• My current nursing practice is Emergency room nurse at the county jail
  

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The Relationship between Poverty and Vulnerability

Thinking about the term “vulnerable” brings to mind individuals who are at a higher risk of harm or exploitation due to various factors, such as socioeconomic status, health conditions, or lack of support systems. A vulnerable person can be someone who lacks the resources or capacity to protect themselves from physical, emotional, or financial harm. Notably, life situations that can result in vulnerability include poverty, illness, disability, lack of education, and social isolation.

Definitions of Poverty and Vulnerability

Poverty

With respect to the definition of poverty, I have a personal and universal view. As such, my definition of poverty is “the lack of monetary means to acquire the basic essentials of life, such as food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare.” Conversely, Habibov et al. (2019) define poverty as a limited capability to procure services and participate in social activities and opportunities.

Vulnerability

In this context, vulnerability refers to the condition by which an individual or a group is at risk of being harmed or exploited because of factors that compromise one’s coping capacity or power to resist. Vulnerability is variable or permanent and depends on the individual and structural determinants. Stanhope and Lancaster define vulnerability as being a state of being that occurs when factors within and outside an individual render a detrimental event more likely to occur (Fayazi & Bornstein, 2021).

Relationship between Poverty and Vulnerability

Poverty has a strong relation with vulnerability. Poverty brings vulnerability because essential needs, including health care, education, and shelter, remain unmet. On the other hand, vulnerability leads to poverty because those who are vulnerable cannot easily work their way out of poverty. For example, an adult who is chronically ill may lose their job; thus, they become financially vulnerable, and their health status worsens.

Broader Implications of Poverty

While poverty is most typically associated with a financial condition, it can also be linked to other areas of a person’s well-being.

Health Poverty

The unavailability of healthcare services means that various ailments and diseases go untreated, and so it is challenging for people to lead healthy lives. Patients suffer from chronic diseases that are not adequately managed, and preventive care remains out of reach.

Educational Poverty

Evidently, low literacy standards due to inadequate facilities and infrastructure are the consequences of restricted access to quality education, which in turn reduces employment opportunities. This kind of poverty perpetuates the vulnerability of children in that they will not perform well in school if they come from impoverished families, thereby preserving their poverty status.

Relationship Between Poverty and Vulnerability

Social Poverty

Lack of social relations and feeling lonely can worsen the mental state and decrease the quality of life. Social exclusion entails the failure to engage in any social activities due to inability, which makes people develop feelings of hopelessness. It also prevents people from connecting with others to get the tools and services that might lead them to better their quality of life. These various forms of poverty relate to one another and emphasize the idea that poverty is not only a lack of money but a completely encompassing problem that affects all aspects of a person’s life.

Historical Impact on Poverty in the United States

Two historical events that have significantly impacted poverty in the United States are the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement.

The Great Depression (1929-1939)

During the Great Depression, there was high unemployment, people were leaving their homes to find shelter, and a high rate of people in poverty. The impact of the Great Depression is still seen today in policies and legislation like social security and unemployment insurance (Pells & Romer, 2019).

The Civil Rights Movement (1950s-1960s)

This movement aimed at the elimination of racial discrimination and the assimilation of blacks into American society. Though it did a lot for legal and social justice, it also unveiled how the system perpetuates poverty among minority populations. The legislation that followed this, like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, aims to address these inequalities but also points out that race, poverty, and vulnerability are entwined (Banaji et al., 2021).

Public Attitudes and Stigma

Public attitudes toward the “poor” often include negative stereotypes and stigma. The poor are frequently perceived as lazy or responsible for their own condition, which can lead to discrimination and social exclusion. This stigma can have severe impacts on the impoverished, including reduced access to opportunities and mental health issues. Notably, stigmatized individuals may face barriers to employment, education, and housing, further entrenching them in poverty. In addition, the stress and shame associated with being stigmatized can lead to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

Professional Experiences

As a professional nurse working in the emergency room at the county jail, I have gained experience with the effects of poverty and vulnerable states as factors influencing health status. Most of the inmates that I encounter have distressing illnesses that result from the suspension of health care services prior to imprisonment. Also, inmates are stigmatized due to the nature of their status, and this hinders them from accessing the proper health care and services they need.

Conclusion

It is important for healthcare personnel to have an understanding of the connection between poverty and vulnerability. This way, the complex needs of such clients and their families can be acknowledged, and policies promoting poverty decrease and protection of those at risk can be advocated for. As a nurse, I maintain the highest standards of care and respect the rights of patients who often end up in this situation due to the systemic injustice in society.

References

Banaji, M. R., Fiske, S. T., & Massey, D. S. (2021). Systemic racism: Individuals and interactions, institutions and society. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00349-3

Fayazi, M., & Bornstein, L. (2021). The links between vulnerability, poverty, and natural hazards: A focus on the impacts of globalization trends. In Enhancing Disaster Preparedness: From Humanitarian Architecture to Community Resilience (pp. 259–272). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-819078-4.00014-9

Habibov, N., Auchynnikava, A., & Luo, R. (2019). Poverty does make us sick. Annals of Global Health, 85(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.2357

Pells, R. H., & Romer, C. D. (2019). Great Depression. In Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Depression