Exploring Health Concerns Of An 11-year-old Boy Using The Life Span Developmental Approach In An Essay.

Exploring the main person using a lifespan approach

Question:

Discuss about the Bio-Psychosocial Model Of Health And Illness.

The bio-psychosocial model of health and illness is increasingly preferred in today’s health care environment, as it helps to determine the social and psychological factors affecting the health of an individual. Currently, there is an increased emphasis on combining biomedical approach with bio-psychosocial model to assess and provide treatment to patients. This is important because many psychological and social factors also affect the biological function of people. Hence, assessment of patient by application of the bio-psychosocial model broadens the scope of examining health issues in clinical practice (Barker et al., 2015). Life span developmental approach is also one process that supports health care professionals to analyze bio-psychosocial aspects of health and illness by looking at development of client throughout their life (Eryilmaz, 2011). This essay utilizes the life span developmental approach to explore the health concerns of Liam, an 11 year old boy and gives an insight into the suitable model of health that is necessary for planning nursing care for patients. It also analyzes the complex social environment and psycho-physiological aspects of health to determine the best intervention for the client.

Exploring the main person using a lifespan approach:

Liam is an 11 year old boy, who has taken admission in Cityview Primary school and is one year older than his classmates. In this essay, life span developmental approach is used to explore the main client, Liam and find out the factors affecting development in the children throughout his life stage. Exploration of Liam using the life span development approach will also help to examine changes or stability in his life or any major affecting his health and development (Cummings, Greene & Karraker, 2014).

The review of Liam’s primary school days scenario shows that Liam does not have any groups of friends and he goes home alone. Although he is very cooperative with his teachers, however he seems to struggle with his schooling. Children of Liam’s age generally get lot of attention from their parent (Spieker et al., 2018). However, the fact that Liam goes to school alone and he has limited supply of books and other necessities also suggest that he has been neglected by his parents. This is also evident from the soiled uniform of Liam by the end of week and his habit of eating only chips or biscuits at lunch time. Hence, it can be said that neglect and poor attention from parents is the reason for poor development of Liam. Parental interaction with children can positively or negatively affect development of children. If parents do not interact with children, then their emotional outcome is affected (Bornstein & Bradley, 2014). In case of Liam, it is evident that he has been neglected from his parents. This has affected his emotional, social and physical development. Liam has not got enough quality time with his parents thus limiting his emotional development and personality too. This proves that quality of parenting has profound impact on health development of children. Spratt et al., (2012) also gives the evidence that children who experience neglect in their early childhood are vulnerable to cognitive, language and behavioral deficits.

Factors affecting the development of Liam

In addition, by analyzing Liam’s life from social perspective, it has been found that he does not enjoy the company of any fixed friends. He is also least interested in extra-curricular activities. All these clearly signify that there might be some problem at home for Liam, however he did not give any information about that to his teachers. Another reason for his limited social group is that he has strong body odour and little tendency to engage in extra activities. This limits his opportunity to engage in social gathering and make friends. This shows that Liam’s behavior is not like that of other child at his age and differences in his personality was the reason for which he was teased by the four boys while playing volley ball. Hence, development of Liam at primary school age suggests that he has not got supportive networks to influence his social development. Poor opportunities for different environmental experiences have affected cognitive development of Liam. This is also understood from several child development theories like that of Vygotsky’s. Vygotsky’s social development theory emphasizes on the social interaction is necessary for development of cognition in children (Culatta, 2013). However, lack of social interaction in Liam’s life has led to his poor developmental outcomes.

From the assessment of Liam according to the life span approach, the main health concern found is that he is vulnerable to health problems like mental health issues and behavioral disorders. This is because when children like Liam do not get adequate environment for development, they are at risk of behavioral problems like anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. As Liam is neglected both at school and at home, it may lead to social isolation and distress in client. Emotional disturbance in Liam is already evident as he does not interact socially with others. His recent fight with four senior grade students also shows his tendency to aggression. Hence, to address the risk of development serious mental health and behavioral disorder in Liam, it is necessary to adapt bio-psychosocial model of health for planning  nursing care. Selection of this model is important because complex interaction of social and psycho-social factors has played a role in his negative health and personality development. Therefore, bio-psychosocial model will help the nurse to promote health of Liam at biological, psychological and social levels. This will help to take holistic approach towards health and well-being for client (Wade & Halligan, 2017).

Main health concerns of Liam

The review of Liam’s scenario suggests that his health decisions and behavior has been influenced by several factors present in complex social environment. One of the vital factors affecting health decision of Liam is his parents. Lack of Liam’s interest in maintaining hygiene and keeping his clothes clean suggest that this has occurred because of neglect of the child at home. Lack of parent’s care has affected his general health habits like keeping himself clean and well-presented in school. Soiled cloth, poor hygiene, bad eating habits and body odor are all signs of child neglect (Geoffroy et al., 2011). Since, all these signs were found in Liam’s life during his primary school days, it is clear that Liam is also a victim of neglect. From the child’s interest and care in hygiene, the level of interest of parents in their child’s well being is understood (Lourenço, de Lima Saintrain & Vieira, 2013). Hence, negative social influences like experiences of child neglect have affected Liam’s health behavior related to hygiene.

Liam’s character also reveals that he is not interested in social get together or engaging in conversation with regular group of friends. He engages in conversation with those people only, who come up to them. This decision making attribute of Liam might be due to the impact of his culture or certain negative social experience. This decision making of Liam is also linked to health related decisions because social connections and engagements is related to good mental health. Social connections give child the opportunity to engage in meaningful activities and learn certain useful things too. For example, when a child engages in group activity with other, they get to build their socio-emotional skills and make good choices about their behavior. Hence, social ties improve health in many ways (Umberson & Karas Montez,  2010). In contrast, a child who isolates from social gathering experience worse health outcomes like anxiety, stress and poor self-esteem. The cumulative effect of all such outcomes is the diagnosis of depression (Matthews et al., 2016). Hence, social relationship factor is the factor that affects Liam’s decision making related to good behavior and engagement with people in the community.

In addition, experience of inequalities might have also affected his health decisions. This can be said because he has not received appropriate treatment from friends and always remain isolated. His family circumstances might also be a reason for inequality and poor development. Early child hood experience is vital for child development. However, differences in socioeconomic status of families translate to inequalities in child development too (Moore et al., 2015).

Addressing the risk of serious mental health and behavioral disorder in Liam

For promoting health and well-being in a child, assessing their emotional outcomes is important to understand the link between emotion and health and assess client’s capacities for stress management. Emotional response determines the degree to which an individual can manage stress and chronic stress response. For instance, people who have good emotion have good control over their thoughts and feelings. However, those who do have good emotional outcome tend to develop anxiety, stress and sadness. This has adverse effect on psycho-physiological aspects of health. Poor emotional regulation increases risk of mental illness (Hu et al., 2014)

In case of Liam, the events which shows his emotional health and psychological health includes high fight with four senior grade school boys. Liam was subjected to unfair treatment and teasing by the students, so he finally lost his control and pushed the boys down to the ground. This emotional response is normal considering the situation in which Liam has to do so. However, he seems to have low emotional development because he is never concerned if people do not talk with him. He seems to enjoy his own space and eats his lunch under the tree. However, only one event that showed his emotions includes the time when he received a soccer ball for his birthday. He developed a great attachment with the gift and has not missed a single day of practice. The soccer ball was also the reason for his friendship with few girls as he played with the same children each day. As Liam has not been too depressed for his small social group or problems at home, this suggests that he has certain psycho-physiological deficits during development. This can be said because he seems to have low emotion comprehension. Children above 9 years generally have diverse perspective on the same scenario and they use their reflective skills to show different emotions (Göbel et al., 2016). Hence, inability to satisfy a desire leads to negative feelings in children of Liam’s age. However, Liam has shown negative emotions very rarely. Children between 9-15 years show intense emotions, however Liam’s emotions outcomes were different(Raisingchildren.net.au., 2018). 

The review of Liam’s health by means of lifespan approach mainly shows that Liam has socio-emotional problems and poor self-care skills. Although no impact of such issues has been found in his academic performance, however normal development is affected because of negative interaction of social and psychological factors. This is an emerging trend found not only in Liam, but many other children in Australia. About 22% Australian children are developmentally vulnerable and vulnerability on emotional domain increases in 2012 (Aedc.gov.au., 2018). Hence, one intervention that addresses socio-emotional problems and promotes optimal health of Liam includes implementing group based intervention for Liam. Early childhood is associated with social, emotional, physical and cognitive development, however in case of Liam, disruption in these social and emotional functions has been found. To prevent the risk of high risk behavior like violence, substance abuse and depression his future life course, it is necessary to implement groups based interventions for Liam (Communitydirectors.com.au., 2018). This can be done either with parents or with other peers so that issues like social rejection and lack of peer support can be addressed. Group therapy with three to six children of Liam’s age can be implemented so Liam gets the opportunity to interact with other children. Evidence has shown that children participating in social skills training have high self-esteem and they develop the ability to communicate, solve problem, learn collaboration skills and solve problems too. In addition, conducting group based-activities with parents may help Liam to get a conducive environment to promote behavioral regulation and socio-emotional competence (Shepard & Dickstein, 2009). While implementing such group based activities, nurse may also play a role in providing self-care skills training to Liam so that he learns to take care of his basic hygiene needs (Verywell Mind, 2018). Interaction with Liam may also help to identify experience of child abuse in his life to understand whether reporting about the case is necessary to protect the child (aifs.gov.au, 2018).

Factors influencing Liam’s health decisions and behavior

Conclusion:

The essay summarized the health concerns and developmental issues present in Liam by using the life span approach. The review of social environment, behavior and psychological aspects of client’s health suggests that investigating about psychosocial factors can give many important clues about health and developmental issues in children. Presence of ideal social influence and parental attention is necessary for children. However, as Liam has been found to be experiencing neglect and poor emotional outcomes, it has been proposed to implement group based therapy for Liam so that he develops his decision making skills, social skills and learns to manage life stressors too.

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