Gordon’s Health Assessment Framework

As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘health’ is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948). The health and wellbeing of individuals is generally determined by their circumstances and environment, a phenomenon referred to as the social determinants of health. WHO describes the social determinants of health as:

It can sometimes be too late. I have learned over some years by watching those that mean a lot to me let their lives become of nothing because they do not worry about their physical appearance or the foods that they eat, and even though you can give them all the advice to try and persuade them they are determined to do what they feel and what they want to do.

M. H. states that she is generally in good overall health. No cardiac, respiratory, endocrine, vascular, musculoskeletal, urinary, hematologic, neurologic, genitourinary, or gastrointestinal problems.

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.

Health Perception/Health Management: Generally in good health with the occasional cold and bouts of fatigue. She has to

General Health State (present weight – gain or loss, reason for gain or loss, amount of time for gain or loss; fatigue, malaise, weakness, sweats, night sweats, chills ): She currently weighs 110lbs. No weight loss. She is well developed and nourished. No distress. States she has always been healthy, other than occasional constipation.

Three different measurements were taken before and after the study. They included, pain intensity, disability, and quality of life. Pain was taken using a visual analog scale (VAS) which ranges from 0 to 10; 0 equaling no pain at all and 10 equaling the worst pain ever felt. Disability was taken using the Neck Disability Index (NDI). The NDI consisted of 10 items and were scored using percentages, the higher the percentage the higher the disability. And lastly, quality of life was taken using the Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36). Scores in SF-36 ranged from 0 to 100 and the higher the patients number got, the better quality of life.

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

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)

Communication patterns within the family need substantial work, often the communication between family members is not clear nor firm, children do not respond favorably to feedback, there is not much listening and frequent feelings of judgment occur. M is very emotional and cries often when speaking with her daughters, M and S do not communicate often other than to discuss bills or their daughters. S makes most of the decisions in the house, and it is evident J and L have a higher respect for S. M continues to attend church, and would like the family to attend

Ellen appears to only have several risk factors for chronic disease. The first risk factor being that both of Ellen's parents died what we considered today as young. Her father died from a stroke and her mother from heart attack. The other risk factor is that Ellen has a lot of life stress and stress has often been associated with chronic disease. The last Risk factor that Ellen has is that she grew up during a time when such substances as lead, asbestos and DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) were still being used. On the other hand, Ellen has never tried alcohol, recreational drugs, smoked or participated in unsafe sexual practices.

The author’s family is very similar to other two parent, child rearing families other than the decrease in socialization from living in a very rural community where there are no other children to socialize with. The family assimilates into the community well as the author is involved with teaching classes to the local first responders and the family is very close to the few neighbors that they have. The family manages daily living one day at a time by working as a team and dividing the household tasks between the author and her husband, for example if the author cooks the husband does the dishes and vice versa, this generally works out well however there is usually friendly arguments about who gets to cook. The roles have had to get a bit more flexible with the author now attending school and household tasks have moved down the priority list a notch. Marriage, parents, and lover relationships are all viewed as a team effort with lots of give and take and a strong emphasis on compromise. For birth control the author’s husband has a vasectomy. The family copes with stressful life events by communicating; one strength that the family utilizes well is incorporating

Health Assessment of the Head, Neck, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth, Throat, Neurological System, and the 12 Cranial Nerves Skin, Hair, Nails, Breasts, Peripheral Vascular System, Lymphatics, Thorax, Heart, Lungs, Musculoskeletal, Gastrointestinal, and Genitourinary Systems

1990: Diagnosed with peptic ulcer disease, which resolved after three months on cimetidine. She describes no history of cancer, lung disease or previous heart disease.

Local hospitals- Kaiser Permanente, Sharp Grossmont Hospital, Scripps Hospital, Sharp Memorial Hospital are a few big hospitals in San Diego, CA