Discussions 6 10

Discussions 6-10
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

Abstract
Social Work aims at ensuring the well-being of individuals. It is especially aimed at helping vulnerable individuals achieve normalcy in life. Since the wellbeing of a person encompasses the physical, mental, spiritual and socioeconomic status of a person, social work is concerned with all these facets. Social workers, therefore, aim at influencing every aspect of a client’s life positively. This article discusses a few topics that concern social workers. The topics include sexual assault especially among children, media influence on people, discrimination and bias, education and poverty as well as mental health. Incidentally, the majority of social work cases arise from these areas. The issues are also correlated and being affected by one will more often than not predispose one to another. For example, victims of adverse childhood experiences are more likely to suffer assault as adults. This assignment helps in developing essential skills for a social worker. It increases the ability to understand and work on various cases amongst social workers.
UNIT 6 Discussion 1
Except for obvious and extreme cases, there is no consensus as to what constitutes child abuse. This ambiguity can make it difficult to formulate legal policies that govern social welfare and child protection services (Lundahl and Hull, 2015). Child protection is significant because the consequences of childhood abuse have lifelong impacts. Although contested today, Freudian theories demonstrate the method by which childhood events affect adults (Freud, 1952).

The traumatic experiences are suppressed and stored in the subconscious and influence an individual later. According to the World Health Organization (2010), approximately 20% of girls and up to 10% of boys report that they have been sexually assaulted. Considering the stigma associated with sexual harassment especially in conservative cultures, this number is likely to be grossly undervalued (Breiding et al., 2018).
Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) impact on later quality of life by increasing the chances of further torture. Individuals who were abused as children record multiple times more probability for substance abuse, PTSD, rape, miscarriage, and prostitution as adults when compare to those who were not abused as children (Palusci, 2013). It also disrupts future societies because of the dysfunctional youth who are unable to work productively and relate in a healthy manner (Perry and Szalavitz, 2017). The government, therefore, spends more resources in therapy and rehabilitation and losses on the essential labor force. Preventing abuse is vital and is given priority through child protection services. Everyone has the mandate to report child abuse for early intervention by social workers.
The ACE survey would be useful in understanding the level of trauma that an individual was exposed to. This could make me easier to understand the nature of help that a client needs. One of the advantages of the survey is that it defines both nature and severity of trauma (APA Manual (Publication manual of the American Psychological Association), 2010). Sexual abuse is likely to have slightly varied impacts as physical abuse. Understanding the areas that a client suffers abuse can help a social worker to modify the counseling to suit a client’s need. The total score will determine the severity of abuse and will determine the intensity and duration of counseling needed by the individual.
Unit 7 Discussion 1
The two TV shows that I observed were Grown-ish and 9-1-1. The first one is produced by ABC studios while the latter is run by Fox studios. Each of these programs had a status that could influence the lives of youth in the society.
Grown-is is a narrative that denoted the typical life of the American youth. After moving on to university, she quickly discovers that not everything goes her way. There are many challenges with both the parents that are left at home and the new fraternity at school. The feeling of independence soon fades into confusion when parties and conversations do not end up as expected. It is challenging to navigate class and social life. In my opinion, the program has a positive message for youngsters. Regardless of the challenges, Zoey stays afloat. The program can teach youngsters in socially challenging situations on how to resist negative peer pressure and develop their own identities. This program affirms social beliefs in abnormal behavior. It is set in a black community where deviant behavior is expected to be common (Lin, Sung and Chen, 2016).
The second Program 9-1-1 is a dram that revolves around the lives of American first responders. In my opinion, this is a positive program that reinforces the idea of work-ethic (Tester, 2013). The first responders, in this case, try everything possible to achieve maximal efficiency despite the multiple challenges they are facing at home. However, the program raises concerns about the support mechanisms that families have that can help achieve the healthy work-social relationships. The situation of Abbey who has to respond to calls of 911 and still care for a mother with dementia leaves her worn out. It is probably not sound for a father to announce abruptly that he is gay because children start wondering what are the consequences of that. The deviant expressions by the individuals in question affirm social standings that too much pressure and strain are likely to cause an adverse reaction in individuals.
Unit 8 Discussion 1
On the three factors that Dr. Payne and Lundahl and Hull agree on is that: Education is the chief determinant of upward mobility (Torres & Wong, 2013). Good public schools are the best chance that a system has to change the economy and that education in the family is the key to community sustainability. There are a few things that do not agree with two resources. For one, Dr. Payne still insists that successive generations get richer as long as people are educated. However, Lundahl and Hull acknowledge that this patter is not necessarily true. Because of the recession, disasters and the poverty gap current generations frequently become poorer than their parents. Dr. Payne also shows that increase in income is equitable. However, Lundahl and Hull demonstrate that is not true the richer have their revenue growing at a high rate while that of poorer people has remained almost constant for 28years (Lundahl and Hull, 2015). Payne believes that flowed school systems are to blame for inequitable resource development while Lundahl and Hull indicate that genetics and heredity factors may contribute to failure.
I agree with Dr. Payne that public schools are the landmark to uniform upward mobility. When people are educated uniformly, even those who are poorer can leverage their talents to get better wages from the rich (Burlutskaia, 2014). Uniform distribution of educational opportunities has the richer receiving better education than the poor. Thus, economic disadvantages loose on both sides. Educated individuals are more likely to educate their children. First of all, they already know the importance of education in changing individual status. On the other hand, they are likely to have higher financial status and can afford education for their children. It is, therefore, true that education is the key towards the prevention of generational poverty (Pamuk and Cavallieri, 1998). Even if hereditary factors would contribute to performance, it would still mean that there is still a positive development even for those who are disadvantaged as long as they are allowed to go school.
UNIT 9 Discussion 1
Mental health is an individual’s capacity to have positive social interactions and have a balanced emotional and behavioral approach towards life (Lundahl and Hull, 2015). A person’s mental health status will be the basis for their functionality either as individuals or part of a community. Mental health is largely considered a de facto quality in the society. As such, people do not seek medical help nor are they well equipped with the symptoms to check in mental health challenges. This attitude is destructive because it prevents early intervention.
Less than two centuries ago, mental illness was still considered as an indication of some form of supernatural possession. Mental illness refers to neurological and psychological disturbances that prevent health mental functioning. Even in modern times, mental illnesses are still associated with stigma (Krendl and Freeman, 2017). Illnesses such as depression are considered as a sign of weakness, and therefore victims are pushed to suppress the symptoms. This is likely to aggravate the conditions. In addition to this, those who are known to have mental illnesses are likely to be avoided in families, social events and at work. Their vulnerability to hyper-sensitivity increases the chances for outbursts and confrontations which can scare away individuals (Hurley, 1999). The resulting isolation also has the repercussions of advancing the mental illnesses.
The public view on mental illness is outdated. In the last century, there has been a rapid growth on the scientific knowledge regarding mental health. However, this experience is not very useful when it remains within the confinement of professional. There is need to increase public education efforts of mental health. This is one of the roles of social workers. Advocacy in social work should target mass awareness creation about the mental health conditions. The public should be encouraged to seek help as well as embrace those who struggle with these challenges. Advocacy should also aim at changing policies in favor of individuals with mental health challenges. Current healthcare systems rarely accommodate mental health patients which increases the difficulty in accessing help.
Unit 10 Discussion 1
My discrimination is in the areas of ageism. I have always expressed ageism in subtle forms. I have understood this based on the fact that I always cringe when it’s the birthday morning upon n the realization that I am getting older. I always associate old age with decreased beauty and efficiency (Coupland and Coupland, 1993). When thinking critically about this, I discovered that I have always expected the aged to have dementia. I almost always expect that older person to have forgotten my name and the details we discussed earlier. However, I have discovered that this belief is not true. Many people who are older remember finer details that I can remember.
Through this reading, I discovered that biases are formed through experiences and social interactions while growing up, I had a neighbor with dementia. As a result, they would ask for a name multiple times without remembering that they had the same several minutes earlier. Additionally, younger people did not associate well with older people. I, therefore, developed a mentality that older people are old fashioned and ready to admonish any following behavior (Sierra-Ayala et al., 2017). My view of ageism was therefore developed through experience and social interactions.
This reading helped me understand that I have biases. This is the first towards overcoming these biases. Before doing this article, I would have considered myself entirely without biases. This means that I would not have made any attempts to rectify the preferences. Since I have discovered this, I will make efforts to rectify these tendencies. As part of this, I will spend longer times in my leisure periods with older people. I believe that staying with older people will help me understand their perception of life. In addition to this, I will read on the metamorphosis of an aging person. This not only helps me understand other people but also changes the way I look at myself. Above all, it will increase my work efficiency when I am working with the aged.

References
APA Manual (Publication manual of the American Psychological Association). (2010). 1st ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Breiding, M., Reza, A., Gulaid, J., Blanton, C., Mercy, J., Dahlberg, L., Dlamini, N. and Bamrah, S. (2018). WHO | Risk factors associated with sexual violence towards girls in Swaziland. [online] Who.int. Available at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/3/10-079608/en/ [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018].
Burlutskaia, M. (2014). Higher Education as a Means of Upward Social Mobility. Russian Education & Society, 56(4), pp.52-63.
Coupland, N. and Coupland, J. (1993). Discourses of ageism and anti-ageism. Journal of Aging Studies, 7(3), pp.279-301.
Freud, S. (1952). A general introduction to psychoanalysis. New York: Washington Square Press.
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Lin, J., Sung, Y. and Chen, K. (2016). Social television: Examining the antecedents and consequences of connected TV viewing. Computers in Human Behavior, 58, pp.171-178.
Lundahl, B. and Hull, G. (2015). Applied human behavior in the social environment. 1st ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Palusci, V. (2013). Adverse Childhood Experiences and Lifelong Health. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(1), p.95.
Pamuk, A. and Cavallieri, P. (1998). Alleviating urban poverty in a global city. Habitat International, 22(4), pp.449-462.
Perry, B. and Szalavitz, M. (2017). The boy who was raised as a dog. New York: Basic Books.
Sierra-Ayala, I., Gutierrez-Herrera, R., RiquelmeHeras, H., Gomez-Gomez, C. and Ordoñez-Azuara, Y. (2017). Ageism: Discrimination that Must Disappear. Journal of Geriatrics and Palliative Care, 5(1), pp.1-3.
Tester, K. (2013). Media, culture, and morality. Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.
Torres, J. & Wong, R. (2013). Childhood Poverty and Depressive Symptoms for Older Adults in Mexico: A Life-Course Analysis. Journal Of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 28(3), 317-337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10823-013-9198-1