Child Abuse and Maltreatment Emotional Assessment Finding Indicating Child Abuse

“To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?” (Christopher Hitchens). Physical violence directed at a child is not just child abuse, but it is any way of maltreatment by an adult, violent or threatening to the child, and it includes neglect (Henry, 2018). A form of domestic violence can be identified when child abuse happens in the home, and the abuser for instant, is the child’s parents or caregiver. Child maltreatment can counter all forms of abuse and neglects of any child under the age of 18 years by either a parent, caregiver or any other person in a custodial role, and the forms of maltreatment recognized by most states include physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse where abuse and neglect could be prevented if concerns are identified and raised as early as possible and everyone must know what to look for and whom to contact for advice and support (Liu & Vaughn, 2019). Changes in someone’s physical or emotional state, or injuries that cannot be explained, may be a sign of abuse. This essay will explore the types of abuse that are most often seen in infants, warning signs, and physical and emotional assessment findings the nurse may see that could indicate child abuse, and finally, look at cultural variations of health practice that can be misidentified as child abuse.

The Types of Abuse that are mostly Seen in Infants

Child abuse affects a child’s well-being including their physical, mental, social, and emotional health where types of abuse that are mostly seen in infants include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical neglect. Physical abuse includes acts that cause physical harm to the child to some extent causing death (Liu & Vaughn, 2019). Sexual abuse is an act that involves penetration, molestation and other ways of sexual behaviors where a child is used to pleasure the perpetrator. Thirdly is emotional abuse, where one intentionally commits to cause emotional and verbal abuse, confinement, and other types of abuse that deprive the child of food and shelter (Addae & Tang, 2021). Finally, physical neglect is an act that denies or delays healthcare, displaces a child from home, abandons a child, provides insufficient supervision and protection of a child from harm, and fails to provide food and clothing needs where abuse or neglect may stunt physical development of the child’s brain and lead to psychological problems, such as low self-esteem, which could later lead to high-risk behaviors, such as substance use.

Warning Signs and Physical and Emotional Assessment Findings a Nurse may see indicating Child Abuse

The assaulted child is a term mainly applied to children showing repeated and catastrophic injury to the skin, skeletal system, or nervous system. It involves children with numerous fractures of different ages, head trauma and severe visceral trauma with evidence of unremitting infliction. However, even though these cases are awful, this pattern is rare. Children brought to seek healthcare may show signs of sexual abuse due to physical and behavioural concerns (Greenbaum et al., 2018). However, it is not unusual for children who have been sexually abused to show symptoms of infection, genital injury, abdominal pain, constipation, chronic or continuous urinary tract infections or behavioural symptoms. Shaken infant shaking is an endemic form of abuse in young children, where most shaken children are under nine months old. The males are the perpetrators of such abuse, though this may indicate that they are more prone than women to shaking children. Intracranial hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages, and small ”chip” fractures at the major joints of the child’s extremities can result from very rapid shaking of an infant and follow from an alloy of shaking and the head hitting on a surface (Nappi & Pettman, 2019). Many manifestations of child neglect are evident. They include non-compliance with the healthcare recommendations, failure to seek appropriate healthcare, food deprivation resulting in hunger, and a child’s failure to thrive physically. Other causes of concern include the subjection of children to drugs and inadequate protection from environmental dangers

Cultural Variations of Health Practice that can be Misidentified as Child Abuse

Cultural variations of health practice are important healing methods, but these practices are sometimes misidentified as child abuse. One of the most misidentified cultural variations is coining, which is an ancient practice of healing that up to date is still being practiced (Sue et al., 2022). It is a form of dermabrasion therapy involving intense skin rubbing, used mainly by the Vietnamese and Cambodians to treat various illnesses. Another