stages. However, many concepts relating to social and emotional wellbeing have been covered for decades. One of the main features of children’s emotional and social wellbeing is absence of mental health disorders (Dowling, 2009). Generally, social and emotional wellbeing refer to the manner in which an individual thinks and feels regarding themselves and other people. They incorporate ability to adapt and deal with challenges that arise daily while leading a comfortable life. There is always a stress on children’s emotional and behavioral strengths and how they react to diversity. Majority of social and emotional wellbeing’s attributes follow developmental pathway. Therefore, age-appropriateness is an essential factor in measuring social and emotional wellbeing. Cultural background is also an essential aspect to consider in the measurement. This is because social norms and values among cultural groups greatly differ (Hamilton & Redmond, 2010). Social and emotional wellbeing include characteristics of every child and those of the surroundings such as schools, communities and families. Therefore, when determining the social and emotional wellbeing of a child, it is essential to consider various characteristics such as emotional competence, literacy, intelligence and development. Watson et al. (2012) argues that healthy social and emotional enhancement needs interactions among several environments, such as home, community and school, that are productive and complementary, plus child’s individual characteristics. The interrelated aspects associate interpersonal, intrapersonal and group constructs, all of which are essential to the way people operate in social and domestic associations. Various theories do associate various characteristics to social and emotional wellbeing of children. Models such as ecological model can be employed to social and emotional wellbeing of children (Shaffer, 2008). Children are always surrounded by individual internal attributes of social and emotional wellbeing that relates to their attitudes, temperament and values. The internal attributes that do always surround children include emotional control, behavioral control, coping and resilience abilities, confidence and self-esteem and diligence in learning. Child’s interpersonal characteristics incorporate capacity to identify other people’s emotions, ability to develop and sustain relationships and enhancement of social skills. It is important to note that the level at which a child portrays these attributes will rely on their stage of development. It will also depend on other factors such as genetics and biology, temperament and availability or absence of health disorder conditions (MDCH, 2012). Children are always enclosed within interacting surroundings of influence. The surroundings, such as home, school and community as a whole, that are safe and caring, are essential for social and emotional wellbeing of children. In a family or home surroundings, the social and emotional wellbeing of children are influenced by family communication, children to parent relationship and parental expectations. It is also important to note that positive relationship with teachers, quality curriculum and activities of interest within educational settings promote children’s engagement. Social and emotional wellbeing of each child internal characteristics are also influenced by these factors (Sheppy, 2009). Characteristics of broader community’s influence on social and emotional wellbeing of children incorporate a caring neighborhood in which children are treasured and viewed as resources and social capital and networks (AIHW, 2010). It is believed that societal influences affect children’s surroundings, which in turn impacts their emotional and social wellbeing. Culture, human rights, technology and media, social values and government policies are some of the societal influences that affect children’s surroundings. The magnitude of influence on social and emotional wellbeing of children changes with their growth. At early stages of growth, the family and home surroundings do always influence the social and emotional wellbeing of children to a greater extent. However, as children grow older, their social and emotional wellbeing are normally influenced greatly by school and community surroundings (Lerner, 2010). Recommendation Nurses should adopt effective way of developing emotional and social wellbeing of children aged 0-12 years. They should provide child care environments that impact positively on children’s emotional and social wellbeing. It is believed that a healthy environment is beneficial to children mental development and behavior. Positive mental development and behavioral outcomes reduce the rates of school drop out. They also enhance the probability of attaining good employment in future (Furlong, 2009). School nurses are ideal in developing social and emotional wellbeing of children since majority of children below 12 years of age spend most of their time in schools. It is therefore important for school nurses to provide educational resources to children and families / parents who are willing to access the materials (Gardiner & Eisen, 2009). Parents are also ideal in developing emotional and social wellbeing of children. Nurses therefore, a part from providing educational resources to parents/families, should also provide parental health care. Nurses should develop good emotional climate for children through provision of parental health care. Parental mental health is strongly related with children’s emotional and social wellbeing outcomes. Conclusion From the discussion, it is clear that social and emotional wellbeing are very crucial for child’s positive growth. Social and emotional wellbeing refer to the manner in which an individual thinks and feels regarding themselves and other people. They incorporate ability to adapt and deal with challenges that arise daily while leading a comfortable life. Social and emotional wellbeing include characteristics of every child and those of the surroundings such as schools, communities and families. Nurses are supposed to adopt effective way of developing emotional and social wellbeing of children aged 0-12 years. They are supposed to provide educational resources to children below 12 years of age. This assists in developing children’s mental health. References Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2012). Social and Emotional wellbeing: Development of a Children’s Headline Indicator. Cat. No. PHE158. Canberra: AIHW. Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2009). A picture of Australia’s Children 2009. Cat. No. PHE 112. Canberra: AIHW. Administration for children and families, (ACF). (2012). Promoting Social and Emotional Wellbeing for Children and Youth Receiving Child Welfare Services. < http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/laws_policies/policy/im/2012/im1204.pdf> Benson, J. (2009).Social and Emotional Development in Infancy and Early Childhood. Academic Press, 2009 Dowling, M. (2009). Young Children's Personal, Social and Emotional Development. SAGE Publications Ltd Furlong, M. (2009). Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools. Taylor & Francis Gardiner, M. & Eisen, S. (2009).Training in Pediatrics. Oxford University Press. Grusec, J & Hastings, P. (2008). Handbook of Socialization: Theory and Research. Guilford Press. Hamilton M & Redmond, G. (2010). Conceptualization of Social and emotional wellbeing for children and young people, and policy implications. Canberra: ARACY & AIHW. Lerner et al. (2010).The Handbook of Life-Span Development, Social and Emotional Development. John Wiley & Sons Medical News Today (MNT). (2009). What Is Mental Health? What Is Mental Disorder? < http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154543.php> Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH). (2012). Social-Emotional Development in Young Children. < http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Social_Emotional_Development_in_Young_Children_Guide_88553_7.pdf> Shaffer, R. (2008). Social and Personality Development. Cengage Learning Sheppy, S. (2009). Personal, Social and Emotional Development in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Taylor and Francis. Watson et al. (2012).Children's Social and Emotional Wellbeing in Schools: A Critical Perspective. The Policy Press. Read More