Instructions: below is a crisis case which you are required to read
Introduction
The case involves Ms. Jones and her five children. Ms. Jones has been in a relationship from age 18 to 29 with Brad and Janel’s abusive father. Consequently, she was forced to withdraw from the relationship. She normally developed, walking at one-year-old and attending preschool at three years old. Ms. Jone’s mother died when she was three years old. Her father is unknown, and she has placed the care of her grandmother. Her grandmother died when she was seven years. She was placed in foster care home.
Regarding education, she did a General Educational Development (GED) exam at 17, and despite aspiring to attend nursing, she has not entered college. Rent payment is a problem for the client. She is also unemployed and struggles to meet the needs of her five children, some of which are in school. She is a member of the Catholic Church but rarely attends service.
Application of Theoretical Framework
In handling the case for Ms. Jones, I will apply the biopsychosocial framework. The framework analyzes the connection between biological factors, psychological factors, and socio-environmental factors that impact the development process (Bolton & Gillett, 2019). The framework is helpful in helping professionals to determine the number of factors that influence healthcare outcomes. Biological factors are related to the body include age, sex, HIV status, and nutrition. Psychological factors are related to the mind. They have mental health, emotional health motivation, psyche, social support, marriage status, social disruption, grief, and social integration.
On the other hand, How children understand death and their knowledge of death when someone’s importance dies. Also, in my research, children between the ages of 5 and 8 have developed a stable awareness of death that includes comprehending its finality, non-functionality, and the body is no longer operational) Theories associated with age and stage can only offer; limited knowledge of children’s relationship with death (Paul, 2019). For example, a 7-year-old is left wondering how her mother and grandmother passed away. Psychology suggests that she is too young to understand, therefore keeping death off-limits by not conversing with younger children. Children who experience parental loss are at a higher risk for many negative consequences, including mental issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, post-traumatic stress symptoms), leading to early dropouts, low academic success, lower self-esteem, and more sexual risk behaviors.
Potential Developmental Issues
For Ms. Jones, one of the crucial aspects of development was emotional. Emotions incorporate feelings which are affected by the surrounding. Although she developed well physically during her childhood, Jones underwent several experiences that could upset her development. Four stages of numbness, yearning, despair, and reorganized behavior, similarly, Psychologically wavering between loss orientation concentrating on the deceased (S. Paul,2019). Ms. Jones’s experiences include losing a mother and grandmother, which landed her in foster care. Spiritual aspects were also significant in the growth of the client. The spiritual parameters could be helpful during the difficult moments of her life.
Practices Issue to Consider in the Case
One of the practice issues to consider is the family. A single mother raised Ms. Jones, and she has never known her biological father up to the present. Children that grow up without their fathers suffer from a dissociative identity disorder. Also, children raised without their father are more likely to perform below average than children with fathers. For that reason, I will consider biological father absence and how it affected Ms. Jones’s development. Focusing on her family, Ms. Jones is a single mother but has five children and one child on the way. Consequently, I will consider how she may possibly be looking to fulfill that male figure in her life that she missed as a child. Often, clients believe that when they have many children, they will always be loved and needed, even when they are financially unstable and cannot afford to take care of them.
The second issue for consideration is bereavement. It is an issue that can have social and psychological effects. During her childhood, Ms. Jones lost her mother at three years old. Her grandmother became her caretaker. By the time she turns seven years old, her grandmother dies, and she’s placed in foster care. Bereaved children perform dismally academically. Also, they get exposed to mental health challenges, and many get into relationships earlier than the norm compared to others. Moreover, bereaved children have less motivation to further their education, often feeling abandoned or unworthy to be loved, believing that all their loved ones left them.
Spirituality and abusive relationship are other issues that I will consider (Bolton & Gillett, 2019). While Ms. Jones acknowledges being a catholic member, she never attends church. Failure to attend church leads to minimal social support for the individuals. Also, people who frequently miss out on church are more likely to develop depression. There is a great link between Ms. Jones’s lack of social support and church attendance regarding spirituality.
On the other hand, abusive marriages affect the development of children. In many instances, the children may drop out of school, become victims of early pregnancy, or turn to drug abuse. In that case, Ms. Jones’s abusive marriage might have impacted the development of Brad and Janel. Issues with unemployment and rent will also be considered because Antonio receives SSI monthly, and Brad is diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic both receive SSI for financial support.
Self-Reflection
Ms.’s Jones case is very similar to many cases in the Social Work field that we will encounter. Clients with multiple problems need solutions. As professionals, we should be well-rehearsed and understand the diverse factors in social work, beginning with Human Behavior and social-environment, and psychological factors that impact client’s lives (Bolton & Gillett, 2019). The case further supports the need to engage every client and build a rapport and understand the complete history of clients to do a thorough assessment that will help plan an action plan that is suited for that client. Now we can comprise an intervention that social workers and clients agree on, social workers sometimes face challenges, and the client will evaluate, or often re-assessment. Notably, the case presents the hurdle social workers undergo in solving multiple issues affecting the client’s well-being and the stability of her children.
Pros and Cons of Framework
One advantage of the framework in primary care is that it enables the social workers to determine the interaction between social, psychological, and biological factors affecting the clients’ health (Lehman et al., 2017). Consequently, healthcare practitioners can develop a holistic program to help the patients. However, the pitfall of the biopsychosocial framework is that it supposes that mental health issues do not occur independently (Lehman et al., 2017). Thus, for this framework, mental issues are a result of bio-psychosocial factors, which is, however, not always true.
Summary
References
Lehman, B. J., David, D. M., & Gruber, J. A. (2017). Rethinking biopsychosocial model of health: Understanding health as a dynamic system. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(8). https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12328
Maddrell, A. (2016). Mapping grief. A conceptual framework understands the spatial dimensions of grief, mourning, and remembrance. Social & Cultural Geography, 17(2), 166–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2015.1075579
Paul, S. (2019). Is Death Taboo for Children? Developing Death Ambivalence as a Theoretical Framework Understand Children’s Relationship with Death, Dying and Bereavement. Children & Society, 33(6), 556–571. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12352