The World Health Organization (2013) defines child abuse or maltreatment as: "constituting all
forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or
negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or
potential harm to the child's health survival, development or dignity in the
context of a relationship of responsibility, trust, or power." The Centers
for Disease Control (CDC), Child
Welfare League, and Michael Petit
(who is a researcher from Every Child Matters) have all called child abuse or maltreatment a national public health
epidemic in the United States, as about one in five children has experienced
some form of maltreatment (CDC, 2013). In her paper It Takes a Hui to Raise a Child: A Case for Peer-to-Peer Support for
Child Abuse Prevention (2013), Dr. Kerrie Urosevich states that the number
of confirmed child abuse fatalities has increased by thirty-nine percent in the
last ten years. This public health epidemic has enormous personal cost to
fatalities and survivors of child maltreatment as well as the United States as
a society. According to facts published by the CDC in 2013, the total lifetime
economic burden that results from new cases of fatal and non-fatal child
maltreatment in the United States is approximately $124 billion. Keep in mind
that reported cases are a small part of the total cases of child maltreatment,
as many cases go unreported to police or social services. In addition to the financial costs to
our society, child maltreatment can potentially cost its survivors healthy
development for the remainder of their childhood. Dr. Urosevich (2013) also discusses how toxic stress from
abuse and neglect can get in the way of healthy brain development, development
of the nervous and immune systems, and readiness for elementary school. A fellow second career student, Megan
Craig, discusses this topic thoroughly in her child abuse and neglect blog
post.
Positive interaction between parent and child.
The CDC states that negative
effects of child maltreatment extend far beyond fatalities, contributing to a
wide variety of problems in adulthood.
Child maltreatment survivors have an increased risk for alcoholism,
smoking, drug abuse, high-risk sexual behaviors, and suicide (CDC, 2013). In
their paper for the CDC, The economic burden of child maltreatment in the
United States and implications for prevention, Fang et. al state that survivors
of child maltreatment have lifelong adverse social, health, and economic
consequences such as behavioral problems, mental health problems such as PTSD
and depression, an increased risk for chronic diseases, reduced health-related
quality of life, and lower levels of adult economic well-being. Lasting emotional impact and disability
from physical injury are also consequences for adult survivors of child
maltreatment. The CDC cites stopping child maltreatment before it starts by implementing
prevention strategies that teach positive parenting skills, provide parents
with social support and promote safe, stable, and nurturing family
relationships.
A family nurturing their relationship through a shared activity.
A new article points out that child abuse and maltreatment effects long-term brain development even more then previously thought. The findings in this study demonstrate that the fear circuitry in the brain of children who have been abused does not work the way it should (Hamilton, 2013). Specifically, the hippocampus and amygdala in that the brain lose the ability to tell when it should and should not be afraid. These findings may help diagnose and treat mental problems associated with abuse that often arise later in adulthood, as Kim stated.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim, for emphasizing the need for strategies that reduce child abuse and its economic impact. When thinking about the kind of issues that might be targeted in a prevention plan, it is important to evaluate factors that research associates with childhood neglect and abuse so that interventions can be developed that maximize protection and minimize risk. I looked through the child welfare website at the US Department of Health and Human Services (https://www.childwelfare.gov/can/factors/), and I found many interesting associations that I had either forgotten or never heard before. For example, research estimates that one-third to two-thirds of child maltreatment instances involve substance abuse in some way. This constitutes a parental risk factor, but the website has a number of statistics related to family, individual, social, and other factors that are influential to child maltreatment. It also contains references to many research articles that elaborate further. Nurses should remain informed about this research to enhance their assessment skills and detect cases of child abuse or neglect in their clinical settings.
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