03/09/2026
NURSES ⚕️ HOME ⚕️⚕️
BY NTS MUTALE FREDRICK CHILESHE
COURSE MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
TOPIC DEFILEMENT
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Define defilement
Defilement is having s*xual in*******se with a person (this includes both boys and girls) under the age of 18 years. It doesn’t matter whether the person has given consent or not.The major determinant in defilement is age.
ii. Outline 5 (five) Factors that could contribute to defilement cases in the community. 20%
1. Indecent dressing and inappropriate behaviour. E.g. small girls patronizing clubs and
taverns and drinking alcohol while implicitly dressed could be the main reasons why you
find even big men are being tempted to have carnal knowledge with small girls.
2. S*x boosters or Libido enhancers: Traditional medicines and concoctions sold by
traditional healers to men, especially to have their private parts enlarged and libido
enhancers.
3. S*xual perversity. This is a situation where those that are involved have no control over
their s*xual desires and therefore, take advantage of young children left in their care.
4. Lack of adequate institutional day care centres for children and the prohibitive fees tend to create a situation where children, especially those with working mothers are left in the care of relatives or others who tend to abuse them.
5. Psychiatric disorders: Some perpetrators are known to be “paedophiles” which is s*xual
perversion in which children are the preferred s*xual objects for reasons they may not even
comprehend.
6. Beliefs that having s*x with a minor can cure HIV/AIDS. Witchdoctors were wrongfully
advising HIV and AIDS patients to sleep with minors in order to be cured, the prevalence of
HIV and AIDS, there are superstitions and beliefs that s*x with a child cures HIV and AIDS,
boosts business potential, increases chances of promotions at places of work, or enhances
other powers such as witchcraft. This is usually done on advice of witchdoctors and
traditional healers.
7. Lack of parental care. It is argued that the inability of most parents to provide adequately
for their children due to poverty forces girls into s*xual relations with taxi-drivers, bus
drivers and others so that they raise some money to afford them to eat something or go to
school. Parental support is thus, lacking in many households today where it is found that
parents spend less time with their families. Some parents leave home early, leaving their
children asleep and come back very late when the children have already gone to bed. It is
true that lack of parental care and poverty can actually motivate some children to engage
into child prostitution in order to make ends meet and thereby escalate incidences of child
defilement.
8. Inadequacy in housing could also cause a volatile situation that is likely to promote strange behavioral patterns among members of a particular household. (Those mainly of extended family setups) to live together in a house which does not have enough or adequate space. For example, a family of eight or so members could be housed in a one bed roomed house. The husband and wife who are the owners of the house could occupy the one bedroom, the rest of the family share different corners, and may be the boys in one cornerand the girls in the other. This creates a vulnerable state. Sometimes, it has been taken for granted that a youngster of 3 years or so can sleep with the elderly believing that nothing would happen to the child since s/he is in the care of the elderly person.
9. Watching pornographic videos: Child defilement cases could also be escalated if watching of pornographic videos in the home is allowed. With the coming of the internet,
po*******hy is more common than it used to be. These depict scenes of heteros*xual, r**e, oral, a**l and group s*x, in**st, be******ty and other loathsome out pouring of perversions.
Repeated use of po*******hy can interfere with the ability to enjoy and participate in
normal marital intimacy, a specialist in treating s*x addiction, states that what starts as
casual viewing of po*******hy can eventually lead to deviant s*xual acts.
10. Traditional and customary practices like initiation ceremonies and early marriages
perpetuate defilement of the girl-child. The lessons given during initiation ceremonies
include seductive scenes which the girl has to imitate and she can later put these lessons
into practice by engaging in s*xual relationships.
11. Variation of culture to culture. In Zambia because of the popular belief that children are
‘safe’ HIV-free partners. Child s*xual cleansing in a case where a widow or widower has s*x
with a child to obtain cleansing and wade off the ghost of the deceased spouse from causing trouble.
12. Quest for wealth: there is this belief that s*x with children can bring about success in
business
,
13. Girls are defiled and s*xually exploited just because they are girls-selling produce on the
streets, walking to school in rural areas and working as house servants.
14. Customary marriages were the girls are married off at a tender age due to poverty or
certain traditional belief or lack of education
b) EXPLAIN FIVE (5) SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS THAT YOU COULD OBSERVE IN A CHILD THAT HAS BEEN DEFILED. (15%)
1. Significant or sudden changes in mood or behavior may indicate a problem. Changes in
mood may include signs of depression: sadness, tearfulness, lethargy, anger, or mood
swings.
2. Children may also begin isolating themselves, withdrawing from family or friends,
spending all of their time outside the home, experimenting with alcohol or drugs when
this was not the case in the past, or start acting out at home or at school. Conversely,
promiscuity or s*xually suggestive behavior when this was not characteristic of the child
in the past.
3. Sometimes victims of s*xual abuse or assault will change their appearance and try to
become less attractive: wearing baggy, unattractive clothing, avoiding cosmetics, or
failing to style their hair. Or, youth may adopt a more seductive and s*xualized manner
of dress.
4. Other behavioral changes which may indicate abuse include: significant changes in
sleeping patterns and habits, significant or sudden changes in appetite and eating
patterns, or significant weight gain or loss. A heightened sense of vigilance, vulnerability
and fearfulness, possibly combined with a new sensitivity to startle, and a desire to
withdraw socially may indicate the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
5. When children have been s*xually assaulted (r**ed) they may show medical signs of
their attack including s*xually transmitted infection, urinary tract infection and other
hard-to-explain injuries.
6. Some abused youth will act out their inner pain by self-harming; often by cutting
themselves with a blade in an effort to distract from emotional pain. Such intentional
CUTTING is easy to confuse with a su***de attempt though it is almost never that.Though children may not speak about abuse, they may nevertheless communicate that
something significant and disturbing has happened to them in a non-verbal manner.
c) AS A COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH NURSES WHAT COULD YOUR ROLE IN ADDRESSING THE SITUATION IN THE COMMUNITY. 30%
The following roles have been identified for nurses working in community health services:-
I.Consultative role – Giving advice to other professionals in the community about the type
and level of nursing care required for given client groups who has been defiled or children
who have suffered defilement.
II.Clinical role – Providing direct nursing care to the patients in the community through home visits to the parents who have their child defiled.
III.Ther**eutic role – Employing psychother**eutic and behavioral methods for management of defiled patients.
IV.Assessor / Researcher – The nurse may assess the care given to clients and may also assess the outcome of ongoing care programs in prevention of defilement cases.
V.Educator – Creating awareness in the community about mental health and mental illness
with special focus on vulnerable groups and how to prevent the vice of defilement in the
community.
VI.Trainer / facilitator – Training of other professional community leaders, school teachers
and other care giving professionals in the community in various prevention programs and
awareness in the community and what to do in case of child defilement.
VII.Manager/Administration – Manager of the resources, planning and co-ordination of
programs to do with prevention of defilements in the communities
VIII.Advocacy – Nurses speak out for the rights and interests of clients in the community by raising awareness of clients’ needs in places of employment, school and markets. This they
do by sensitizing the public, NGOs, policy makers and service providers on the plight of
clients who have suffered defilement.
IX.Preventive roles: the uses primary, secondary and tertiary levels in identifying and
prevention of defilement cases in the community.
X.Law Enforcer: A nurse may be the health-care professional who must document these
activities as they are related to her by the patient or take photographs of injuries. In r**e
cases, the nurse may be a member of the S*xual Abuse Response Team, or SART, who is
charged with collecting and preserving evidence. In many countries, nurses are mandated
reporters for domestic violence, child abuse and elder abuse.
XI.Maintenance of Ethics: Victims of abuse have been violated in physical, s*xual or emotional ways; nurses are expected to deliver care no matter how difficult or ugly the situation may be. Nurses have an ethical expectation to be advocates for their patients, which includes acting to protect them or support them in situations of abuse.
XII.Physical Care: s*xually Abuse victims often require physical nursing care. In the emergency room, this may include cleaning wounds or applying a dressing. If injuries are severe, the patient may need surgery and nursing care during the convalescent period. The nurse might provide medications for pain or help the patient learn to walk with crutches. In addition, victims of abuse may need education for self-management if they have injuries that will take some time to heal, such as broken bones.
XIIEmotional Support: The empathetic nurse can help provide emotional support by listening and allowing patients to express whatever they feel. Nurses offer an opportunity to talk
about feelings and may also be able to suggest a referral to a counsellor who is experienced in dealing with abuse victims. The nurse may also be the first person to recognize symptoms of depression or suicidal intent in an abuse victim.
D) EXPLAIN THE MEASURES THAT GOVERNMENT COULD PUT TO PREVENT CHILD DEFILEMENT 30%
1. Establishment of stiffer punishments for the perpetuators of child defilement.
Government will continue working to ensure that the message gets to all the people and
that the law will continue to take its course in many issues of defilement. There is need to
reinforce current legislative laws to curb such vices across the country by providing tougher
punishments on culprits which would send a strong signal to would-be offenders.
2. There is need to ensure that funding for sensitisation programmes in communities is
increased to intensify on the programmes to do with child defilement.
3. Call upon all institutions, households and individuals to uphold the highest standards of
behaviours towards children both in their private and professional lives.
4. The Department of Child Welfare and Protection must have adequate facilities to house and protect victims of this heinous form of violence against children.
5. The police must investigate and act on all child s*xual abuse with the urgency it deserves.
6. The judiciary must expedite all s*xual gender based violence cases involving children.
7. If it’s to do with fast healing from certain diseases then there is need to sensitise traditional healers to start advising their clients to do away with the vice of child defilement adding that if it also has to do with release from prison, there is equally need for more
sensitisation. A lot of parties are involved in dealing with cases of child abuse, from medical specialists to youth care workers and criminal justice authorities. The government wants
them to work together in response to cases of (suspected) child abuse. This is referred to as a multidisciplinary approach.
8. Stopping child defilement and minimizing the harm to the child
When it comes to child defilement, the main objective is to stop it from happening in the
first place. When abuse does occur, it needs to be identified at an early stage, so that it can
be stopped and the harm to the child can be minimised.
9. The ‘Signs of Safety’ method
Professionals can use the Signs of Safety method for families in which child defilement
occurs. Together, the social worker and the family draw up a safety plan for the child. The
government is financing a research programme entitled Effective working methods in the
youth sector to find out if this method works.
THE END
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ASANTE SANA⚕️⚕️⚕️⚕️⚕️
TOPIC DEFILEMENT
BY NTS MUTALE FREDRICK CHILESHE MWINE
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