NRS 429 Family Health Assessment Part 1

Family health assessment involves obtaining information from a family about their health status, disease prevention, and health promotion activities. The nurse assesses the family’s status, its capacity to sustain itself as a functioning unit and system, and its capacity to promote wellness, prevent, control, and address problems to attain health and well-being in its members (Barnes et al., 2020). In this assignment, I interviewed Family Z using the Gordon Functional Health Patterns to assess its health status. The purpose of this paper is to describe the family structure, health behaviors, and strengths and weaknesses in the health patterns.

Family Structure

Family Z is composed of four members, Mr. Z (49 years), Mrs. Z (47 years), daughter Z (24 years), and son Z (19 years). It is an African American family living in Conroe, TX. The family falls under the middle-class income group with an average annual household income of $105 000. Mr. Z is an accountant working in an insurance firm, while Mrs. Z is a paralegal working in a real estate firm. Daughter Z graduated from university six months ago and is currently an intern in a media company. Son Z is a 2^nd-year student studying Biotechnology. In addition, it is a Catholic family, and they report attending Sunday mass at least twice a month. The family lives in a suburban estate, with accessibility to schools, healthcare facilities, malls, and transportation options. All members have a health insurance cover, enabling them to access healthcare services.

Health Behaviors of the Family

Family Z has adopted some healthy behaviors, which they have perceived as important to prevent diseases and promote overall good health. The behaviors include avoiding tobacco smoking, having limited alcohol consumption, and eating 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The family is currently in good health with no history of chronic medical or psychiatric illnesses. The family members state that they attend annual medical check-ups to monitor blood sugar and blood pressure, PSA test, Pap smear, and get their annual Flu shots. However, Mr. Z is overweight, putting him at risk of lifestyle diseases. The overweight can be attributed to inadequate physical exercise and a family history of obesity.

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Functional Health Pattern Strengths and Health Problems/Barriers

We identified two functional health pattern strengths and three areas of health problems and barriers from the family interview. Strengths were noted in the functional health patterns of Values/Health Perception and Nutrition. Findings in the Values/Health Perception pattern include the family engaging in health promotional and disease prevention activities such as attending wellness programs, immunization, breast, and testicular self-exam, limiting alcohol consumption, and avoiding the use of tobacco and other illicit drugs (Khatiban et al., 2019). The family perceives that the health promotion activities are relevant to their health, and failing to uphold them will be detrimental. The nutrition pattern is a strength-based on the family’s healthy dietary habits such as having 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, preparing balanced meals, limiting the intake of high-fat foods, consumption of at least 2L of water per person, and limiting purchase and intake of junk food.

Health problems and barriers were noted in the Sleep/Rest, Activity/Exercise, and Coping patterns. In the sleep/rest pattern, the family members reported having less than 6 hours per day of sleep. Mr. and Mrs. Z reported that they often worked at night and slept late, which impaired their sleeping habits. Mrs. Z sometimes uses sleeping pills to reduce night-time awakening. The son reported that he spent much of his free time binge-watching movies and often slept for less than 6 hours. In the Activity/Exercise pattern, the family reported having inadequate physical exercises (Khatiban et al., 2019). The only form of exercise was walking, and they reported having low fitness levels. Health problems in the Coping pattern include high-stress levels among some family members and a history of using stress-relieving drugs. Besides, the family reported having ineffective approaches to handling stressful issues, with some members having anger management issues.

Application of the Family Systems Theory

The family systems theory perceives the family as an emotional unit and applies systems thinking to define the complex interactions in a family unit. The theory assumes that it is a family’s nature for its members to be deeply connected emotionally (Erdem & Safi, 2018). Family members seek each other’s approval, attention, and support and respond to each other’s needs, expectations, and distress. The theory can be applied to initiate changes in family members by pointing out a health need in the family, such as the need to increase physical exercise (Petridou et al., 2019). The members can be encouraged to support each other as they engage in physical exercises to better their health.

Conclusion

Family Z is an African American middle-income family having four members. The family practices healthy health promotion and disease prevention interventions. Strengths were noted in the Values/Health Perception and Nutrition patterns, which have promoted a good health status. However, health problems and barriers were identified in Sleep/Rest, Activity/Exercise, and Coping patterns.

References

Barnes, M. D., Hanson, C. L., Novilla, L. B., Magnusson, B. M., Crandall, A. C., & Bradford, G. (2020). Family-centered health promotion: Perspectives for engaging families and achieving better health outcomes. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 57, 0046958020923537. https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958020923537

Erdem, G., & Safi, O. A. (2018). The cultural lens approach to Bowen family systems theory: Contributions of family change theory. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(2), 469-483. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12258

Khatiban, M., Tohidi, S., & Shahdoust, M. (2019). The effects of applying an assessment form based on the health functional patterns on nursing student’s attitude and skills in developing the nursing process. International journal of nursing sciences, 6(3), 329–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2019.06.004

Petridou, A., Siopi, A., & Mougios, V. (2019). Exercise in the management of obesity. Metabolism, 92, 163-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2018.10.009

Appendix: Interview Questionnaire

Values/Health Perception

How would you describe the family’s general health?
What interventions do you take to prevent diseases?
Describe any behaviors you engage in that you think are harmful to your health?

Nutrition

How would you describe the family’s typical daily food and fluid intake?
Which foods are preferred and avoided by the family?
Which eating problems do the family members experience?

Sleep/Rest

How would you describe the family’s daily sleeping patterns?
Which sleeping difficulties do the family members experience?
Which interventions does the family use to promote sleep?

Elimination

How would you describe your daily bowel elimination and voiding pattern?
What problems do you experience in voiding and emptying bowels?
What medications do you use to promote bowel elimination and voiding?

Activity/Exercise

How would you rate your ability to perform activities of daily living?
What is the family’s physical exercise routine?
Which barriers do you experience when performing activities of daily living and physical exercises?

Cognitive

What difficulties do you encounter in memory and maintaining concentration?
What challenges do you face in making decisions?
What type of challenges do you experience with communication and language?

Sensory-Perception

What pain symptoms are you currently experiencing?
What hearing difficulties do the family members have?
What visual problems do the family members have?

Self-Perception

How would you describe your body image?
Which personal abilities would you rate as best?
What mood disorders do the family members experience?

Role Relationship

How would you define the relationship among the family members?
What is the role of each member of this family?
How satisfied are you with your job?

Sexuality

What disturbances in sexuality do the family members experience?
Which reproductive health problems do the family members currently have?
Which contraceptive methods are currently being used by the family members?

Coping

Which are the common stressors in the family?
How do the family members respond to these stressors?
What measures do you take to address the stressors?

NRS 429 Family Health Assessment Part 1 SAMPLE 2

A family’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of access to high-quality, reasonably priced treatment must be determined through family health assessment. The examination also gives healthcare professionals vital information about the dangers to reaching overall wellbeing and comprehensive health for the entire community. Additionally, the family assessment equips nurses, particularly Family Nurse Practitioners, with the necessary knowledge and abilities to evaluate the health patterns of families and provide solutions that are family-based (Peterson-Burch, 2018). The idea has also shown to be helpful in developing genetic therapies for some of the more complicated illnesses.

Family Organization

I spoke with Mr. and Mrs. K’s family during my family health evaluation. The family consists of two young people, a male and a female, both of age 21 and 24, as well as three older elders, ranging in age from 60 to 95. The family, who are of Hispanic-American ancestry, consists of Mrs. K’s 92-year-old mother who is battling Alzheimer’s disease and arthritis, Mr. K, a 68-year-old retired attorney, and Mrs. K, a 60-year-old retired high school teacher. The entire family is a devout Catholic with a standard of living in the upper middle class. Their pension is sufficient to cover their costs for food, medicine, and other family expenses.

Family Behavior and Family Health

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the primary goal of modern family health behavior. Mr. and Mrs. K frequently go to the gym to work out. Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays are when they work out. To stay healthy, they also follow a nutritious diet. Mrs. K has hypertension and Mr. K has a history of hyperlipidemia, but they both take good care of their health issues with food and exercise. Their two elderly children are both in good health and don’t have any underlying illnesses. They perform well in school and are average people. They have been doing well in both academics and athletics. While the 21-year-old has been competing in tennis ball tournaments since she was 6 years old, the 24-year-old son enjoys soccer and plays on the college soccer team. For the past five years, Mrs. K’s mother has been battling both arthritis and Alzheimer’s. She regularly goes to therapy to get the arthritis discomfort under control.

NRS 429V Week 5 Discussion 2 NEW SYLLABUS

How could you use the family structural theory to determine if a family is dysfunctional or not? Provide evidence to support your answer.

NRS 429 Topic 5 DQ 2 OLD SYLLABU

What characteristics would lead a provider to suspect domestic violence, child abuse, or elder abuse is taking place within a family? Discuss your facility’s procedure for reporting these types of abuse.

Re: Topic 5 DQ 1

Health education is used to teach people how their actions or inactions have affected their overall health and well-being. Health promotion is when this information is used by the individual in order to promote their own health and have positive outcomes. “Nurses are actively involved in both health promotion and health education, providing education that is necessary to help patients achieve control over the promotion of their own health” Grand Canyon University, 2018). The nursing process is vital in developing health education. You first begin by assessing the knowledge your patient already has and what kind of learning style they possess. Next you would make a plan of how you wanted to educate the patient and the strategies they would best respond to. You should then implement the plan. And lastly, you need to evaluate how much and what information you patient has retained.

When I lived in the Midwest one of the major issues that affected many friends and family was the opioid epidemic. Many people I knew were not prone to drug abuse but because of lack of education found themselves abusing opioids. This type of addiction did not care what social or economic status you found yourself at, it did not discriminate against anyone. “Health education programs are a vital component to end the opioid epidemic by preventing opioid addiction and misuse before overdose or opioid-related comorbidities occur” (Policy Brief A Nation in Crisis: A Health Education Approach to Preventing Opioid Misuse and Addiction, n.d.). In order to slow the addiction to these kinds of drugs it is important to educate every patient before they begin taking any of these types of medications about their addictive nature. This should be done using public programs so that they have the information before they are even given an opioid. They then can address the issue with their doctor if they are ever prescribed an opioid. “Therefore, health education is not only effective in its ability to allow community members to make informed health decisions, but to improve safety and quality of life” (Policy Brief A Nation in Crisis: A Health Education Approach to Preventing Opioid Misuse and Addiction, n.d.).

Grand Canyon University (Ed). (2018). Health promotion: Health & wellness across the continuum. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/

Policy Brief A Nation in Crisis: A Health Education Approach to Preventing Opioid Misuse and Addiction. (n.d.). https://www.sophe.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Policy-Brief-Heealth-education-and-opioids.pdf

REPLY TO ROBIN HERE

Hello Robin,

I agree with you that health education is critical component in nursing practice. It is the main tool that guides in health promotion approaches. The nurses have a responsibility to educate the members of the public on health risks, predisposing factors, the effects of the diseases and finally the preventive measures (Whitehead, n.d.). I also agree with you that health education empowers the members of the community hence increase their safety. This is as a result of having information on the risks of various lifestyle choices and habits that could have adverse effects to the health hence informed choices. Guidance and counselling patients is also a form of health education. In tackling the opioid misuse epidemic in the US, the federal regulation stipulates clearly the for the centers that dispense methadone treatment to offer counselling, the same applies to doctors who prescribe these drugs, they should refer the patients for counselling (Hoffman et al., 2019). This demonstrates how health education is a critical component in the healthcare systems.

References

Whitehead, D. (n.d.). Exploring health promotion and health education in nursing. Journals.Rcni.com. https://journals.rcni.com/nursing-standard/cpd/exploring-health-promotion-and-health-education-in-nursing-ns.2018.e11220/print/abs

Hoffman, K. A., Ponce Terashima, J., & McCarty, D. (2019). Opioid use disorder and treatment: challenges and opportunities. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4751-4

When I look at the Transtheoretical model of nursing through the lens of health promotion prevention measures, since this model involves lifestyle modification such as physical activity, diet and smoking cessation, it makes me remember towards the end of the year how you hear family members or friends say “I need to loose (X) amount of weight in the new year”, or “I’m going to stop smoking” and when the year turns, you see that they are at the same state or continue to indulge in the same bad habits. To me, when we look at the five stages of this model of nursing, these folks are stocked in the contemplation and preparation phase and they will get stock at these phases until their health goes bad. According to Falkner (2018), as nurses, to help folks like these change their behavior, we want to encourage them to make better choices, acknowledge willingness to make small changes and offer ongoing support to them; help them set goals, reiterate the importance of adherence to plan, and help them make environmental changes that will support them to meet their goal. When this is done, they may likely move to the subsequent phases which is the Action and Maintenance phase.

Reference:

Falkner, A. (2018). Health promotion in nursing care. In Health promotion: Health & wellness across the continuum. (Chapter 2). Grand Canyon University. https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/2

NRS 429 Family Health Assessment Part 1 – Online Nursing Essays