Describe indicators that abuse may be happening to adults
Samiha Suleiman Unit 11 Nasrin
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P2- Describe indicators that abuse may be happening to adults
Within this assignment I shall be describing & explaining different signs & symptoms to show that an adult may be at risk of being abused.
Disclosure- Disclosure means when somebody tells you information about their personal life. Normally when someone discloses information to someone else it is normally about abuse that is happening to themselves or someone else.
If someone has decided to disclose information to you it can be exposed in various ways for example the most common way to disclose information is given by the actual victim to their care providers because of the trust bond they have together. Another way a person may choose to disclose information is because they have witnessed someone else getting abused. In addition every patient is entitled to an annual health check where a nurse or doctor may witness some peculiar sore or scarred injuries on a patient’s body that may cause suspicion of abuse; the doctor or nurse will then disclose their concerns to the patients care provider. Any person disclosing information has the right to keep their statements confidential.
Unexplained injuries- Whenever someone suspects that an adult maybe at risk of abuse because they have unexplained injuries, then a medical opinion would normally be key to confirm that the injury on the patient’s body is non accidental. However sometimes it may be harder to distinguish whether an injury is accidental or non-accidental. For example someone may state that the injury that occurred from the patient happened by falling down steps, it may be difficult to tell if the injury was intentional or not. There are very vibrant & clear signs that someone may be at risk of abuse for example their maybe scars or some bruising on a patient’s body. There would be concern for risks of abuse if these bruises or scars are in unexplained areas like on the back of the neck, shoulders or even near the upper arm. These injuries indicate someone has grabbed, pinched, bitten or pulled the patient by force to the extent that they’ve left a mark. A patient may develop bruises near the neck from being strangled, you may get cuts or swollen bruises near a patients mouth if they were perhaps being force fed. Cuts may form as a result of self-harm which was triggered by abuse by an abuser in a care setting.