Enquiry 1: Working with Children

The purpose of Enquiry 1 is to consider how person-related factors can influence interactions with children and their families in health or human service settings. You will be asked to consider how learning, development, and memory can influence how a young child, the child’s parents, and a health or human services professional all interact in a community health setting. Specific person-related factors to be considered in this enquiry include the following:

• Learning principles

• Human development

• Memory

• Intelligence

• Psychological disorders

The first case enquiry relates to the family of a four-and-a-half year old child, Ana, who are attending a community health centre (refer to document entitled “Cooinda Community Health Centre” on MOODLE). You will be asked to take the perspective of a recent health and human services graduate who is acting as an intake officer in this community health centre (refer to document entitled “Cooinda Community Health Centre Intake worker role description” on the MOODLE. In this role she/he has seen Ana and one or both of her parents, Chris and Kat, on two occasions.

The case primarily relates to working with a four-and-a-half year old child. However, working with children in a health or human service setting also typically involves working with one or more relatives of the child. Thus, this scenario relates to both a young child and her parents.

Key people in the interaction at the community health centre:

YOU: A new graduate – in your first job after completing your degree – you are working in a community health centre as an intake worker

ANA: A four-and-a-half year old girl, born in Melbourne, Australia, who is shaped by several health and welfare issues

KATRINA (KAT): Ana’s 31-year-old mother, who emigrated from the former Yugoslavia 9 years ago and is married to Chris

CHRIS: Ana’s 38-year-old father who emigrated from the former Yugoslavia with Kat

Your task is to determine how three important person-related factors can influence how individuals present in health and human services settings. Specifically, you will be asked to analyse the ways in which learning, development, and memory influence how Ana is presenting in this setting. To be able to answer these questions successfully you will need to do the following:

• Examine the assessment task questions carefully.

• Examine and combine the multiple sources of information to create a rich understanding of the intake worker, Ana, her parents, the family’s behaviour, and their interactions with the intake worker. As you progress through the learning content and workshop activities, you will be able to identify what information you already have, as well as any gaps, thus what you need to find to answer the assessment questions. You will be able to further discuss this with your peers using the online discussion forum.