Family Health Assessment

An individual’s heritage is about his culture, history or personal experiences it is important to recognise and respect them because it is what makes him individual and unique. If we know them we provide a person centre care and focus on individual’s choices and preferences, he will then feel valued and included.

11. Coping: What methods do you use to deal with stress? Have there been any prominent stressful events in your life lately?

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).

The health of a family is a vital part of how that family interacts with one another and how each individual of the family will function in society, later teaching their children about a healthy lifestyle or lack thereof. The family health assessment helps to identify risk factors and potential dysfunction (Edelman, 2014) I interviewed a single parent family home about their health and how they perceive it. This family is an all-male family, an athletic seventeen year old boy getting ready for his senior year, a twenty year old young man, and a hardworking, dedicated, overweight father.

Family health assessment is an integral part of the formula used in creating a customized plan of care for the families’ health care. Family health assessment is also a tool that can be used to identify and evaluate the family’s health concerns, their life style and also helping families make good decisions regarding their family’s health. Family’s perception towards health and health promotion could be very different and unique, which makes the Family health assessment even more challenging for the nurses and health care professionals. Nurse’s have a moral obligation towards the society to help them promote their families health. The

The findings of the interviews are identified in the table below (information including but not limited to what is listed). These families of different cultures ascribed their health traditions to different things. The African American family states that their health traditions are passed down by elders (grandparents), of both sexes. The Mexican American family ascribes their traditions to the women of the family, stating that it is a female responsibility to pass down traditions regarding heath. The Caucasian American family states that they received their knowledge of health from what is or has been proved by science, and usually each mother of the household is responsible for the health of the family.

When I make really good soup, they have seconds and no leftovers” (J. Lee, personal communication, May 9, 2013). No one in the family has food allergies, diet restrictions or any physical disabilities that interfere with daily food intake. Alcohol consumption is not very popular for this family. Occasional drinks are consumed “maybe five times a year, we just don’t enjoy the taste of alcohol” (S. Lee, personal communication, May 9, 2013). This family member did not experience obvious weight gain or weight loss they were concerned about. All members are very conscientious about physical appearance and do keep healthy active lifestyles and ingest healthy meals. When discussing the function of the bowel and bladder issues, S. Lee says, “We are very regular. My wife and I take Metamucil regularly to keep our bowels active. We suffered several constipations many years back, had to use enemas to eliminate. That was very painful and embarrassing. Metamucil was recommend by our doctor and we never miss taking it. Your mom suffered hemorrhoids for many years until she had them removed. We have no problem going once a day or more sometime” (S. Lee, personal communication, May 9, 2013).

Culture and heritage are the properties that make up a way of life for a specific population. As referenced by South African History Online (n.d.), “Culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.” Heritage is formed from the practices and traditions that are learned from generations

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

As the society we live in continues to transform, nurses need a comprehensive tool to assess family’s health patterns. Family units are influenced by environment, biological, mental, social and spiritual factors. Assessing these areas for health promotion and disease prevention will take all of these influences into consideration (Edelman & Mandle, 2010). A priority to a family focused health assessment approach is to adequately question, assess and examine these areas. A tool to assist a family health assessment using a family focused approach is Gordon’s 11 Functional Patterns. This paper will use these 11

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)

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

I have grown up in an American, Caucasian, middle-class family of five. My parents have been married for 29 years and have two daughters and a son. My sister is 27, my brother is 25, and I am 20. My family has had many great experiences, but has also faced various challenges. Throughout our different experiences, our family dynamic has developed.

A family health assessment is a significant instrument in conveying a health care plan for a family. This paper will discuss the nurse’s role in family assessment and how this task is performed. By the use of family focused open ended questions, 11 functional health patterns were covered. The health patterns were values and health perception, nutrition, sleep and rest, elimination, activities and exercise, cognitive, sensory-perception, self-perception, role relationship, sexuality, and coping. This principle is known as the Gordon’s functional health patterns. Family health assessment defines the assessment of actual and potential problems of individuals (Gordon, 1994). This assessment tool included 11 systematic principles for data collection of the family, and assists the nurses to develop a nursing diagnosis and appropriate interventions. Using Gordon’s functional health patterns, this paper will summarize the findings of each health pattern as well as the family based nursing diagnosis of each assessment. This paper will also discuss different health promotion strategies along with web-based resources, also including a system based theory guide in family assessment.