Calgary Family Assessment Model

Nurses often use the aspect of time as an excuse not to conduct a family interview, however, Wright and Leahey (2009) clearly demonstrate how integrating families into patient care does not have to consume a lot of time. Using the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM) and Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM), a family interview can be organized and conducted in a less amount of time, and end in a greater understanding of the patient and family. The CFAM contains three major categories including structural, developmental, and functional, which can be used to assess a family or help them address a specific health issue (Wright & Leahey, 2009). The CFIM uses assessments focusing on strengths, meaning that it uses the strengths of each individual family member, and the unit as a whole to provide positive interventions. This allows the interventions to focus on encouraging the family, rather than their deficits or dysfunctions (Wright and Leahey, 2009). During the 15-minute interview, it is suggested to have the entire family present so that the interviewer is able note reactions and collaborate with each family member, thus providing the most acceptable plan of care for the entire family.

It also shows that not every family has the same strengths and how the every family’s strengths can differ from each other’s. Which allows the nurse to use this tool to identify their strengths as a family to help them to set a family goal to achieve together and formulate a problem solving plan. It’s an easy tool because the questions are straightforward and it is a child friendly tool, suitable for any age not just the adults. It is a family assessment therefore the children’s feelings shall not be neglected. External family members can take part in this assessment as well, not only will it improve the family members’ relationship with each other and as a family but also help build a trusting relationship with the nurse which will allow the family members to voice out or share anything without feeling uncomfortable. (Smith LM

The first questions asked the family about their perceptions of their own health and about what

Using the CFAM to conduct a family interview, I identified a nursing diagnoses and interventions for the family I interviewed.

work with individual families and with families as an aggregate within the population (Clark, 2003). Several areas will be presented such as biophysical, psychological, physical environmental, sociocultural, behavioral and health system considerations. The data obtained during family health assessment enable the nurse to make informed decisions about the health care needs of families (Clark).

They serve as a framework for clinical assessment and can be applied to the individual, family, and community. Through this framework, data is collected and assessed, allowing for the application of nursing diagnoses and interventions that encompass a holistic view of the client. There are 11 patterns, and within each pattern there are four focal areas.

A comprehensive family assessment provides a foundation to promote family health (Edelman & Mandle, 2011). 1987 Marjorie Gordon purposed 11 functional health patterns to use for guidance in order to facilitate nurses to have a frame work for the family assessment in. Gordon’s 11 functional health patterns help organizes basic family assessment information. This standardized format will guide nurses to complete the family assessment using system approaches, which will identify a patient’s

When speaking to the Mrs. Smith about family and family structure I mainly focused on the concepts of where they live and the effects it has on their family. This involves their country, current residence, topology, economics, politics, education and occupation (NASN, 2013). Such topics give an inside look in regards to certain diseases and health factors that are more prominent to or more acceptable to the population in that region and area of residence. As well as this, these concepts allow the more in depth in understanding of diet, mental diseases, economic standing, and the families degree of assimilation or acculturation if there is any. I asked Mrs. Smith where she was born and if she and her family have lived anywhere else. Her family is originally from Poland and

Moxie, 2007. Maureen Leahey & Lorraine Wright. Family Nursing Resources. Retrieved February 3, 2008 from http://www.familynursingresources.com/aboutus.htmPerry, A & Potter, P. ( 2006) Canadian fundamentals of nursing. (J.Ross-Kerr &

A family consists of a group of interacting individuals related by blood, marriage, cohabitation, or adoption who interdependently perform relevant functions by fulfilling expected roles. (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014, p. 150)

The purpose of this paper is to display how such assessment is essential not on an individual basis, but rather on a larger scale in relation to family nursing. Family nursing “centers on the family as a unit of care, addressing family needs in response to a member’s illness or threat to health, rather than focusing on the individual. An understanding of families’ needs at particular developmental stages, how they communicate and function, and an ability to undertake a family assessment is foundational knowledge for family nursing” (St John, 2009, p.6). Often, nurses encounter the families of their individual patients on a daily basis, yet family assessments are not performed. This is because nurses often feel there is little time to engage families effectively, and in fact lack of time, has been identified by nurses as the primary barrier to engaging families (Kaakinen, 2015, p.109). Evidence based practice however, has proven that “a 15 minute, or even shorter, family interview can be purposeful, effective, informative, and even healing” (Wright, 2013, p.264). This 15 minute interview has been adopted in many acute care settings in involves five key components; manners, therapeutic conversation, key questions, commendation, and the genogram. These ideas represent the theoretical underpinning and are a condensed version of the Calgary Family Assessment Model (Wright, 2013). This model is large, but can be customized and adapted to the function of each individual

The Lazar family resides in Whittier California. This is a two parent family in which 42-year-old Steve (S) is the

Different assessment examines different features of an individual, or similar assessments examine similar features in different ways. Three assessments that regard family conditions and that are considered important are, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES III), the Family Assessment Device (FAD), and the Self-report Family Inventory (SFI).

Using Gordon’s functional health patterns to assess a family will guide the nurse in developing a comprehensive nursing assessment that is holistic in nature. Gordon’s functional health patterns are founded on 11 principles that are incorporated within the nursing practice. These 11 principles serve as a framework for a thorough nursing assessment in which to build a holistic and individual family care plan (Grand Canyon University, 2011). The author has developed family-focused questions for each of the 11 principles and utilized these questions as a tool to assess her own family. This paper will summarize the family assessment that was performed by the author and discuss two wellness nursing diagnoses that

Falicov, C.J., & Brudner-White, L. (1983). The shifting family triangle: The issue of cultural and