Vulnerable Population and Self Awareness

University of Phoenix
Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Population
NUR 440
Belinda Condit, MSN, RN, NE-BC
March 5, 2013

Vulnerable Population and Self Awareness
This paper will discuss the vulnerable population of child abuse caused by the children’s parents. It will include a description of the populations’ demographic based on research of professional literature. It will also include the description of my personal awareness of population before studying the demographics. It will state the effect of research on personal attitudes after gathering knowledge. It will then describe how knowledge might affect health care delivery. Finally, I will use self-reflection to evaluate my perception before and after learning about the population (University of Phoenix, 2013).
Description of the Population’s Demographic The population’s demographic affected by the child abuse by parents, are both the parents and the children. Children affected by parental child abuse are a vulnerable population because often time children do not know who to seek help from. The children demographic are affected greatly because many times children feel that they do not want to get their parents in trouble because of the abuse. Children abused by parents are often considered a social problem, which is often silent. “Child abuse and neglect by parents remains a salient social problem, thus warranting a continued evaluation of measurement tools used to assess child abuse potential” (Merritt, 2009, para. 2). The populations of children being abused by their own parents are actually at a high percentage. “Approximately 40 percent of child victims were maltreated by their mothers acting alone; another 18.3 percent were maltreated by their fathers acting alone; 17.3 percent were abused by both parents (USDHHS, 2007). The demographic being affected is definitely a population who is vulnerable.
Description of My Personal Awareness of Population Before starting this paper I had no idea as to how far or how bad it was for children who are being abused by their parent’s own hands. I knew that abuse happens in the home, but I never realized how bad it was. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, over 15% of parents abuse their children. These abuses could range from emotional, physical, verbal, and sadly even sexual. Doing this research I have come to the conclusion that I have biases and have stereotypes in my head. From what I watch in the news and from what I watch on television, I often thought that parents who abuse their children come from poverty stricken neighborhoods, that the reason for the abuse is because of financial stressors. Now I know that this is not the case. Having done research, I now realize that abuse by parents go across many populations, from many different races, cultures and sexes. Writing this paper is an eye opening experience for me.
State the Effect of Research on Personal Attitudes Before working on this paper, I often thought that child abuse was done by people in poverty level, or Hispanic descent, or African American. I never thought child abuse can be caused by parents of all people, nor did I think of other cultures and races inflicting such pains on young children. This was an amazing homework because it showed how ignorant I was in relation to this topic. I believe that if it were not for this homework, my views on people who commit child abuse would still be clouded by prejudice and ignorance. I am overwhelmed with emotion to realize that child abuse can be caused by a vast array of individuals, including parents.
Describe How Knowledge Might Affect Health Care Delivery
The knowledge of child abuse happening will definitely affect how I deliver health care to the child. If I suspect child abuse, be it by the parents, aunts, uncles, or even neighbors, I will contact the Department of Children and Family Services to report the abuse. This will be my first priority in treating the child after making sure that the child is safe. As a nurse, my main objective is to ensure the safety of my patient, the child. No matter what the parents say, my main obligation is to my patient. “Approximately 48 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands designate professions whose members are mandated by law to report child maltreatment. This includes physicians, nurses…” (“Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect,” 2012, para. 6). Delivering the best possible care to the patient is essential, especially in child abuse cases.
Self-reflection to Evaluate My Perception before and after Learning about the Population As I stated earlier, before I learned about child abuse in children caused by their parents, I was ignorant to think that it only happened to a certain culture and to a certain class, which is poverty level individuals. I often thought of abused children as living in poverty and being Hispanic or African American. Now after doing this research, I have found that the child abuse encompasses all races, religions, sexes, and class, which is surprising to me at the time, but now that I think about it further, it does make sense. Child abuse does not discriminate especially if the abuse is caused by the parents. This paper discussed personal awareness of child abuse caused by parents. By doing this paper, I was made aware of the problem that is plaguing our society. Parents who are often stressed from work or have financial problems often do not have other avenues in which to take out their frustration or anger. They direct the anger and frustration to the closest person to them, more often than not, this is the child. The demographic for child abuse by parents are both the children and the parents. Before doing this paper, my mind was clouded with biases and stereotypical ideas of who is affected by this horrible act. But after writing this paper, my eyes are not opened as to who can be child abusers, and that is pretty much anyone and everyone. Knowledge of child abuse can affect how I deal with the child and the parent because if I suspect abuse by the parents to the child, I am mandated to report such abuse to Department of Children and Family Services. This affects how I deal with the parents because I have to report them, which will lead to a social worker becoming involved. Child abuse by parents can happen to anyone, no matter the class, social standings, race, religion or sex. In doing this paper, I am more aware of how I address my children, making sure that my tone of voice is not yelling or derogatory. I am always afraid of inflicting pain on my children and I believe that doing this paper will make me more aware of how I address my children so as not to abuse them.

References
Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect. (2012, August). Child Welfare Information Gateway, 8(3), 1. 4
Merritt, D. (2009, August). Child abuse potential: Correlates with child maltreatment rates and structural measures of neighborhoods. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(8), 1. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/science/article/pii/S0190740909000887
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families. (2007). Child maltreatment 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. - See more at: http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/fact-sheets/child-abuse-and-neglect-statistics.html#sthash.EzJovZeU.dpuf
University of Phoenix. (2013). NUR 440 Syllabus. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Health Assessment and Promotion for Vulnerable Population website.