Child Abuse
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor’s Name
Date
Child Abuse
School-aged children are ready to begin learning in a school setting. School-aged children are those that have attained ages between 6 years and 12 years of age. Children experience different forms of child abuse at different age groups as they grow (Bryce & Petherick, 2020). Common types of child abuse among school-aged children include physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse. Physical abuse includes beating, biting, or burning the child leading to physical injury (Crosson-Tower, 2021). Emotional abuse involves actions that have detrimental effects on the child’s psychological wellbeing.
There are several warning signs that a nurse may look for to determine whether the child has been abused. For example, the child withdraws him/herself from peers or the public. Such children sit alone in isolated places (Crosson-Tower, 2021). Other symptoms include feelings of sadness, aggressiveness, low self-esteem, and lack of interest in some things that were once loved. These are some of the things to look for when performing an emotional assessment. Physical symptoms include bruises, dislocations, injuries, burns, and black eyes. Children who are abused sexually may have both physical and emotional symptoms (Bryce & Petherick, 2020). Physical assessment should look for these symptoms.
Cultural activities such as female genital mutilation in some African cultures may be seen as child abuse. These outdated, unhealthy cultural activities may harm the child’s psychological well-being and one might mistake with intentional child abuse (Bryce & Petherick, 2020). Some culture believes in hitting a child with a stick as a disciplinary action, which might look like physical abuse. In my state, child abuse may be reported to government agencies, such as the police or state department dealing with child abuse (Crosson-Tower, 2021). They may also be reported to certain children’s organizations.
References
Bryce, I., & In Petherick, W. (2020). Child sexual abuse: Forensic issues in evidence, impact, and management. Academic Press.
Crosson-Tower, C. (2021). Understanding child abuse and neglect. Pearson.