Health Social Care: Issues of Alcoholism among Young Aboriginals - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2009 Health Social Care Case Study 4: Mitchell In this essay, the discussion is based on a case scenario whereby a 17 year old Aboriginal gets hooked into alcoholism and even starts sniffing other drugs. The main reason why this youthful man is opting for sniffing is because sniffing is relatively cheap and hence so affordable to him. The juvenile boy lives with the mother who is jobless and she can barely support the family. Apparently, the family lives in rural set up where it is poverty stricken. The family’s support comes only from the government allowances and conspicuously this cannot even support the family’s education so this young boy ends up dropping out of school. He desperately seeks for work to no avail. Thus with the stress he is undergoing and the boredom he is experiencing, he turns into alcohol and drugs for solace. The drugs he is taking are sniffing type since with his obvious economic disability, he cannot afford other drugs. Mitchell is a representative of what many Aboriginals go through. Thus, the main discussion will be based on how young Australian Aboriginals engage in drugs and especially sniffing. Most of the health complications brought about by drug sniffing and alcoholism can be tackled if sociological knowledge is utilized to address some societal issues. Some persons get frustrated with life and thus their psychology gets affected and they finally end up into either alcoholism or into drug taking. These drugs may affect their health or direct them into doing things that are injurious to the society. Some still, especially the youths may indulge into drugs to fit among the peers without knowing the consequential ailments of the drugs. The case scenario fully represents what many youthful Aboriginal Australians go through. The case study is of a youth known as Mitchell who is apparently frustrated with life. He has no way through to education and thus does not even complete his secondary education. His family is not well up since his mother is unemployed and thus the family has no means of income. He does not do well in getting a job. This makes him get frustrated and he feels worthless, bored and empty. He sees no hope in life. Consequently he indulges in binge drinking and could be even sniffing other drugs. This alcoholism and even drug sniffing could lead to varied health complications. This has all been brought about by societal system that does not allow him meet his dreams, and so many youthful Aboriginal Australians. (Woolcock 2000). Another thing that is likely to bring health complication from the case study is the sense of despair. Mitchell is obviously fed up with life. Mitchell appears to be mentally stressed and this could even lead to health issues like depression and even ulcers due to stress. He views life as one big predicament. Only the mother appears to be concerned with his predicament. The mother is even perturbed and suggests he should see a doctor. He however disregards her advice. Perhaps if the father was present, he could have headed to the advice. Obviously, this will make his situation worse because had he visited the doctor some counseling could have been done. The doctor could perhaps have guided him in the way to deal with his problems and maybe eventually this feeling of worthless could wave away. Moreover, he could not have gone to an extent of indulging into drug sniffing. These drugs will not ease his problems in any way, instead he could even be adding problems to himself health wise. Slowly, Mitchell might graduate to drugs involving injection and at this level he risks so many diseases even AIDS (Haworth & Forshaw 2002). Mitchell also wants to fit with the mates within the society when he gets into alcoholism and drug sniffing. This is the real situation among young Aboriginal Austrians. Basically, such mates see no problem with alcohol and drug sniffing and might not even be ware of the health issues they might encounter in future. Without a job, any schooling or any sense of hope, they might be finding comfort in drug sniffing, perhaps to do away with the sense of hopelessness. Many of Aboriginal youths are idle and live below poverty line hence it is so easy for them to sniff especially petrol sniffing. Mitchell feels he is qualified for the jobs though he does not get one. This cold be the same state of affairs with his mates. Qualified, but no job available however how much one is willing trying to get one. This can easily make them have a feeling of frustration and hence lead them into blindly indulging into drug sniffing. Petrol sniffing is the preferred choice among young Aboriginal Austrians because it is relatively cheaper and thus easily affordable to them. (Lloyd 2002). The data is about what is really happening in the Aboriginal Austrians society. The case study presents a family that is faced with the poverty and of a youth who finally gets into drugs because of desperation. There is also unemployment issue in the society. Despite Mitchell being qualified, he does not get a job in spite of his willingness to work. When he finally loses hope, he joins his mates in drinking and even drugs he is being suspected to be sniffing. Obviously, these mates are too unemployed. They could be frustrated just like Mitchell and thus face the same health and mental complications due to drug use and societal frustrations (Brady 2006). Therefore, this information is valid enough to conclude that the society’s youths are not employed even though they might be willing to work. The techniques that should have been used to collect this data could have been observation or even interviewing which has a very great validity. In most cases, Aboriginal Austrians youths engage in petrol sniffing, drug sniffing and alcoholism because of desperation in life. Alcohol is a major drug that is easily abused; those who indulge in alcoholism do it at a very high rate such that health complications are apparent. There has been statistical information of the specific area getting involved in drugs. The abuse of drugs and alcohol persists to have severe negative impacts and more so this drug sniffing among Aboriginal Austrian society is a major contributing factor to things like violence, ill-health, criminal behaviors and even family and society interferences (Stevens 2004). Several studies indicate that the drugs and alcohol are a major reason for health ailments especially when used for a long time and at high levels. Drug sniffing and alcohol is very high among unemployed Aboriginal Austrians youths and ought to be viewed in the framework of ingrained social and fiscal marginalization which necessitates holistic and sound funded approaches to tackle the underlying social harms of drug abusers ill health. Males faced with issues like poverty and unemployment were more likely to get involved in drug sniffing as compared to the employed youths and well up youths. The basis being diminutive surveys, it was found that in Australia, the age that youngsters start taking drugs for the local people is 12-17 years. Conversely, the age that non-indigenous start drug usage is about 18 years. The drug usage especially the injecting drug has led to increase in the number of HIV infections and this is due the transmission of the virus through the syringes (World Health Organization 2003). Petrol sniffing is a major contributory to Aboriginal Austrians societies’ suicide cases. Petrol sniffing and drinking has been found to facilitate the decision to commit suicide among users. Basically, when a person drinks and sniffs, the feeling of worthlessness comes about due to the frustrations one might be facing in life, chances of committing suicide are very high. This is because the nervous communication has been slowed by the alcohol and thus someone under influence of the alcohol may make irrational decisions like suicide. Alcohol and drug usage also leads people into crimes and even jailing. Studies indicate that people frequently using the drugs are more likely to get involved in crimes and thus jailing (Taylor 2005). No wonder crime rate among young Aboriginal Austrians is high more so because of petrol sniffing. Death is a health impact likely to be brought by alcohol and petrol sniffing among young aboriginal Australians. Death rate among the drug sniffers is higher as compared to death rate among non drug users. A health department in Australia found that deaths of 26 local males and 14 local females between year 1990 and1999 were due petrol sniffing. The casualty may have been brought about because of the side effects that come along with drug use. Thus Aboriginal Austrians youths like Mitchell who starts with alcohol usage and drug sniffing are more likely to suffer the health complications. These health complications may eventually lead to death. Prolonged alcohol usage may cause liver cirrhosis which is fatal. Still, usage of sniffing drugs may end up causing different types of cancers. Such health ailments are fatal and when one gets such sicknesses, survival chances are minimal. Reduction or even stoppage of beige drinking and sniffing is basically Aboriginal Austrians community’s responsibility. Underage should be restricted from alcohol and drug sniffing and regular medical checkups should be done to enquire if they are getting involved. This will save them from many problems and young people’s future will be shaped. Parents need to be role models to their siblings and should not authorize their children to get involved in drugs. Some drug usage problems require a whole community to work together. Violence and crimes will affect the Aboriginal community at large but the harms the drugs are doing to the Aboriginal Austrians youths are detrimental (Scott 2006). Conclusion Alcohol and drug sniffing is more in young Aboriginals coming from families with low income than the children coming from the well up families. That’s why it is common among young Aboriginal Australians. There exist several solutions which have been identified to try solving this problem. Because petrol sniffing is most encouraged by boredom, idleness and poverty, the youths engaging in drug sniffing are removed from the society to places they can be easily supervised and made to participate in work and cultural actions. The leader of the groups that sniff petrol is also identified and removed and necessary actions taken. Moreover, among aboriginal Australia community, the police monitoring the place to spot any person engaging is petrol sniffing is also very helpful. With this, the youngsters engaging in such activities will be identified and necessary action taken. Finally, when these youths are in for school holidays, seminars and recreational programs ought to be availed to keep the youths busy and thus they will refrain from petrol sniffing activities. The ones hooked to petrol sniffing should be given a chance to participate actively in church activities and this will assist them in helping quit sniffing in a way. Bibliography Brady, M., 2006. Heavy Metal: The communal significance of petrol sniffing in Australia. Aboriginal Studies Press: Canberra Scott, J., 2006, Sociology: The Key Concepts. New York: Routledge. Trigger, D., 1999, Whitefella Comin: aboriginal Responses to Colonialism in Northern Australia, Cambridge Press: Cambridge. Haworth, E., & Forshaw C., 2002, TGCSE Health and Social Care, Heinemann Publishers, London. Taylor, J., 2005, Child neglect: practice issues for health and social care, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, New York. Stevens, A., 2004, Health care needs assessment: the epidemiologically based needs assessment reviews, Volume 2, Radcliffe Publishing, South Carolina. World Health Organization, 2003, Youth and drugs World Health Organization, Washington DC. Lloyd, J., 2002, Drugs and American youth: A report from the youth in transition project, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Michigan. Woolcock, M., 2000, Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research and Policy. The World Bank Research Observer 15(2): 225-49. Read More