Stressors

Fortunately I do not know anyone neither have I experienced any of the stressors in the list that was presented to the class. So I decided that I would just do some research on how children or adults cope with stressors in a different country.

According to the text excessive cortisol (the primary stress hormone) may flood the brain and destroy part of the hippocampus. Permanent deficits in learning and memory may result as “children exposed to traumatic or stressful events have an increased probability of developing major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity”. Since developing brains are fragile, “prolonged physiological responses to stress and challenge put children at risk for a variety of problems in childhood, including physical and mental disorders, poor emotional regulation and cognitive impairments” (Berger, 2014).

In Nigeria there is stress dealing with women’s mental health and work/family conflict. Mental health can be described as the ability to respond to many varied experiences of life with flexibility and a sense of purpose. There arises a strain on Nigerian women’s mental health as they struggle to balance the multiple competing demands on their time and energy. This strain or conflict often occurs as the Nigerian women employees try to meet the needs of their spouses, children, elderly parents, community and employers. This situation is referred to as work-family conflict. This situation can lead to fatigue and other mental health problems in the Nigeria women.

Studies have shown that a good social support network can help to alleviate most of these mental health effects of these stressors. High levels of social support may be an important prognostic factor in recovery from mental health problems suffered by women.

I think that plenty of women can relate to the same stress issues here in the United States, especially the work/family conflict. Some women overwhelm themselves by making sure everyone else is taken care of except for themselves, that to me is the definition of selflessness (unselfish, self-sacrificing) and at some point you do have to take care of yourself (physically, mentally, emotionally) – if you don’t who will? When women or parents neglect the well-being of themselves and worry only about the children things can become a little stressful and some parent become irritable which can lead to abuse towards the children because they are not in their right minds because of the stress that they are under. Then when the child is enduring abuse it can lead to many other issues that can have long term effect on the child and the parent.

References

Berger, K. S. (2014). The Developing Person Through Childhood. New York: Worth Publishers.

Oluwole, D. A., Hammed, A. T., & Awaebe, J. I. (2014, September 27). Patterns of Stress, Social Support, and Mental Health among Nigerian Women. Retrieved from Advancing Women In Leadership Journal: http://advancingwomen.com/awl/awl_wordpress/patterns-of-stress-social-support-and-mental-health-among-nigerian-women/

Malnutrition

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is when a person is not getting enough food or not getting the right sort of food. Even if people get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micro-nutrients - vitamins and minerals - to meet daily nutritional requirements. A malnourished person finds that their body has difficulty doing normal things such as growing and resisting disease. Physical work becomes problematic and even learning abilities can be diminished. For women, pregnancy becomes risky and they cannot be sure of producing nourishing breast milk. There are two sides to eliminating malnutrition: 

1. sustaining the quantity of food a person eats; and
2. ensuring adequate health care and a healthy environment.

This topic is meaningful to me because I once worked with a child whose family had fallen on hard times and it was hard for them to know what they were going to eat each day and I remember feeling really sorry for them and wanting to help them out but of course it would be conflict of interest to help just that one family out when it could be plenty of other families at the school that was having a hard time making ends meet. So what I would do is secretly put money on the child's school account whenever I had extra money to spare and making sure to tell the cafeteria staff to let the child know she could get a more healthy meal and not just peanut butter sandwiches. When I see children who are malnourished I begin to feel really grateful for everything I have and for every piece of food that I have in my refrigerator because I could be that child that does not know what I am going to eat the next day. 

**Malnutrition in Haiti**
In Haiti one in 10 children die before the age of 5, malnutrition is the leading cause of death in children, one third of 1 year old show signs of severe growth retardation, forty percent of all 5 year olds have stunted growth and brain development and malnutrition contributes to 60% of all deaths in children.

The information I have learned can definitely impact my future work because I have the possibility of running into children and families that are malnourished because the lack of money to buy the correct foods or just because their family exhibit poor eating habits. 

References

Malnutrition . (n.d.). Retrieved from World Food Programme: http://www.wfp.org/hunger/malnutrition

Malnutrition in Haiti. (n.d.). Retrieved from Consider Haiti: http://www.considerhaiti.org/learn-about-haiti/malnutrition-in-haiti/

Birthing Experience

Personal Birth Experience

Since I do not have any children and my mother does not remember anything from my birth besides that it was very painful and she was in labor for 17 hours I will discuss about the time I was a part of my little sister's birth. 

My sister Brandi was born on March 20, 2003 and I was 12 years old, I remember being at home with my mother and we were getting some gas logs installed into our fireplace and I just remember her asking me to call our grandmother to tell her, "It was time!" and to come pick her up. I remember being very happy because I was about to have a baby sister and I just love me some babies! I had to help my mom finish packing the rest of her hospital bag and getting her ready to go, when my grandma arrived we were basically standing outside waiting. At the hospital everything happened so quick - I know my mom did have the baby before her doctor arrived and she was very quiet, I didn't even hear her make a noise - I remember thinking "this is not what it is like on TV." After the nurses and doctors had to do everything to my baby sister I finally got to hold her and help my mom take care of her - best day of my life! My sister is 11 years old now and we are closer than ever, it’s almost like she is my baby because I will do anything for her and I spend tons of time with her. 

The way a child is born can affect its development in many different ways - if the child has a difficult time during the birthing process that can affect the child later as the child is growing up. If the child didn't receive all the nutrients or the correct amount of air in the womb that can also affect the child in its development. So the birthing process should be taken seriously and done carefully to make sure that the child develops the correct way and the right time/age. 

Birthing Experience in Mexico

In rural Mexico, midwives still attend almost 50% of the births and are preferred over the doctors because they themselves are women; because they charge less; because they go to the woman's home, are available, speak the same language and share the same culture; and because they treat women with warmth and emotion. Nevertheless, traditional midwives recognize their limitations in intervening in grave situations of obstetric emergency. Most traditional midwives are of advanced age.

I find that very interesting that they do not use the hospitals as much to have their babies - here in the United States you don't hear too much of women using midwives to help assist in the birth of their baby. I don't think my mom would have ever used a midwife just for the simple fact she would want to make sure that the person delivering the baby knows what they are doing and plus that is not  a common thing here in the USA.