Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Sharing a positive example of research brings to mind the poliovirus vaccine.  When I was a small child I remember my parents’ fear of polio after a little girl I played with contracted the disease.  Polio was one of the most frightening public concerns of the early 1900s to the 1950s and it was most often associated with children although adults could become infected with the virus.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012) “Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis” (para. 1).                                                                                      

I can remember the school being filled with children and parents and a very long line as the vaccine was being distributed to the public.  There was the debate about the cube of sugar or the injection and my parents choose the injection for me—so, I received the killed Salk vaccine instead of the Sabin oral vaccine and I started to cry because I didn’t want the shot.  Both, vaccines are still being used throughout the world and polio has been all but eliminated in the United States.                                                                                                                                                        

Salk as a researcher realized since vaccines existed for diseases such as smallpox and understanding that a vaccine must be specially made for the polio virus that “the principles are the same: if your body is exposed to a very weak or small amount of the disease virus, it will produce antibodies, chemicals to resist and kill the virus” (Public Broadcasting System [PBS], 1998).  So, Salk began investigating the poliovirus.  Juskewitch, Tapia, and Windebank (2010, August) “The introduction of the Salk polio vaccine represents one of the most important events in translational science” (p. 5).  There were some serious consequences that resulted from the rapid “bench to bed translation” which was largely as an outcome of the widespread fear and hysteria associated with polio. (p.1).  The medical advance of the polio vaccine was life-altering for children of that time period.  More so than other inoculations the benefits of the polio vaccine were readily apparent as the transmission of the poliovirus had a very short incubation period between the “infection period and disease” (p. 5).  Scientific research continues today to be beneficial to society as new vaccinations are being developed, tested and provided to the public.  

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). What is polio? Retrieved from http://www.cd.gov/polio/about/

Public Broadcasting System. (1998). People and discoveries: Salk produces polio vaccine 1952. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dm52sa.html

Juskewitch, J. E., Tapia, C. J., & Windebank, A. J. (2010, August).  Lessons from the Salk polio vaccine: Methods for and risks of rapid translation. National Institutes of Health.        Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2928990/

Personal Research Journey

In considering the research simulation and the topic I chose to examine is concepts children have about death in regard to their age, understanding, cognitive abilities and personal experiences.  In narrowing the research to a specific subtopic I chose to focus on strategies to surviving loss and the grieving process for children.  The research will implement the ages and stage of development of the child in relation to their perception of death and key areas of developmental change that effect this understanding.  At first death seems to be an easy idea to grasp and define as simply as when a person is no longer alive.  Yet, when the word death is addressed it brings to mind different ideas and with these perceptions comes individual concepts and varying ways of perceiving death.  Dying, death, and the grief process are considerably more complex to understand than making the change from life to death.  The reality of death is especially difficult for children.                                                                                                                                                     

Even to me this seems to be a morbid topic to research.  The reason for choosing this topic is very personal having experienced immeasurable loss this last year.  Our family includes four grandchildren ranging in ages from nine years old to one year old that are dealing with the fear of dying and the grief process in individual ways.  Our family is very close and my 22 year old nephew was killed in a car accident along with his friend that was driving and texting.  One month later our lifelong next door neighbor passed away that was like their great-grandmother.  My sister-in-law and niece were driving to Kentucky to attend the funeral and were in a serious car accident.  My sister-in-law almost did not survive and is still recuperating.  In January, my youngest son was in a serious car accident and is very blessed to have lived.  He went in the river upside down underwater.  A young man fishing with his son swam inside the car holding my son’s head out of the water in an air pocket as his son forced the car door open.  Those that worked the accident do not know how he survived.  He had serious head and arm injuries and is now home and recuperating.  About a month ago my nine year old granddaughter’s friend that was also nine was killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident.  Professionally, a child that is in my classroom her father was murdered.  This has been a horrific year and there have been so many aspects of death and dying that is devastating for everyone involved.  “The facts about death and dying are among the most emotional and complex topics of childhood” (Slaughter & Griffiths, 2007, p. 525).  The children have been sheltered as much as possible but there has been no alternative but to address death, dying, and accidents and my granddaughters appear to have been the most traumatized.                                                                                                                                                               

I have found the research and simulation process a bit intimidating; but seeing it as a tool used to answer questions has helped ease some of the uncertainty and concern. I hope to come to a better understanding of the research process as I have already developed some knowledge—although still a novice.  If anyone has resources concerning my topic of research I would greatly appreciate any insight or advice received. 

References

Slaughter, V., & Griffiths, M. (2007). Death understanding and fear of death in young children. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 12(4), 525-535. Retrieved from http://ccp.sagepub.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/content/12/4/525.full.pdf+html