Healthcare Developmental Approach
Today, modern systems of healthcare focus on treatment rather than prevention through innovation and the creation of drugs, expansion of insurance, and vaccination programs. However, many challenges, such as child mortality and other difficulties, are preventable by implementing the developmental approach (Conti and Heckman, 2012). Despite existing outside the boundaries of medicine, it forms the foundations of lifelong health by strengthening the foundations of healthcare in children and adults. All in all, the implementation of the developmental approach to healthcare is vital since it interacts with families and communities as a primary healthcare promotion and disease prevention strategy, which enables pediatricians, eliminate weak short procedures and implement integrated systems that support healthcare and foster the well-being of children and adults.
The developmental perspective can develop the practice of healthcare providers in various ways. The prevalence of disorders, such as ADHD, is due to genetic and environmental factors. The development perspective of healthcare ensures that the change in the epidemiology of child illness finds the health providers prepared and ready to minimize the impacts adverse early childhood environment. In the long run, it reduces the potentially huge cost, which could be used in supporting other necessities needed by the health practitioners. What is more, child mental health problems affect a wider variety of adult outcomes than physical conditions (Conti and Heckman, 2012). The development of early childhood will minimize these problems from persisting into adulthood, and this will be important for the practice of healthcare providers.
It is vital to consider multi-level and long term development of certain health conditions. And this is because I have witnessed a wide range of healthcare challenges within my personal experience and relation with other medical practitioners. First of all, family conditions in which minors grow have been worsening over time (Conti and Heckman, 2012). In that, in the United States, there is a high rate of divorce, and this leaves less-educated single parents, who have minimal sources of income with inadequate resources to invest in their children. Given the current economic recession and financial stress, family conflicts are rapidly growing. As a result, for the first time in more than thirty years, mental health problems have displaced physical conditions as the leading causes of disabilities in United States children (Conti and Heckman, 2012).
As an individual receiving constant training for my future professional goals, a developmental perspective informs my future work in various ways. To be more precise, it enables a sufficient understanding of a child’s development, which is relatable to adulthood and overall well-being. For instance, the circumstances in which people are born usually “get under their skin. And this has a huge impact on the development of the brain and the whole body. Besides, research on stress response pathways, allostatic load, neuronal development, and epigenetic mechanisms, indicate that the environment can become biologically embedded in the body, in ways that can affect health across the life course ” (Conti and Heckman, 2012). What is more, the developmental healthcare perspective will help me to understand how neural development and behaviors
Healthcare intervention in early childhood is way more important than late remediation. All the critical factors and capabilities can be created. Since the prevalent life-cycle skills are dynamic, early childhood investment through social support and provision of other critical services like quality education fosters cognitive and character traits, which shape well-being right from childhood to adulthood. All in all, the implementation of the developmental approach to healthcare is vital since it interacts with families and communities as a primary healthcare promotion and disease prevention strategy, which enables pediatricians, eliminate weak short procedures and implement integrated systems that support healthcare and foster the well-being of children and adults.
Reference
Conti, G., and Heckman, J. (2012). The developmental approach to child and adult health. National Bureau of Economic Research. Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA.