Health care for Different Theories on Social and Cognitive Development

Question: Describe about the Health care for Different Theories on Social and Cognitive Development. Answer: The essay brings into focus different theories on social and cognitive development and their relation with health care. Through the analysis of the case study on Morag Somerville, it seeks to explain how Morags social and cognitive development could be affected by her diabetes. It will analyse those factors in Morags life that is supporting hindering her normal development along with management of diabetes. Social and cognitive development theory is based on the assumption that knowledge acquisition is based on social interaction and sequence of events in society. Hence, in case of Morgan there is a need to identify what factors help or hinders Morags development. To discuss the affect of diabetes on social and cognitive development of Morag, first we need to describe briefly the case study on Morag. Morag Sommerville is a 10 years old insulin dependent diabetic girl and her mother Mrs. Somerville plays a primary role in her management and treatment of diabetes. Due to her diabetes, her mother has always over-protected her compared to her siblings. While her brother John has been given the freedom to go out and socialize with friends, Morag has never got such opportunities. Recently Morag has developed frustration due to her mothers over-protective attitude towards her and she has been hospitalized due to her poor-diabetes control. The Diabetic consultant highlighted the scale of Morags happiness which lead to her uncontrolled diabetes. An insight into cognitive development was given by Piagets theory who stated that cognitive development is a process resulting from biological maturation and experienced of society. Children tend to shape their mind according to the world around them. They experience conflict when they find that what they know is different from what they discover in the surrounding (Carpendale, 2014). The same thing with happened with Morag. Although she was over-protected by her mother due to her diabetes, however she was very frustrated due to the different treatment given to her brother. Hence, diabetes may act as a significant barrier in her social and cognitive development. Piaget had divided the intellectual development of child into four stages such as sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2years), preoperational stage (2 to 7 years), concrete operational stage (7-11 years) and Formal operational stage (adolescence to adulthood). In the first stage, children acquire knowledge through sensory experience and identifying objects as distinct entities. In the preoperational stage, children struggle with their own logic and opinion of others (Modgil et al., 2013). Morag is in the concrete operational stage when she like other kids began to think more logically. That is why Morag struggled with the rigidity of her mother. She wishes to manage her diabetic injections and diet herself instead of her mother managing her condition. The final stage of cognitive development relates to the children ability to use deductive reasoning and understanding of abstract ideas (Spencer, 2013). The social development theory states that social interaction precedes development and cognitive development occurs due to socialization. Vygotskys social development theory explains that social interaction plays an important role in cognitive development. Morag has been denied freedom to socialize or go to any events or program due to her diabetes. This social exclusion may significantly disrupt her cognitive and intellectual development (Lantolf et al., 2015). While Jean Piaget considered that cognitive development occurs first, Vygotsky argued that social learning precedes cognitive development. He said that learning occurs in three zone of social interaction, more knowledgeable others and the zone of proximal development. Hence a child personality may develop and enhance through influence of people in the society and the childs presentation of himself or the social world (Stetsenko Arievitch, 2014). If Morag is continued to be socially isolated by her mother it may have impact on her future life due to poor social understanding and low confidence in dealing with challenges in life. Morag may have poor social and emotional competence that is why she might have resorted to unhealthy diet all of a sudden out of frustration. Type 1 diabetes occurs body is unable to produce insulin due to the destruction of insulin-producing cells in the body. Morag was also insulin dependent diabetic depending on daily dose of insulin injections or insulin pumps. Although it is widely known that diabetes has deleterious impact on cardiovascular and peripheral nervous system, however it also impairs cognitive function in children. People with diabetes are generally associated with reduced performance in cognitive domains (Paton Brown, 1991).Morag social and cognitive development might also get affected due to insulin resistance and her necessity to depend on restricted diets throughout her life. This may have impact on her quality of life due to her low exposure to societal issues and her mothers tendency to over-protect her (Alderfer et al., 2001). Coping with the disease may be difficult for Morag especially when she is in the phase of cognitive and social development which will shape her personality. Due to the demand ing treatment regimen, Morag may experience psychological problem in her youth and she may turn out be aggressive. She may have problem in processing information and develop psychomotor inefficiency, hypertension and poor performance in life. Morags mother needs to seriously balance her treatment regimen as well as provide her stress free environment to successfully aid in her social and cognitive development (Gillibrand Stevenson, 2006). Certain events helped improved Morgan condition and made her stress free. This occurred when she was allowed to go the camps for kids by Diabetes Australia group. Morag was very happy in the camp as she was managing things by her own and her mother was not there to protect her all the time. She was enjoying her freedom in the camp and also developed confidence when she was able to manage her diabetes without the supervision of her mother. The major events that hindered Morag normalized development included her mothers supervision over her diabetes treatment related task. On return from camp, Morag was frustrated even more when she found that her self-acquisition in diabetes management was not taken pleasantly by her mother. Her previous restriction in her lifestyle was reimposed to her due to which her frustration increased and her diabetic control became erratic. Hence from the essay on relation between social and cognitive development theory in health care and the analysis of case study on Morag Sommerville, it can be concluded that diabetes is mainly related with depressive symptoms and poor self-efficacy in life. The social and cognitive development theory gave an idea about the normal development in children and brought into focus the barriers seen in Morags intellectual development and shaping of personality. Early life experienced are enduring factors in a child development and hence Morags mother should try to effectively foster positive family relationship by giving Morag the freedom to manage her lifestyle on her own. Reference Alderfer, M. 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