To what extent is children's well-being a priority in modern Western Essay

To what extent is children's well-being a priority in modern Western societies - Essay Example Inequalities have risen since the 1960s in the small group of OECD countries composed of the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Despite data on this group of countries revealing a change in the trend in the 1990s, overall the proportion of children living in relative poverty has expanded (UNICEF, 2005). Bradshaw and Mayhew’s (2005) comprehensive report on the physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional wellbeing of children in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, provides wide-ranging data on the various aspects. In the European Union, in 2002-2003, the fifth highest rate of relative child poverty was found in the United Kingdom where 28% of children lived in households with incomes below fifty percent of the average, after allocating for housing costs. Darton et al. (2003) observe that compared to the situation one generation ago, current poverty in the United Kingdom is most prevalent in households with children. ... Charting Children’s Well-Being in Modern Western Societies The Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989 formulated a new definition of childhood rooted in human rights. It called for the provision of essential goods and services towards the fulfillment of children’s rights to survival, health and education. The Convention also indicated â€Å"a growing recognition of the need to create a protective environment to shield children from exploitation, abuse and violence† (UNICEF, 2005, p.1). The harm caused by poverty, conflict, and HIV/ AIDS continues far beyond the years of childhood, raising the possibilities of the next generation being impacted by the same dangers, threatening the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals aiming for a â€Å"world fit for children† (UNICEF, 2005, p.1). Child Poverty in Advanced Industrialised Nations The findings presented by the Innocenti Report Card (UNICEF, 2000) reveals that the rates of child pov erty in the world’s wealthiest nations range from 3% to over 25%; nearly 17% of the rich world’s children is living in poverty; and totally about 47 million children in the nations of the OECD live below the poverty lines of their nation. Further, â€Å"in the league table of relative child poverty, the bottom four places are occupied by the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, and Mexico† (UNICEF, 2000, p.2). At the same time, in the league table of absolute child poverty, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland take up the four lowest positions. Brown (2012) argues that the indicators of child and youth wellbeing are crucial mechanisms for improving the lives of children. The main indicators of child wellbeing are in the areas of health,

Confidential medical information and parties who should have access to Research Paper

Confidential medical information and parties who should have access to medical records - Research Paper Example Electronic health record systems, though identified with advantages of improved efficiencies in care provisions, and recommended by legal provisions, establishes diversified challenges to confidentiality. Specialization among care personnel and the need to transfer patients from one personnel or care department to another is one of the causes of confidentiality challenges because data may be compromised along the chain with difficulty in managing such proliferation (Mermelstein and Wallack 97- 103). An assessment of implementation of electronic health records in health care facilities supports the position that despite the system’s benefits that both care personnel and patients appreciate, cases of information sharing is popular among care personnel. While data systems allowed for physician’s freedom to maintain privacy of patients’ information as their personal notes, most physicians preferred incorporating their patients’ information in medical records ( Beverly et al. 22-25). The issue of confidentiality in health care further goes beyond legal scope because of the profession’s nature and traditions. ... breach is therefore imminent under the current regulatory measures and the threat has possible consequences such as patients’ forfeiture of sensitive health care services for fear of breach of confidentiality (Slive and Cramer 348). Problem statement Significant knowledge exists on the role of health care information systems such as medical records and their consequences on patients’ information. Existing studies further identifies popularity of the emerging information systems despite their weaknesses as tools towards confidentiality breach and ineffectiveness of regulatory measures in ensuring confidentiality. Limited studies have however been conducted on strategies for ensuring confidentiality of medical data. The literature review therefore identifies the need to develop a model for ensuring confidentiality of patients’ information, at care personnel level. Aims The study’s core objective is to develop a psychological model for ensuring confidentialit y of patients’ health information. The following aims explore the objective. 1. To determine patient medical information that should be considered confidential 2. T determine the right people to access the confidential medical information Research questions The proposed study will investigate the following research questions 1. What medical information should be held confidential and why? 2. Who should have access to patients’ confidential information? 3. What are some of ethical issues concerning confidentiality of medical information? Methodology Research method and research design The study proposes quantitative research method with a non-experimental design. Survey techniques will be used in data collection. Sampling Stratified random sampling approach will be used to select research participants.