Week 4 Assignment – Populations and Problems of Interest

SOCW 6002: Changing Lives, Changing Society: Introduction to Social Work

 

Week 4 Assignment

 

Topeka Jackson

 

The children population is one of the most vulnerable populations when considering social work. Working with the children population consists of the youth, teens, and adolescents. Children face many issues such as schools, mental/behavioral health, abuse and neglect, drugs or alcohol use, bullying, peer pressure, depression and anxiety. For example, children being neglected or abused at home or by someone that they are afraid to tell or they feel as if they don’t have the option to do so. Another example children face, the child being abused or neglected at home can lead to bad grades in school and cause different behaviors such as drugs or alcohol use, depression and anxiety. Social workers take many roles working with children as a clinical social worker, school social worker, child welfare social worker and hospital social worker. A child welfare social worker helps children and their families through different hardships. Also, they help with keeping children safe from abuse and neglect and help the families with many resources to sustain stability. A school social worker helps children and adolescents in public and private schools to remove different barriers to learning and help students work through social, emotional, psychological and adaptation of the things that may be going on in their life. A hospital social worker helps children who are hospitalized due to illness or injuries. A hospital social worker role is to provide counseling to the children and families to help educate them on that illness and talk about issues with grief, dying, and crisis interventions. After looking through Walden Library, I realized that there are concerns about the children’s population in the mental health issues such as anxiety. There was a study on Mindfulness- Based Interventions for Youth With Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis that focused on the youth with anxiety disorder. “While anxiety is a normal part of human growth and development, when it becomes intense and interferes with a child’s daily life, it can be excessively frightening, disruptive, and debilitating (National Institutes of Mental Health, 2014).” Youth between the age of 13-18 with anxiety disorder depicts 31.9 The different anxiety disorders that the children will most likely deal with is anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Children with anxiety have lots of complications that they worry about from past experiences, the feeling of being hopeless, not being able to function at school, not sleeping at night, or being able to have a social life. If anxiety is not treated during childhood, it could possibly lead to lots of problems in adult life. “Untreated childhood anxiety disorders can lead to lifelong problems, including relationship difficulties, risk-taking behavior, academic challenges, suicidal thoughts/behaviors, delinquency, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse (Chavira, Stein, Bailey, & Stein, 2004; Kendall, Safford,

 

This study source was downloaded by 100000800531006 from CourseHero.com on 09-17-2023 18:11:11 GMT -05:00

 

https://www.coursehero.com/file/158510171/SOCW-6002-Week-4-Assignment-Populations-and-Problems-of-Interest-1docx/

 

Flannery-Schroeder, & Webb, 2004).” Studies have come up with mindfulness based practice that helps with anxiety in youth. The practice usages different activities with drawing, writing, visual, sensory and body scans. “Mindfulness practices of awareness, attention, and acceptance are interconnected to mindfulness outcomes, including a state or trait of an individual becoming increasingly aware and attentive in the moment. Many scholars have embraced a two component model of mindfulness: (a) self-regulation of attention, described as bringing awareness to the focus of attention to a point of full attention to the changing thoughts, feelings, and sensations, and (b) orientation to experience, which refers to the attitude or approach one takes in attending to the present moment (Bishop et al., 2004).” Studies are also aware that not every intervention would be able to treat everyone. As a social worker, the youth would always need a continuance assessment to find what works for that person. There are many skills needed to effectively work with the children population as well as knowledge. Social workers should have empathy, communication, cultural competence, advocacy, personal skills and knowledge of cultural awareness and academic knowledge. Empathizing with this population shows that you understand that person’s experience and views. Most of the time, the children population deal with people in their life that do not understand them so they feel as if they have no one to turn to which makes them make other bad choices. Empathizing with the children population will make them feel like they can be open with no judgements. Communicating with the children population in being able to understand their needs. As a social worker, you should be skilled and knowledgeable of cultural competence, you are going to deal with children that come from different backgrounds, race, gender, age and beliefs. Advocacy is the voice for your client. For example, when a child is abused in the home, the worker should be advocating for the child to be somewhere safe, so they can no longer be in danger. Personal skills with being kind and personable. When dealing with children who’ve been neglected or abused, knowing how to treat them matters. Some children have a difficult time with opening up to social workers, being personable can help them feel comfortable and trust that the worker would do what’s in their best interest. Social workers need knowledge of cultural awareness so you can be able to build relationships with this population. Social workers should always be knowledgeable about education. Social workers continuing education in their field is important. Being up-to- date and able to provide information with challenges such as mental health issues that trouble this population such as different treatment for anxiety.

 

References: Alvarez-Hernandez, L. R., & Choi, Y. J. (2017). Reconceptualizing Culture in Social Work Practice and Education: A Dialectic and Uniqueness Awareness Approach. Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10437797.2016.1272511? scroll=top&needAccess=true Social Work Degree Center. (2021, December 14). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.socialworkdegreecenter.com/

 

This study source was downloaded by 100000800531006 from CourseHero.com on 09-17-2023 18:11:11 GMT -05:00

 

https://www.coursehero.com/file/158510171/SOCW-6002-Week-4-Assignment-Populations-and-Problems-of-Interest-1docx/

 

Barsky, A. (2018). Cultural Competence, Awareness, Sensitivity, Humility, and Responsiveness: What’s the Difference? New Social Worker, 25(4), 4–5.

 

Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Youth With Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta- Analysis Debra S. Borquist-Conlon, Brandy R. Maynard, Kristen Esposito Brendel, Anne S. J. Farina Research on Social Work Practice, Vol. 29, 2: pp. 195-205. , First Published January 6, 2017.

 

This study source was downloaded by 100000800531006 from CourseHero.com on 09-17-2023 18:11:11 GMT -05:00

 

https://www.coursehero.com/file/158510171/SOCW-6002-Week-4-Assignment-Populations-and-Problems-of-Interest-1docx/ Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

We can handle this paper for you

We Guarantee ZERO Plagiarism ZERO AI

Done by Professional writers from scratch