Families with complex needs or vulnerable families are terms used to describe the families with particular disadvantages in access to healthcare. Families with complex needs are usually facing the circumstances of personal, family, social, and economic nature that may endanger families and children’s well-being (Price-Robertson & Schuurman, 2019). Examples of such circumstances are “poverty, single parents, unemployment, relationship problems, illness, frequent family displacement, domestic violence, alcohol and other drug use, racism and other forms of discrimination, and social exclusion” (Price-Robertson & Schuurman, 2019). This paper aims to discuss how family healthcare practitioners can recognize vulnerable families with complex needs.
Scientists emphasize that “social, political and structural determinants contribute more to inequality in health than biological factors or personal choice” (Willen et al., 2017, p. 964). It is implied by the syndemic approach that is based on the understanding that an egalitarian interpretation of the right to health recognizes differences in social status and opportunities for access to health care, as opposed to narrow legal interpretations that all people are equal in dignity and, as a result, have equal access opportunities.
Families with complex needs can have chronic problems and interrelated life difficulties. In addition to the features presented above, families with complex needs may be challenged by mental health problems, physical health problems, disabilities, substance use, domestic violence, social isolation, poverty, unemployment, and homelessness. Therefore, these families are referred to as having a “wide” range of problems. It is important to understand that these families are not a homogeneous group, and each family has a unique set of difficulties. Moreover, it is unlikely that these families will permanently have complex needs (Price-Robertson & Schuurman, 2019). Therefore, it is reasonable to talk about families that “live in complex circumstances” since complex needs by their nature are not associated with specific families.
Sometimes such families are called “hard to reach,” but experts insist that focus should be moved to the health services that are “hard to access.” Access to health services can be impeded by “ignorance of the services available to them, inadequate transportation to visit services, feelings of intimidation due to inexperience in providing services and negative experience of using the services” (Price-Robertson & Schuurman, 2019). Experts note that some groups of the population have more families with complex needs. These are, for example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and this situation of inequality is linked to multiple factors, including historical, political, and social constituents.
References
Price-Robertson, R., & Schuurman, C. (2019).Supporting children in families with complex needs: Nine tips for practitioners who feel out of their depth. Web.
Willen, S. S., Knipper, M., Abadía-Barrero, C. E., & Davidovitch, N. (2017). Syndemic vulnerability and the right to health. The Lancet, 389(10072), 964-977.