Answer: Making a situation worse.
Explanation: To keep it short and simple, the definition of the word means to make a bad situation worse, clearly this is a bad situation, one that's being made worse. Also because "helping improve conditions" makes 0 sense here, so does "Getting rid of a problem" as no where does it ever imply that the problem is gone, leaving a mark on makes the 2nd most sense but, it's most likely not the answer. So I would definitely pick option 4, Making a situation worse.