
• Definition of terms.Introduction
• Types of Parental Neglect.
• Causes of Parental Neglect.
Parental
Neglect
• Signs and Symptoms .
• Predisposing Factors.
• Types of Depression.
Depression
OUTLINE


OUTLINE, CONTD.
• Depression As An Aftermath Of Parental
Neglect
• Management Of Depression.
• The Role Of Nurses In The Prevention
And Control Of Parental Neglect.


 Parental neglect and child neglect are used interchangeably
because it is the children who are under the care of the
parents.
 Child neglect is defined as the persistent failure to meet a
child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs resulting in
serious impairment of health and/or development.
 Parental neglect is a major risk factor for psychopathology,
including internalising problems such as depression and
anxiety
INTRODUCTION


 Lack of emotional interaction during the crucial early period of development
can result in poor emotional regulation that may be part of a cascade of
adverse neurobiological events rendering a child vulnerable to the effects of
continuing neglect as childhood progresses.
 Depression can be managed through both pharmacological and non-
pharmacological therapies.
 Nurses play significant roles in the prevention of child neglect through
primary prevention roles.
INTRODUCTION, CONTD.


 Parental neglect is a crime consisting of acts or omissions of a parent which
endangers the health and life of a child or fails to take steps necessary to the
proper raising of a child.
 Depression: it is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects
how you feel, the way you think and how you act.
 Child: a child is defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child(CRC) as
“every human below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable under
the child majority is attained earlier.
 Parenting: it is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional,
social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood.
Definition of terms

PARENTAL NEGLECT
• Parental Neglect is a type of
maltreatment related to the
failure to provide needed, age-
appropriate care
• Neglect is categorized as one of
the four major types of child
abuse, which of the four types,
it is also the most common


 Parents may neglect their children without wishing to, as do poor
parents who don’t have the money for nourishing food. And neglect
spans class lines, as in the case of wealthy latchkey kids with parents
too busy to provide steady love and affection.
Parental Neglect contd.


 Physical neglect
 Medical neglect
 Supervising neglect
 Environmental neglect
 Educational neglect
 Emotional neglect
TYPES OF PARENTAL NEGLECT

PHYSICAL NEGLECT
 Physical neglect includes the refusal of seeking necessary health care, child
abandonment, the desertion of child, failure to provide for the child’s
safety,physical and emotional needs.

MEDICAL NEGLECT
 Medical neglect is the failure to provide for appropriate health care for a
child. The child may exhibit signs of poor health, such as fatigue, infected
cuts, and constant scratching of skin.

SUPERVISING NEGLECT
 Supervising neglect occurs when the adult responsible for a child either
fails to supervise and keep the child from being harmed or fails to have
someone else supervise the child and keep him or her from harm.

Environmental Neglect
 This type of neglect is related to both physical and supervisory neglect, but
it occurs when children’s home environment are filthy.

Educational Neglect
 Educational neglect occurs when a child is allowed to engage in chronic
truancy, or is of mandatory school age but not receiving schooling.

Emotional Neglect
 Emotional neglect occurs when children are deprived of their emotional needs
(positive attachment with adults). It includes inadequate nurturing and affection,
spousal abuse in the child’s presence, allowing a child to use drugs or alcohol.

 Poverty
 Poor social skill and relationships
 Substance abuse
 Depression in parents
 A large family
 Lack of Support for single-
parents households.
 Lack of child empathy.
Causes of Parental
Neglect.


 The legal rights of the Nigerian child recognizes the basic
concept that the child is the foundation of the society and
he or she assures its continuity.
 These laws are being encroached upon on a daily basis
without appropriate sanction, not because we don’t have laws
and policies on child protection but due to lack of social
consensus and political will to successfully implement laws
and policies.
 The increasing spate of child abuse with its attendant
consequences therefore calls for urgent assessment,
prevention and mitigation in order to secure the future of
Nigerian children
PARENTAL NEGLECT IN NIGERIA


 Depression is a disorder of the brain.
 There are a variety of causes, including genetic, environmental,
psychological, and biochemical factors.
 This is the most common of the affective disorders;
 It may range from a very mild condition, bordering on normality, to
severe (psychotic) depression accompanied by hallucinations and
delusions.
 It is characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of
guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy and
poor concentration, besides feeling depressed
DEPRESSION


SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION
 Feelings of sadness or unhappiness
 Irritability or frustration, even over small
matters
 Loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities
 Reduced sex drive
 Insomnia or excessive sleeping
 Changes in appetite — depression often causes
decreased appetite and weight loss, but in some
people it causes increased cravings for food and
weight gain


 Changes in appetite
 Agitation or restlessness
 Irritability or angry outbursts
 Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements
 Indecisiveness, distractibility and decreased concentration
 Frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide
 Crying spells for no apparent reason.
SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION
CONTD.


Genetics
Biochemical Influence
Neuroendocrine Disturbances
Physiological Influences
Other physiological conditions.
Predisposing Factors of Depression


TYPES OF DEPRESSION
Major depression
Dysthymia
Bipolar disorder (manic depression)


Suicidal ideation
Self-medication
Alcohol and drug abuse
Loss of employment
Low grades
Poverty
Problems with relationship
COMPLICATIONS.


 According to DSM V, a diagnosis of major depression can be
made if five or more of the following symptoms have been
present during the same 2weeks period and represent a
change from previous functioning; at least one of the
symptoms is either (1) depressive mood or (2) loss of
interest or pleasure.
DSM V DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA


 Traumatic experiences such as child abuse or neglect change the chemistry and
even the structure of the brain.
 They sensitize the stress response system so that those who are abused
become overly responsive to environmental pressures.
 Eventually, even small degrees of stress provoke an outpouring of stress
hormones, and these hormones in turn act directly on multiple sites to produce
the behavioural symptoms of depression
 A hidden but serious act of parental neglect which sets a child up to be prone to
depression throughout his/her lifetime is called childhood Emotional Neglect
(CEN).
 They push the brain’s fear centre into overdrive, churning out the negative
emotions that steer the depression’s severity and add a twist of anxiety.
DEPRESSION AS AN AFTERMATH
OF PARENTAL NEGLECT


 Depression can be managed through both Pharmacological an non-
pharmacological therapies.
 Non-pharmacological therapies :
• Electro-convulsive therapy
• Psychotherapy
 Pharmacological therapy:
• Anti-depressants medication.
 Serotonin–Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors
 Tricyclic Antidepressants
 Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
Management of Depression.


Non-pharmacological therapies
Psychotherapy
Electroconvulsive
therapy


Pharmacological therapies
Anti-depressant
medications
 Serotonin–Norepinephrine
Reuptake Inhibitors
 Tricyclic Antidepressants
 Monoamine Oxidase
Inhibitors


 Risk for Suicide
• Inquire about suicidal thoughts, plans and
means.
• Make environment safe
• Short-term verbal or written contract.
• Close observation
• Frequent rounds at irregular intervals
• Encourage open, honest expression of
feelings.
NURSING INTERVENTION FOR A
DEPRESSED PATIENT


 Low self-esteem/self positive deficit
• Spend time with the patient and develop trust.
• Focus on strength; minimise failures
• Encourage group attendance
• Teach assertive and effective communication
• Show the client how to perform activities with which
he or she is having
INTERVENTION CONTD.


 Powerlessness
• Encourage participation in goal-setting and
decision-making regarding own care.
• Ensure that goals are realistic.
• Encourage expression of feelings about areas not
within client’s ability to control.
INTERVENTION CONTD.


 There are multiple approaches to the prevention of child
abuse and neglect, from the level of the individual parent
and child to the larger society.
 Any effective approach to preventing child abuse and
neglect must accommodate the complex causes of a
problem and the diverse interests and needs represented
by everyone who is affected by it.
 Nurses provide direct service to children and families;
therefore can play several important roles in the
prevention of child abuse and neglect.
PREVENTION OF PARENTAL NEGLECT;
THE NURSES’ ROLE


 Two primary prevention roles for primary-care nurses are:
1) Careful assessment of the home environment to identify
modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for maltreatment,
such as evidence of social isolation and lack of social supports;
and
2) Nurses’ awareness of triggering situations that can contribute
to maltreatment incidents, such as crying and toilet-training.
Prevention contd.


Strategies used by nurses for the prevention of parental neglect are as follows:
 Increasing services to families such as home visiting, early childhood education,
and parent education.
 Providing mental health services to parents and neglected children and youth.
 Ensuring access for all children to affordable, quality health care, including
prenatal, dental, and mental health services.
 Increasing public awareness efforts to educate the public about child neglect,
its seriousness, and how they can help prevent it, as well as foster a shared
sense of societal responsibility.
 Increasing research efforts to improve our understanding of child neglect abuse – its
nature, extent, causes, and consequences, as well as what helps prevent and address
it.
PREVENTION CONTD.


 Parents who are irresponsible and who forget or don’t know how to take
care of their children’s needs. Also seen as parents who are too drunk or
high to take care of their children, or who don’t care about their children’s
needs and thus don’t bother to feed them or provide clothes and
necessities.
 Neglected children may cope by clinging and being dependent; by giving up
and lacking motivation or hope; by withdrawing and resisting human
contact.; it sets the child up to be more prone to depression throughout
her lifetime .
Conclusion


 Nurses play a vital role by advocating for the clients
(neglected children) to the right authority on policies
or strategies to prevent and control parental neglect
 They also play preventive role in educating the parents
in child developmental stages and good parenting skills
through home visiting and sensitization programme in
the community.
Conclusion contd.


THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING