Response to thread ‘Homeless community’
Hello Mustapha. Your post explores the issues pertaining to the homeless community as a group with a pertinent health need. In addressing the historical perspective of this community, I find that you detail that their situation may have been forced unto them either by violence, threats or family misunderstandings. This has further been hampered by the logistical problems that characterize their lifestyles and further impact on the quality of life such as fear of rejection, lack of communication gadgets or access to them, lack of preventive care measures and the apparent lack of education within this group (Gerber, 2013). This then compounds to an avalanche of health issues that do not only confine to this population but threatens the quality of life of the community and public in which they live. The prevalence of chronic and communicable illnesses within this population and the poor management associated with the same is a clear sign that there exists a fragmented public health system that ignores an element of the society that can poses health dangers to themselves and to the wider public. I find that there are other pertinent issues that need be explored within this community. For instance, there needs to be an exploration of the role of drug abuse and its impact in maintaining and increasing the population of homeless peoples. Drug abuse has been noted as a prevalent social behavior within this group and even more as a first step towards joining this group due to the association between drug abuse, poverty, mental and psychological dysfunction (Gerber, 2013).
I fully agree with you that the public health nurse has to play a more proactive role in the managing this population with a sincere focus on gaining their trust and hence that of the existing public health system. This will endear them to seek and access treatment within the legal and social structures that recognize them as a disadvantaged population. However, I find out that the public health nurse on their own cannot achieve much especially in consideration of the primary aspects that influence of force person to take up such a life. Legislation on banning the sale, supply and use of drugs, if for instance this is noted as the primary problem, as well as effective rehabilitation mechanisms that comprise of interdisciplinary care providers would be more suitable in this aspect.
Response to thread ‘Sexual violence’
Hello Takiyah Walters. As you have noted in your thread on sexual violence, I agree that it is very difficult to draw a line between sexual violence and intimate partner violence. At the literature level, cases of sexual violence tend to be prevalent within intimate partners as they are within the outer sphere of attacks and rapes or when accomplished by strangers. In a far wider perspective, it is important to note that the same reasons that drive the actors to sexual violence also influence the occurrence of intimate partner violence (Dillon, Hussain, Loxton & Rahman, 2013). One of the failures of the strategies that have been developed to help avert these cases is the lack of reporting mechanisms either by the victims of their close associates thus making it extremely hard for the law enforcement officers to pursue the actors and the care providers to follow up on the management of the victims (Dillon, Hussain, Loxton & Rahman, 2013).
The associated emotional, physical, psychological and social impacts on the victims thus remain unattended which is now the ultimate point at which the victims submit to the violent way of life. In my view, for those cases that have been reported, the management of their condition at all levels; emotional, physical, psychological and social; has been accomplished only in the short term. There has been a lacking aspect of ling term follow up plans even in the knowledge that these are explicit traumatic experiences that could haunt the victim forever especially when the incident affects their social life (Dillon, Hussain, Loxton & Rahman, 2013). It is important that as public health nurses design program to help these victims, they can draw up comprehensive long term follow-up plans that can traverse for a period of three years when the victim can be declared as fit to live with minimal monitoring. The aspect of sexual violence needs be managed both as a social issue as well as a public health issue that demonstrates disparity across particular gender.
References
Dillon, G., Hussain, R., Loxton, D., & Rahman, S. (2013). Mental and physical health and intimate partner violence against women: a review of the literature. International journal of family medicine, 2013.
Gerber, L. (2013). Bringing home effective nursing care for the homeless.Nursing2015, 43(3), 32-38.
