NRS429VN Week 3 Family Assessment Part II

Family-Focused Functional Health Assessment Part II Example

In a family-centered care setting, the family is treated as a client and evaluated on various health aspects. A functional health assessment allows a clinician to obtain a snapshot of events in the family that will be useful in making health-related decisions. Furthermore, the family functional health assessment allows a clinician to identify potential health problems and health barriers in the family and determine effective ways to intervene (Kaakinen et al., 2018). Using a family of Caucasian origin, the section below discusses the family structure, overall health behaviors, and actual health problems the family faces.

Family Structure and Individual Attributes

The structure of a family aids in determining the interconnectedness and relationships among family members, which may impact an individual’s physical, mental, social, or psychological well-being. The chosen family is nuclear and of Caucasian origin. The father, who is the interviewee in this case, is the head of the household and answers the questions on behalf of the family members. John is a 45-year-old client who is a structural engineer, has hypertension and is on antihypertensive medication, and has been a smoker since he was 27 years old. 

He is married to Anne, a 42-year-old obese woman who works as an accountant in a five-star restaurant. The union produced three children: Abi, the eldest son, 22 years old, who is in college pursuing nursing and living a healthy life; Sophy, 17 years old, who is in high school and has no health problems; and Amor, 15 years old, who is also in high school and has asthma. The family is middle-class, with both the father and mother working to support the household. They are Christians who attend church every Sunday and live in the city.

Health Behaviors of the Family

After completing the family health assessment questionnaire, the family exhibited the behaviors stated hereafter. In terms of values and health promotion, John’s health goal was to achieve better blood pressure control, whereas Anne’s goal was to lose weight. John’s health-maintenance strategy included antihypertensive medication adherence and daily blood pressure monitoring.

On the other hand, Anne had a cervical cancer screening last year after her mother died of cervical cancer at 72 in 2019. Regarding nutrition, the family reports that they usually eat junk food at restaurants because the parents are always busy at work and rarely have time to prepare meals at home. According to John, the family is getting enough rest and sleep, and no one has experienced any health issues related to bowel and bladder elimination.

In terms of physical activity, John reports that they do less, amounting to about 75 minutes of sweating-inducing activity per week. They drive to and from work, so they rarely walk or engage in any of the American Heart Association’s recommended cardiovascular range of physical activities. No one in the family has cognitive or sensory perception issues. John admits to having a dangerous copying behavior, which is excessive alcohol consumption. This happened two years ago when he lost his mother-in-law to cervical cancer. He also claims to require more alone time when confronted with stressful situations. As a result, despite having the financial means to access health care, the family is experiencing or may experience problems due to their lifestyle.

Functional Health Pattern Strengths, Health Problems, and Identified Barriers to Health

The family has distinguishable strengths on both sides of John and Anne. First, the family’s health perception appears positive, as evidenced by John’s ability to adhere to his antihypertensive medications. This is one of John’s strategies for staying healthy and living longer. Second, it is clear that Anne, knowing the hereditary nature of cervical cancer, seeks a cervical cancer screening. This was triggered by her mother’s death from cervical cancer, and she became frenzied, prompting her to visit a health facility for screening. 

The family’s health problems include John’s hypertension, excessive alcohol consumption, and Anne’s obesity. These issues may stem from the family’s proclivity for a sedentary lifestyle, as evidenced by failing to meet the recommended 150 minutes of the cardiovascular range of physical activity in one week (American Heart Association, 2020) and driving to and from work, thereby promoting sedentarism. A potential identified barrier to health in the family could be a lack of attitude, time, and commitment to health-promoting events such as physical activities and healthy eating.

Application of the Family Systems Theory in Soliciting for Change in the Family Members

As a theory of human behavior, the family systems theory defines a family unit as a complex social system in which the interactions between members influence each other’s behaviors. According to the theory, an individual’s functioning is determined by the system’s pushes and pulls, which could stem from the family members’ expectations, hierarchy roles, or even competing emotional demands (Jakimowicz et al., 2021). Because the firstborn is a nursing student, he has a significant influence on his parents’ health behaviors. Abi can persuade his parents to participate in physical activities and healthy eating by teaching them the importance of the two. Furthermore, due to the issues of hierarchy, the parents are expected to provide financial resources for Abi, Sophy, or Amor to access healthcare if they become ill.

Conclusion

As the most basic unit of society, a family is crucial in determining the connectedness, relationships, and health of each member of the complex social system. In today’s healthcare system, a family is considered a separate client and can be assessed in the same way that individuals are. However, the assessment requires a family member who can provide reliable and trusted information about the family. Clearly, the health problems in the family described result from a poor lifestyle and a failure to engage in health-promoting activities. A lifestyle change may thus be an adequate intervention to advise the family to pursue.

NRS429VN Week 3 Family Assessment Part II References

American Heart Association. (2020). American Heart Association recommends physical activity in adults and kids. Www.heart.org. Retrieved from https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/aha-recs-for-physical-activity-in-adults

Jakimowicz, S., Perry, L., & Lewis, J. (2021). Bowen Family Systems Theory: Mapping a framework to support critical care nurses’ well-being and care quality. Nursing Philosophy: An International Journal for Healthcare Professionals, 22(2), e12320. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12320

Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., & Robinson, M. (2018). Family health care nursing: theory, practice, and research. F.A. Davis Company.

Appendix

Family-Focused Functional Assessment Questionnaire

  1. Values/Health Perception
  •   How can you describe the current health status of your family?
  •   What are your family’s health goals, and have you met any of them so far?
  •   What steps does your family take to achieve the aforementioned health objectives?
  1. Nutrition
  •   What foods and beverages do you frequently consume on a daily basis?
  •   Do you have an estimate of your daily caloric intake, and if so, what is the value?
  •   Is there any food restriction in your family because of a medical condition? If so, what is the ailment?
  1. Sleep/Rest
  •   Does anyone in the family suffer from a sleep disorder, and if so, what is the nature of the disorder?
  •   What is the family members’ sleep schedule—bedtime and wake time?
  •   What methods do your family members employ to ensure adequate rest?
  1. Elimination
  •   How frequently do you have bowel movements?
  •   How frequently do you urinate?
  •   Describe any health issues related to bladder and bowel elimination difficulties any of your family members may be having
  1. Activity/Exercise
  •   Tell me about any mobility issues your family members are experiencing.
  •   Does anyone in your family use mobility aids, and if so, why?
  •   Do your family members exercise? If so, how often and what types of exercises do they do?
  1. Cognitive
  •   Do you have any family members with memory issues due to age or a physical or mental condition?
  •   Is there a family member who has suffered from a condition that impairs their insight, abstract, and judgment? If so, what was the condition, and how did you deal with it?
  •   How do family members ensure each individual’s mental well-being?
  1. Sensory-Perception
  •       Tell me about any visual problems your family members may be experiencing
  •       Tell me about any hearing problems your family members may be experiencing
  •       Is there any family member who has recently suffered from decreased olfaction, and what contributed to it?
  1. Self-Perception
  •   What do you believe defines you?
  •   Are you satisfied with your current life and your accomplishments?
  •   Tell me about your life goals and how you intend to achieve them.
  1. Role-Relationships
  •   What are your most influential relationships, and how do they influence your day-to-day life events?
  •   How many siblings do you have, and what’s your relationship with them and your parents?
  •   What are your family’s expectations of you that keep you doing what you’re doing now?
  1. Sexuality
  •   I like inquiring about my clients’ sexual and intimate relationships. Tell me about what you think I should know about your intimate and sexual life
  •   What safety precautions do you take when engaging in intimacy and sexual intercourse with your friends?
  •   Have you ever felt the need to see a doctor after experiencing a problem as a result of having sex with one of your partners, and if so, what was the problem?
  1. Coping
  •   Many people go through stressful life events at some point in life. Tell me about a life event that you struggled to deal with
  •   How did the stressful event mentioned above affect your life, and how did you deal with it?
  •   Did you feel the need to talk to anyone about the situation, or did you actually talk to anyone about it, and did it relieve you of the trauma and stress associated with the event’s aftermath?

NRS429VN Week 3 Family Assessment Part II

Refer back to the interview and evaluation you conducted in the Topic 2 Family Health Assessment assignment. Identify the social determinates of health (SDOH) contributing to the family’s health status. In a 750-1,000 word paper, create a plan of action to incorporate health promotion strategies for this family. Include the following:

NRS429VN Week 3 Family Assessment Part II

  1. Describe the SDOH that affect the family health status. What is the impact of these SDOH on the family? Discuss why these factors are prevalent for this family.
  2. Based on the information gathered through the family health assessment, recommend age-appropriate screenings for each family member. Provide support and rationale for your suggestions.
  3. Choose a health model to assist in creating a plan of action. Describe the model selected. Discuss the reasons why this health model is the best choice for this family. Provide rationale for your reasoning.
  4. Using the model, outline the steps for a family-centered health promotion. Include strategies for communication.

Social Determinants of Health Example

The World Health Organization ascribes the social domain of health as an important determinant of an individual’s well-being. The social determinants of health (SDOH) are economic and social factors that influence the health of an individual or a group of people (Schroeder et al., 2019). The distribution of social and economic conditions contributes to health disparities between rich and poor people. While focusing on a specific family, this paper aims to provide insight into the SDOH, appropriate health-promoting activities, and a health model that lays out a concrete plan for carrying out the activities.

Description of the SDOH Affecting John’s Family

The SDOH has an impact on John’s family, just like it does on any other family. SDOH components affecting the family include economic stability, healthcare and quality, social and community context, education, neighborhood, and the environment. John is a structural engineer, and her wife is an accountant at a five-star restaurant nearby.

When they pool their resources, they are capable of providing basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, health, and education to their children. In terms of literacy, John and his wife have completed tertiary education. Their perception of health is positive, as evidenced by Anne having a cervical cancer screening and John taking his antihypertensive medications and monitoring his blood pressures daily.

The neighborhood and environment in which they live are urban. The city has a consistent supply of safe drinking water and electricity, residents rarely suffer from illnesses caused by contaminated water. The only issue may be the continuous air pollution caused by gases emitted by motor vehicles and the numerous factories in the area. In the long run, the emitted gases may endanger the family of respiratory illnesses.

In terms of healthcare and quality, the city is brimming with health facilities offering diverse services, as Anne discovers when she walks into a cervical cancer screening clinic. Furthermore, the surrounding community is supportive, with numerous health-promoting facilities such as gyms, swimming pools, and football fields. However, as evidenced by their sedentary lifestyle, John’s family does not routinely use the resources that put them at risk of diseases like hypertension, which John has, and obesity, which his wife has.

Age-Appropriate Screening for Each Family Member

Health promotion encompasses a wide range of activities and interventions aimed at lowering disease risks. While primary health prevention and promotion strategies aim to prevent disease before it occurs, secondary strategies aim to reduce the impact of a disease that has already occurred, which is accomplished through early disease detection and treatment to halt progression. Tertiary strategies, on the other hand, seek to reduce disease complications and long-term effects (Kisling & Das, 2022).

Because it aims to detect and treat diseases in their early stages, screening is a component of secondary health prevention and promotion. John, who has hypertension, may benefit from screening for the other components of metabolic syndrome, including hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and obesity. Measurements of lipid levels, random blood glucose levels, and body mass index are used to screen for hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, and obesity, respectively.

Anne would benefit similarly from screening for other components of the metabolic syndrome, such as hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. Furthermore, since her mother succumbed to cervical cancer, she had undergone a cervical cancer screening, which turned out negative. Obtaining Abi’s height and weight would be critical in calculating his body mass index, which determines whether he has a healthy weight or not.

Moreover, due to Abi’s family’s history of metabolic syndrome, blood pressure, random blood sugar levels, and lipid levels must all be obtained. Sophy and Amor will be subjected to the same screenings as Abi. Because they live in a densely populated city with a recent high Covid19 transmission risk, all family members require a Covid-19 screening.

Health Model to Create an Action Plan

The health belief model is one of the earliest and most widely used models in matters of health prevention and promotion. The model focuses on an individual’s beliefs and how they impact their behaviors.

The model encompasses six factors that impact an individual’s behavior. The factors include (1) perceived susceptibility, in which a person is subjectively aware of the risk of his illness, (2) perceived severity, in which a person is fully aware and feels the severity of his/her illness, and (3) perceived benefits, in which an individual consciously perceives the effectiveness of a behavior change, (4) perceived barriers, which define the obstacles to the action plan, (5) a cue to action which is a stimulus that prompts a decision-making process and (6) self-efficacy, which is the level of confidence a person obtains following achieveemnt of their health promotion goals (Green et al., 2020).

Concerning his family, John is aware that physical inactivity and alcohol consumption are risk factors for his illness-hypertension. He is also aware of the severity of his condition-hypertension-and has identified the barriers to achieving healthy blood pressure.

Steps for a Family-Centered Health Promotion

The vast majority of family-friendly interventions are behavioral. First, the family must engage in sweat-inducing physical activity for at least 30 minutes per day, five times per week, for a total of 150 minutes per week, as per the American Heart Association’s recommendation. Second, a dietary plan that meets the goals of John and Anne, as well as the children, is required. The DASH diet will benefit John, whereas Anne should avoid junk food and limit her calorie intake.

Reducing risk behaviors like alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking is an important step in family-centered health promotion and contributes significantly to the reduction of cardiovascular disorders (Perumareddi, 2019). Medication adherence and regular visits to a primary care physician by all family members are other effective prevention strategies. The family has health communication strategies in place, and the discussions take place during scheduled family time, usually at night, during meal times. Each member is allowed to contribute and express their opinion on the family’s health, as well as make suggestions on how to improve their health.

Conclusion

Whether health prevention and promotion are superior to curative interventions is still contentious. Due to the high prevalence of preventable diseases, it is prudent to prevent their occurrence or halt their progression in their early stages. This heralds the concept of different levels of health prevention, such as primary, secondary, and tertiary. Disease screening is a practice that aims to detect diseases at an early stage so that interventions can be implemented to prevent progression. This approach has significantly reduced morbidity from diseases such as cancer while also relieving patients of the financial burden that would have resulted from treating advanced disease.

References

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