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The document discusses various forms of abuse, including child and adult abuse, emphasizing the intentional harm caused by individuals or groups. It highlights the role of social workers in identifying and addressing child abuse, which can manifest as physical, emotional, or sexual harm, and the increased vulnerability of certain adult populations to abuse. Additionally, it references a study on the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, particularly its relationship with panic attacks in adulthood.

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8 views

ho_1

The document discusses various forms of abuse, including child and adult abuse, emphasizing the intentional harm caused by individuals or groups. It highlights the role of social workers in identifying and addressing child abuse, which can manifest as physical, emotional, or sexual harm, and the increased vulnerability of certain adult populations to abuse. Additionally, it references a study on the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, particularly its relationship with panic attacks in adulthood.

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n34354688
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Pierson, J., & Thomas, M. (2010). Dictionary of Social Work. Open University Press.

Abuse

Intentional, purposeful acts or acts of omission leading to a person being hurt, injured or killed.
Attention has focused mainly on child abuse, more recently on adult abuse, including abuse of
people with mental health problems or disabilities, such as learning disabilities. ‘Spouse
abuse’ is more commonly referred to as domestic violence. Particular environments can be
abusing (for example, to be a child in any society where there is violent conflict or extreme
poverty). In most industrialized societies, however, abuse is thought of as a non-accidental act
perpetrated by an individual, family or group, or as something that an individual, family or group
fails to prevent.

While most accounts now distinguish between physical, emotional and sexual abuse, different
forms of abuse may overlap or interact with each other. Physical abuse is likely to be accompanied
by emotional abuse; sexual abuse is likely also to involve emotional abuse; emotional abuse can
occur independently of the other two forms.

Child Abuse

Physical or psychological harm done to a child through a deliberate act or neglect. Social workers
work with several forms of child abuse. Physical abuse is the intentional use of physical force to
hurt, injure or kill a child. Social workers are not expected to diagnose with certainty whether a
child has been physically abused or not, but they are expected to be alert to suspected cases of
abuse so that they can initiate an investigation to safeguard the child. Social workers also encounter
children harmed through neglect: the persistent lack of attention paid to the child’s needs by his
or her parents or carers. Pre-school children are most vulnerable to neglect, which can take the
form of injury in repeated accidents, for example burning a hand in an unguarded fire, weight
loss or abnormally slow growth rates. Social workers also work with children who have been
sexually abused. Child sexual abuse can take several forms: exposure, such as the viewing of
sexual acts, pornography and exhibitionism; molestation, that is, the fondling of genitals, either
the child’s or the adult’s; sexual intercourse … without the use of force and over a period of time;
and rape, that is, intercourse achieved by use of force. Although injuries to an abused child can be
extreme, detection of abuse is rarely easy and is usually achieved only by the pooling of
knowledge and expertise by both professionals and lay people. Health visitors, pre-school
playgroup assistants, teachers, general practitioners and medical staff at hospital emergency
units as well as paediatricians, social workers and police all play important roles in this task.
Often the children’s own willingness to speak to someone confidentially about the abuse
happening to them or the observations of non-abusing parents are critical to detection.
Adult Abuse

The abuse of adults by people who are more powerful than less powerful and vulnerable adults.
Such abuse may serve self-interests or group interests of abusers…. These definitions of abuse
thus highlight the misuse of power, betrayal of trust, and harmful consequences for the
person. Children are at risk of encountering these experiences because they are routinely in a
relatively powerless position in relation to adults. Significantly, however, there is also a greater
risk for adults who receive health and social care services in contrast with the general adult
population. These adults include older people, physically and sensorily disabled people,
learning disabled people, people with mental health problems, people with long-term health
conditions and people with serious substance abuse concerns.

Article

Renner, L. M., Coohey, C., Ruch, G., & O’Leary, P. (2013). Self-reported panic attacks in
adulthood: Relationship with injury, location and disclosure of childhood sexual abuse.
Journal of Social Work, 13(3), 308–318. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017311433429

Abstract

•Summary: Children’s long-term response to sexual abuse is likely to be influenced by its


context, such as the location of the abuse, the severity of the abuse, their relationship to the
abuser, and whether they disclose the abuse. In this study, we examine whether these factors
increase the likelihood that children will experience panic attacks during adulthood.

•Findings: This secondary analysis relied on a convenience sample of 92 participants who were
recruited through community advertisements. In the multivariate model, adults who were injured
during the sexual abuse, were sexually abused outside their home, who reported the sexual abuse
was incest, and who were in midlife were more likely to experience panic attacks. Disclosing
abuse and wanting to disclose abuse, but being unable to, were not related to panic attacks.

•Applications: The results of this exploratory study need to be verified by other researchers using
a larger sample. For children, discussing the location of the abuse could lead to a conversation
about safe spaces and protective strategies.

Keywords

Social work, child sexual abuse, disclosure, injury, panic attacks

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