Family Health Assessment Part 2
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Running Head: Family Health Assessment
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Family Health Assessment
Family Health Assessment
Christelle Pierre-Louis
Grand Canyon University- Family Centered Health Promotion
April 19, 2020
Family Health assessment is a tool used to help nurses determine the family structure and style to help develop a teaching care plan to promote positive health. The health assessment is conducted in 15-minute intervals using the Gordon’s functional health patterns. “Gordon’s functional health patterns are a framework for nursing assessment. The patterns are categories sequencing health behaviors to form a database of health information for nursing diagnosis formation”, (Gordon, 2016) and consist of eleven categories. The eleven categories are values/health perception; nutrition; sleep/rest; elimination; activity/exercise; cognitive; sensory perception; self-perception; sexuality and coping”, (Green, S.Z, 2018). In this paper we will be discussing the family structure, a summary of the family’s health and health behavior, the family functional strength, health barriers or problems and the application of the family systems theory.
Family Structure
The family health assessment was completed on the Jean Family. This nuclear family consists of Raymond a twenty-eight years old marine corps soldier, Germania a 27 years old pharmacy technician and their son Roman who is two year’s old and their 10-month old daughter named Reign. Raymond is Haitian American, and Germania is Indonesian Haitian American. Both were raised in a Haitian household by their mothers predominantly. Their combined gross income is $60,000 which is considered middle class. They reside in south Florida in a two-bedroom apartment. The Jean family have a strong religious background. Germania is a Seventh Day Adventist and Raymond is a Christian. They practice Christianity and attend church services once a week on Saturdays. Their children attend a Christian-based daycare and accompanies their parents to Saturday services.
Family Health and Health Behavior
The family has no major health challenges nor issues. Raymond has a history of tinnitus. Germania is still breastfeeding Reign at night and Reign eats table food during the day. Roman likes to eat all types of food especially mac and cheese. The whole family prefers home cooked meals rather than restaurant food due to wanting to know exactly what they are eating. Germania sleeping pattern is altered due to breastfeeding Reign at night. She sleeps five to six hours a day due to baby feeding. Raymond sleeps six to eight hours a night. Neither take any sleeping medications. Raymond does snore. Per Germania, the children do not have a bedtime because it depends on the time she gets out of work at night and if she cooks a meal at home or picks up an already cooked meal. Germania suffers from constipation since the birth of Reign, she takes fibber gummies which helps her. Her husband and children have daily regular bowel movements.
Germania and Raymond are very physically active. Raymond exercises five times a week, he plays basketball, trains with weights, and does cardio in the gym mostly and at home. Germania enjoys jogging, walking, and doing high intensity interval training three times a week. They enjoy taking the kids to the park weekly on the weekends. The cognitive questions both deny any memory, concentration, or issues with making decisions. Germania enjoys playing sudoku and nanograms, while Raymond reads and practice math problems to help with improve cognitive functions.
Vision is an issue for Germania, she wears prescription glasses. In five years, Germania sees herself a registered nurse working in the hospital. Raymond wants to have a higher ranking in the marines in five years. Anxiety is sometimes an issue for Germania and what helps her is breathing exercises and meditation. Spending time with family and being conscientious of how they treat people are the Jean’s most important values. Raymond and Germania reports to have an active sex life when they can and has sex at least five to six times a month. They state that they work on their marital relationship daily to make it meaningful. Since the birth of the children it is harder for them to have one on one time but try to incorporate a date night at least once a month. Both views on child rearing are similar, “Our goal is to always be on the same page when raising the children. With Roman, we place him on time-outs and have stern talks with him. With Reign, we say no when she is doing something wrong and try to divert her attention from what she is doing.
For coping sessions, the wife handles stress by ignoring them and praying. As a Christian, Germania prefers handling stress through daily prayers as opposed to medical and professional consultation. Raymond cope up with adverse conditions and stress by listening to music. He is a great fan of R&B music that helps free him from stress. He also does exercises like morning runs to clear his head. He is a social drinker, drinks a glass of wine on occasion.
Family Function Strength and Health Barriers
All families have strengths and challenges. When a couple first gets married it may be difficult to understand and cope together but with commitment, communication, and time to adjust to each other, they work on building a strong family healthy family. A functional strength I noticed about the Jeans were their healthy behaviors. They enjoy exercising and developing healthy nutritional habits. Raymond and Germania share strong religious beliefs and love their children.
Stress and anxiety are barriers for Germania as stated above. Sleep deprivation is also a barrier for both Germania and Raymond. Their careers are demanding, and they always struggle to sleep because a Reign being breastfed at night. “Stress has both psychological as well physiological dimensions. By every individual, stress can be handled in different manner like it can be stressful in negative manner for someone, while at the same time it can be eustress for another. All those reasons are known as stressors, which create lots of pressure and demand on an individual to perform. A study reported that stressed working women suffer from many problems like more illness, medicine intake, anxiety, and depression”, (Rosemarie, T, S., & Mathias, T. 2019).
Family Systems Theory
The family systems theory can be applied to implore changes among the family members. It states that a family functions as a system with each member playing a particular role and ought to follow certain rules (Titelman & Reed 2018). It can be applied based on the roles within this family system, and every member expected to interact and respond to each by communicating their concerns. Germania and Raymond need teaching on positive coping mechanisms. Germania’s statement about just ignoring her stress shows that there is a lack in knowing how to handle stressful situations. Studies show that “As couples adjust to the addition of a new infant into the family system, this structural change of the family often results in changes to each parent and the nature of the parents' couple relationship”, (Berryhill, M. B. et al. 2016). By teaching Germania positive coping mechanisms for her stress will in turn have a positive change in the whole family (Rosemarie, T, S., & Mathias, T. 2019)
Sleep is vital to every person; lack of sleep may cause many physical and psychological problems. Because of the different work schedule the children do not have a regular bedtime and may be the reason why Reign sleeping pattern is altered. She only sleeps at four-hour intervals. Poor or insufficient sleeping patterns sleep can adversely affect cognitive and social development, cause social-emotional impairments, have higher risk of obesity and have behavioral problems and hyperactivity (Bonuck, K. A., Blank, A., True-Felt, B., & Chervin, R. 2016). By teaching the Jean family to establish a health bedtime routine will help the whole family sleep better. The family’s new sleep pattern will impact each member in a positive way.
The Jean family is a young family and a perfect example of the traditional nuclear family. Their strong beliefs in their faith and using communication will help them to continue to build a strong family unit, With the help of nursing care plans being taught to the family will help promote a positive healthy family.
References.
Berryhill, M. B., Soloski, K. L., Durtschi, J. A., & Adams, R. R. (2016). Family process: Early child emotionality, parenting stress, and couple relationship quality. Personal Relationships, 23(1), 23–41. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/pere.12109
Green, S.Z. (2018). Understanding Families and Health Promotion. Health promotion: Health & wellness across the continuum. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/
Rosemarie, T, S., & Mathias, T. (2019). Stress and Coping Strategies among Working Women in Selected Institutions, Mangaluru. International Journal of Nursing Education, 11(2), 92–96. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.5958/0974-9357.2019.00048.5
Titelman, P., & Reed, S. K. (Eds.). (2018). Death and chronic illness in the family: Bowen family systems theory perspectives. Routledge.
Family Health Assessment Questionnaire
Values/ Health Perception
1. Do you or your family have any health issues?
2. Any history of surgeries, hospitalizations?
3. What is your religion?
Nutrition
1. Tell me about any special diets you have.
2. What do you consider as a healthy meal?
3. Do you cook your own meals or eat outside?
Sleep/ Rest
1. How many hours of sleep do you get at night?
2. Do you take meds to sleep?
3. Does anyone snore?
Elimination
1. Are bowel movements normal?
2. How often do you have a bowel movement?
3. What medications do you take for constipation?
Activity/ Exercise
1. How much do you exercise?
2. What kind of exercise do you do?
3. Do you exercise at home or a gym?
Cognitive
1. What problems do you have with memory or concentration?
2. What kind cognitive activities do you participate in?
3. What difficulties do you have in making decisions?
Sensory/ Perception
1. What problems do you have with your eyesight?
2. What hearing problems do you have?
3. What problems do you have with any of your senses?
Self-perception
1. Where do you see yourself five years from now?
2. Do you find yourself depressed or anxious?
3. What are your most important values?
Role Relationship
1. What percentage of the time do you spend on your marriage?
2. How do you discipline?
3. How many friends do you have? How often to you hang out with them?
Sexuality
1. How often do you have sex?
2. What percentage of the time do spend taking care of the children?
3. How does your children relate to the opposite sex?
Coping
1. How do you handle stress?
2. What helps you relax?
3. Do you take medications, drugs or use alcohol to relax?