Vivian
There is a great and positive potential effectiveness resulting from professional nurse-provided social support versus enhancement of social support provided by personal relationship and social networks for parents of children with chronic mental illness. The biggest possible impact of this is that the support can be the most impactful on the nurses so that they feel supported at the highest possible level. This can occur because nurses know what the other nurses are going through more than anyone else. There is no one else, not another health care professional or person in the general population, who is in the shoes of the nurse. Therefore, the outside perspective that the person has can make it harder for that person to provide the most effective support for nurses just because they do not know exactly what they are going through or how it feels. But, when nurses provide this support to one another, there is a deeper connection that can occur because there is a shared experience, where the nurse can better identify and understand what the nurse is going through or how the nurse feels (Stelnicki et al., 2020).
Another reason why the professional nurse-provided support is effective is that the nurses work more closely with one another throughout the course of day. This closeness in the workplace can allow better relationships to be built, and so when the support is provided by another nurses, it can feel more genuine to a nurse. This is because the other nurses is someone who the nurse trusts. Therefore, what the other nurse says and does within the realm of providing support to that nurse can be taken with greater feeling and trust behind it by the nurse (Stelnicki et al., 2020).
Now, when it comes to supporting the parents of children with chronic mental illness, the nurse-provided support can be so much more impactful in a positive way. This can happen because the nurses work the closest with the patients and their parents, which means that they could have the best communications and deepest relationships. This means that the patients’ parents could have more trust for the nurses than they would others in social support groups. This is why nurses being supportive is so important in health care for the patients and their family members or support system members (Stelnicki et al., 2020).
With all of this being said, it does not suggest or imply that the enhancement of social support provided by personal relationship and social networks for parents of children with chronic mental illness is not effective. It can be very effective and should still be used when the patients’ parents are interested in trying it. but, there should still be support from the nurses to the patients and their parents because they will be in need of it. dealing with any chronic condition can be very difficult, and mental health conditions can be so challenging to cope with on a daily basis, and this means that there will likely be struggles that the parents will need support to handle and overcome (Murn, 2019).
Livan
Mental health in children is undoubtedly a situation that deserves and needs all the necessary attention. The United States is one of the countries that exhibits alarming figures related to the mental health crisis in children and adolescents. The largest number of cases are presented with aberrant, violent or even depressive behaviors that may go unnoticed by many parents or they simply do not want to see. Another group presents with already known diseases such as hyperactivity disorder, depression, mental retardation, schizophrenia, bipolarity and others.
One of the elements common to all these disorders is that they represent an emotional, stressful and very complex factor for parents. From the medical point of view, dealing with children with mental illnesses also implies paying attention to their parents. Our work as nurse practitioners must include supporting the social, behavioral, and emotional needs of both children and their parents. One of the most logical ways to address this issue in our daily practice is the social and emotional support that we can provide through face-to-face interaction with parents. It is a form that human beings appreciate. Direct attention is important, being able to listen, evaluate, look at every detail of behavior or simply hold hands in ours.
The social development that is increasingly technological has been isolating each person in their own world or space. For this change in social life we must also be prepared and use its advantages. In all this context, social networks appear, develop and are increasingly applied, where interaction through digital platforms constitutes the most common form of human interaction. Currently many of these platforms are used to provide social support to many people who use them and where parents of children with mental illnesses also benefit. If I were to give my opinion on advantages or disadvantages, or the most effective way to interact or provide support to these parents, I would prefer to say that the most important thing is the support and not the way in which it can be provided. It is up to us as nurses to always be present for these children and their parents, which also implies teaching them to use and benefit from the potential that currently represents all the social support they can receive through social networks and different digital platforms.
With this work we will learn to value the importance of social support for parents with children suffering from a mental illness. The role that we play as nurse practitioners in a scenario like this and above all to contribute and help in social networks so that these parents do not feel alone or abandoned in difficult situations such as caring for a child with this type of illness.
