Introduction
The ecological model is a model that is used in many circles to address problems related to public health. These problems may include injuries or illnesses. The ecologic model uses four basic levels to highlight the integration and interaction of various behavioral, biological, social determinants, environmental, organizational, peers and general public policies which when harmonized assist an individual in making healthier choices in regard to their lives. The four levels are; individual; relationship; community and finally society.
In this particular discussion, the heath related issue that I am going to concentrate on is injuries that result from violence carried out by the youth. The paper will first of all list the risk factors of this issue arranged according to the four levels of the ecological model. The risk factors are those that place people at risk or prevent them from going through the violence that may lead them to being injured.
Risk factors for Physical Injuries from Violence related Activities among the youth
As seen above, the physical injuries are mostly prone to the youth who attend various education institutions like middle schools and high schools. This is because ate these educational institutions, the rate of violence is very high most it emanating from bullying.
The effect on these young people who attend high schools and middle schools are very large. For example, every year, hundred of kids are forced to skip school so as to attend to physical injuries inflicted on them by their fellow students or peers.
However, the importance of the risk factors varies across the different ecological levels. Starting with the individual level, I think that the most important risk factors are hostility and anger accompanied by drug abuse. It is quite clear that in the current generation, and there are increased levels of drug and substance abuse together with general anger and hostility ( Dogan and Rokkan 2001). These factors then motivate the young people to become violent and may inflict injuries on their fellow youth members.
In the relationship level, the most important factors are the lack of supervision and family instabilities and fights. Fights expose the youth to violent vices and stimulate them to practice. If there is no supervision, they can seriously cause harm to their age mates.
In the community level, the most important risk factor is the lack of social connectedness that that makes some youth more prone to injuries received from violence instances. The most important factor in the society level is the society general tolerance on injury infliction to others in violence related cases. This has been due to society’s relaxed laws that do not punish people who inflict injuries on others in the most effective ways.
As expressed earlier, the various risk factors across the different ecological levels are related in so many aspects. For example, it is a common argument that an individual’s behavior is usually a result of exposure to community and society norms (Bronfenbrenner 2005). Therefore the individual risk factors that expose one to physical injuries are related to the community or societies setting in which the particular individual was raised in. The relationship risk factors are also interconnected to both individual and society’s risk factors since the risk factors that one is exposed to are also exposed to other community members and it therefore an individual’s efforts to alleviate the implications of the factors that determine the level of injuries afflicted.
However, there are several protective strategies that can be adopted across the four ecological levels that might to alleviate this menace of physical injury affliction from youth violence. At the individual level, the youth can be given lessons that equip them with the necessary emotional, behavioral and social skills that enable them to treat their compatriots in less violent ways.
At the relationship level, the youth can be granted family and education support so that they can learn to cope with the violence that they witness ate the family setting and not actually practice it. This can be done through the establishment of emotional support centers.
In the society and community levels, the most effective protection strategy would be to formulate rules and regulations that completely outlaw violence among the youth. This done by dictating tough punishments for young people who engage in violence and cause physical or bodily harm to their compatriots (Stokols 2007).
In conclusion, the ecological model is a very effective tool that can be used to explore various health related issues in the society and also provide a platform for the formulation of protection strategies for these issues. Violence among the youth that leads to physical injuries is a very sensitive issue that must be promptly addressed by concerned public and private bodies. The ecological model in this case offers a perfect tool opportunity for dealing with the issue.
References
Dogan, M, & Rokkan, S. (2001). Quantitative ecological analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stokols, D. (2007). Translating social ecological theory into guidelines for community health promotion. American Journal of Health Promotion
