Helping the Underprivileged Community
Music Painting: Artistic Expression Through Percussion and Singing
Poverty is a social problem that can have negative impacts on the functioning of family systems. Studies show disruption of the functioning of family systems in all dimensions, where the greatest family disruption was found in dimensions of role, behaviour control and affective involvement. (SHS Web of Conferences 30, 2016).According to the statistics department in Malaysia, the absolute poverty rate in Malaysia is noted at 5.6% in 2019 following the revision of the national poverty line income (PLI) (Department of Statistics Malaysia). This data suggested that there are still families that are still living in poverty. Studies suggested that families experiencing poverty (FEP) are often exposed to unique stressors such as financial and housing instability, poor nutrition, and community violence. Poverty is an inequity that can create negative impact to both physical and mental health to children and adults who lives under poverty (Buckner, Bassuk, Weinreb, & Brooks, 1999; Raver, 2004).In a FEP, parents experience big economic and emotional stressors that can detract themselves from providing consistent, caring, and supportive parenting to their children. Stressors may also include single-parenthood, social isolation, substance abuse and mental illnesses. (Bolen, McWey, & Schlee, 2008). These factors may leave their children at risk on developmental challenges. (Foley, 2010). Moreover, parent-children relationship may be affected due to neglection and more seriously, child abuse. These can adversely impact children’s social and emotional development. (Bolger, Patterson, Thompson, & Kupersmidt, 1995; Samuels, Shinn, & Buckner, 2010; Sroufe, 2005). The negative chronic traumatic events can lead to behavioural issues and directly impacting children’s success in school. (Herbers, Cutuli, Monn, Narayan, & Masten, 2014; Herbers, Cutuli, Supkoff et al., 2014; Masten, 2012; Narayan, Herbers, Plowman, Gewirtz, & Masten, 2012; Obradovic et al., 2009; Smith, Stagman, Blank, Ong, & McDow, 2011).There is a growing number of scholarly studies that investigate music and poverty, that has provided valuable information on the music-and-poverty context. Psychosocial treatment interventions, including the music-based therapeutic interventions, may be used to decrease the effects of stresses related to poverty, and perhaps to restore generational gap between parents and children in a FEP context.
RM 0.00