HCA 430 Assessment of Community-Level Barriers on Abused Children Assignment

Assessment of Community-Level
Barriers

For the second written assignment of the course, you will continue in the
design of your proposed model program by demonstrating your understanding of
your selected population’s challenges, which negatively impact this group’s
health and well-being. Based on this week’s research, conduct an assessment of
the barriers, limitations, and other distinguishing features, as they exist
within your community. Your paper, at a minimum, must contain the following
elements: 

a. 
A description of at least three
critical barriers that impact the health and well-being of a chosen group; one
must be a micro-level (individual) barrier that is financial, one must be a
macro-level (community/state) barrier that relates to access and funding for
care, and  the third barrier may be one of your choosing.

b. 
An analysis of the regulatory,
legal, ethical, and accreditation requirements/issues that relate to these
barriers (you are required to use outside sources, such as those found in the
Ashford University Library, to address this section in sufficient detail).

c. 
Identify
and describe at least one proposed solution for each barrier. Your solution for the micro barrier must include an
analysis of various potential funding options (both independent and
integrated). Your solution for the macro barrier must include an analysis of
financing resources for health care.

Your assignment should be a minimum of 
three- to- four pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and
should include a minimum of three scholarly sources cited according to APA
guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Please note: All
assignments in this course are progressive; therefore you should use the same
population selected in your Week Two assignment

Here is Last Week’s Assignment to build off of:

In my
vulnerable population summary and proposed program paper, I will focus on
abused individuals.  I will cover the
statistics and facts of this group, along with the social, economical, and
political factors that affect this group. Furthermore, I will wrap up with a
proposed program for my community of Rapides Parish to aid in the prevention of
sexual abuse on children.

The
largest impact on abused individuals directly correlates with age and gender;
being children (the youngest), elders (the oldest), and women.  Starting with the children statistics in
accordance with the 2006 report from the Abuse Victim Hotline: boys and girls
are equally abused, 80% of abuse is by a parent or guardian, children under the
age of four account for 75% of all child abuse deaths, neglect occurs more
frequently than abuse and is equally damaging and deadly, 30% of child
fatalities are due to neglect, 1,500 abused children receive intensive mental
health services annually.  In 2005,
30,000 children were reported abused just in Colorado; and out of that number
9,000 cases for proven guilty: 21% suffered physical abuse, 46.6% neglect, 1.4%
medical neglect, 11.5% sexual abuse, 5% psychological maltreatment, and 18% of
unknown abuse (Abused Victim Hotline, 2007). 
Our next vulnerably abused group is the elderly.  According to a 2004 study, self neglect
accounts for approximately 38% of elder abuse; 20% is caregiver neglect and 15%
due to financial exploitation (Abuse Victim Hotline, 2007).  What I truly found sad about this group was
that 33% of abusers were actually the victim’s adult children and 22% of cases
were other family members of the elderly victim (Abuse Victim Hotline,
2007).  And the last breakdown of the
highly abused group is women.  Annually
approximately 1,200 women are killed and 503,485 are stalked by an intimate
partner; and of the women between 15-19 murdered each year, 30% are their
husband or boyfriend (Abuse Victim Hotline, 2007).  While conducting my research I came across
this fact that really hit me hard: “One in three women across the globe has been
beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime” (Abuse
Victim Hotline, 2007).  That fact is jaw
dropping to me, but then on the other hand the whole reason this group really
interest me is because I was abused at the age of 22. So this fact proves to me
that one, I am not alone; and two, that this group needs to be supported due to
this pandemic.

  After
revealing the statistics of the three most highly abused individuals, I want to
turn my focus on the children.  Children
are our future; they are our leaders of tomorrow.  It is up to us to prevent the abuse, also
known as maltreatment, of these innocent beings.  The impact that abuse has on children is
forever lasting.  So for starters, let me
define child abuse and all that it entails; so that we are all on the same
page.  Child abuse
includes any type of maltreatment or harm inflicted upon children and young
people in interactions between adults, which include neglect; physical abuse
and non-accidental injury; emotional abuse; sexual abuse; bullying and domestic
violence (Lazenbatt, 2010).  Evidence
states that the experience of maltreatment can have major long-term effects on
all aspects of a child’s health, growth, intellectual development, mental
well-being, and that it can impair their functioning as adults. A wide range of
many complex social and economic problems, with an increased likelihood of
mental disorders, health problems, education failure and unemployment,
substance addiction, crime and delinquency, homelessness and an
intergenerational cycle of abuse and neglect (Lazenbatt, 2010).  All of this being said; let me explain in
more detail the affects of the social, economic, and political factors for and
against maltreated children.

  The factors of social and economic
go hand-in-hand, in my opinion, when reviewing the affects of abused
children.  Childhood abuse impacts
several long-term socioeconomic outcomes that affect their well-being as an
adult.  Maltreated children are more likely
to complete less schooling, experience victimization again in adulthood, and
have physical and/or mental health problems that interfere with their job
(Zielinski, 2005).  Later problems
resulting from earlier victimization include impaired
physical and mental health, substance abuse, criminality and incarceration, and
teen pregnancy (Zielinski, 2005). 
These problems could severely limit your ability to work and contribute
to society and the economy.  Not to
mention, in their adult lives they would be a burden on society.  The maltreatment victims’ increased
likelihood for being unemployed would result in greater reliance on state
unemployment insurance and lost economic productivity; and with their higher
risk for falling below the poverty line would further indicate lost income and
sales tax revenue, as well as increased reliance on Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) and other welfare programs such as Food Stamps and WIC (Zielinski,
2005).

  On the political factor affecting maltreated children,
simply put, we need more compassionate and truly dedicated support from high
status leadership.  Children and youth
issues are much more likely to gain political attention when office seekers
believe that they can gain public approval by supporting pro-children
policies.  According to Tennyson Center
for Children in Colorado, since 2004 one of Tennyson’s strategic partners in
making kids a nonpartisan, national political priority has been Every Child
Matters Education Fund, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization focused on making
the needs of children and youth a national political priority and promoting the
adoption of smart policies for children, youth and families (Tennyson Center for Children,
2014).  Our political leaders have to
truly recognize the trauma, the special needs, and the barriers that maltreated
children must overcome to avoid homelessness, criminal behavior, and the
continued cycle of abuse; thus making an all around better political, social,
and economical world. 

  Moving into a proposed plan for my community, I did some
research to see what resources were in my community.  After reviewing all of the child abuse
programs locally, I noticed there were not any programs offered for parents or
adults to help prevent sexual abuse against children.  So, I want to propose a prevention plan for
the adults in my community to aid them in diminishing our community’s childhood
sexual abuse.  I want to focus on
prevention through education and communication. 
These type programs acknowledge that educating children or potential
victims alone cannot prevent the perpetration of child sexual abuse; but true
primary prevention of child sexual abuse calls for the prevention of
perpetration and a societal investment (NSVRC, 2011). 

Justification
for this type program could come from a few pieces of research and evaluations.  For example, the Adverse Childhood
Experiences (ACE) Study is a decade-long and ongoing study created to explore
the childhood origins of our society’s health and social problems; the ACE
Study calls for a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to prevention and
intervention of childhood abuse and neglect (NSVRC, 2011).  A great example is an evaluation done by
Child Assault Prevention Project after a parent educational workshop in 2002
that used lecture techniques linking community resources and communication
exercises between children and parents; the main topics were child sexual abuse
myths, signs of abuse, and how to react appropriately to abuse with a duration
of two hours.  The evaluation found that
for parents it increased prevention knowledge, more able to suggest appropriate
interventions, more able to suggest appropriate interventions, ore likely to
encourage children to use prevention strategies, more likely to seek out
agencies for help, increased knowledge about how to emotionally support
children; and for the children with involved parents it showed an increase in
prevention skills (NSVRC,
2011).

A program I
would like to offer would be like a school-based program that the children
receive from school, but it would include the parent’s and/or guardian’s of the
children.  This would include education,
orientation, role playing, and family games that would encourage closeness,
openness, and good communication.  Also,
I would like to offer stand-alone parent education programs that involve the
community on prevention, along with integrating home-visitation programs for
those families who are high-risk for abuse. 
This will conclude my vulnerable population summary and proposed program
paper.

References

Abuse Victim Hotline (2007). Abuse Statistics. 2006.
Abuse Victim Hotline. Retrieved from http://www.avhotline.org/abuse/statistics/#national

Lazenbatt,
Ann (2010). The impact of abuse and
neglect on the health and mental health of children and young people. National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.February 2010. Retrieved
from http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/briefings/impact_of_abuse_on_health_pdf_wdf73369.pdf

Zielinski, David
PhD. (2005). Long-term Socioeconomic
Impact of Child Abuse and Neglect: Implications for Policy. Cornell University. Retrieved from http://familyimpactseminars.org/s_nmfis02c03.pdf

Tennyson Center for Children
(2014). Educate and Advocate, We Make Children a Priority. Colorado Christian Home. Retrieved from http://www.childabuse.org/educateadvocate

National
Sexual Violence Resource Center, NSVRC (2011). Programs for Adults. Child Sexual Abuse Prevention.Retrieved from http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Guide_Child-Sexual-Abuse-Prevention-programs-for-adults.pdf