07 Caring Community
Highlights:
1. Structural issues：focus on social structures
2. Vulnerable groups
Examples
- children, disabled, aged, ethnic minorities and poor families
Features
- difficult to mobilize individual resources (including personal ability, financial asset and social network etc.) to deal with crisis
- more prone to having crisis comparing with the general public
- need timely and additional assistance
3. Economic crises
Effects on communities, families and vulnerable groups
- Communities
- Change in the income of the general public will lead to a change in consumption pattern and dietary habits.
- Families
- Increases in working hours may lead to the increase in work pressure and tension between family life and work and thus the family relationship may deteriorate.
- Vulnerable groups
- Cut in public expenditure, esp. on social welfare which may affect the accessibility and the quality of services provided for the vulnerable groups.
Effects on individual health and well-being
- Physical
- Psychosomatic disorders
- Not able to maintain basic standard of living
- Mental
- Triggers the feelings of depression
- Social
- People may withdraw from some social activities to reduce expenditure
Reading:
Application:
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Assessment Task:
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4. Family changes and their effects
Family structure
- A nuclear family
- a couple living with their dependent children in the same residence
- An extended family
- a nuclear or single-parent family living together with other relatives such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in the same household
- A stem family
- a multiple family, living in the same household, in which the relationship between family members extends vertically; for example, a household consisting of a married couple, their children and the husband’s elderly parents
- A reconstituted family / blended family
- a couple with at least one partner who has divorced and remarried and which includes children from their previous relationship(s)
- A single-parent family
- a parent, who may or may not have been married, lives with one or more of his/her children
Family disintegration
- Mental aspect
- traumatic events that have a profound and lasting psychological impact such as grief
- Social aspect
- readjustment to new family relationships
- Physical aspect
- possible care deprivation due to the change in family financial situation
Single parent households and the consequences
- Role confusion
- e.g. children assume parent roles in the family
- Contradictory cultural values
- e.g. women take care of children / take up new career skills and seek a job after divorce
5. Displacement and migration
Population displacement
- may result from natural disaster, human activities such as dam project, war, job, education, family reunion etc
Impacts on health
- Physical
- Health risks due to the change in living environment and lifestyles
- Mental
- Stressor / need for identity /self-image/ sense of belonging in the new community
- Social
- Change in community bonds and support networks
Possible risks of displaced groups or migrants
- Possible care deprivation in displaced population
- lack of access to health care information and related services
- Readjustment to new environment: employment, study and social network
6. Community and Social Support Network
Social support
- resources and encouragement received from social network, government and non-government organisations (NGOs)
Types of help
- Emotional support
- Friendship
- Practical assistance
- Suggestions and information
Social Support Network
- Tight Social Network
- Loose Social Network
7. Community Bond
Breakdown due to
- technology advancement
- individualism
- long and irregular working hours
- high mobility of community
Possible negative consequences
- lack of communication among people
- ignorance on their living communities and support
- crimes in community
- social disorder
Latest Update: October 2019
Power-point
Assessing my learning
- What are social changes?
- How do social factors affect the health of a community?
- What are the functions of the social support network?