The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on At-Risk Populations Experiencing Stress and Family Violence: The Importance of An Action Model

ABSTRACT

The paper was entitled “The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on At-Risk Populations Experiencing stress and Family Violence The Importance of An Action Model.” As the title of the paper indicates, the paper had an ambitious task of showing how vulnerable populations, such as African Americans, because of racism, discrimination and subsequent inequities in their life experiences (such as inadequate health care, poor working conditions, a host of underlying health conditions, and potentially greater amounts of stress) are likely to become sicker with COVID-19 (higher morbidity and mortality) and, subsequently, more likely to experience higher than normal rates of family violence. The paper discussed different types of family violence, such as elder abuse, sibling abuse, child abuse and intimate partner violence. However, whatever form of family violence that is taking place in today’s society is usually intertwined with a complex mixture of factors that begin at the wider society or macro-levels, trickling down through the community and/or middle or meso-levels, and eventually landing at the individual or micro-levels of society. To better understand the complex array of societal factors, alluded to before, all of which individually and collectively help to explain how the era of the Covid-19 pandemic increased levels of stress and later the likelihood of different types of family violence, an Action Model was used as a guiding light. In essence, rather than just make alluding relational statements, as the literature warranted, steps were taken to link these important relational statements to exact sections of the Action Model depicted in the specially modified and highly illustrated Action Model of the paper. The paper closed with some recommended policy suggestions, tips, best practices and accessible resources for both stress management and family violence prevention. Key Take Away Points How vulnerable are at-risk minority populations are to health challenges How vulnerable are at-risk minority populations to family violence The contributory influence of stress to health and health outcomes The need to know about and manage stress The importance influence of the current COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable and at-risk populations to experience adverse health outcomes, including various forms of family violence The importance of having an Action Model to better understand the complex array of factors beginning at the macro-level, through the meso-level and ending at the micro-levels of society