Family Health

Family Health
The family is important in promoting the health of individuals & population; there is a great relationship between the health behavior and the family.
All the health behavior, values, habits & risks developed in family structure.
As a basic unit in the society, the total family can be as the client
Definition: Two or more individuals who share a residence or live near one another.
Depended on one another for emotional, physical or economical support. The members of the family are self- defined.
• Why family is the focus of CHN Practice
1. Effect of family health on individual health.
• The family is interdependent network, family enhances the member’s growth & resistance if the family capacity is limited then it is unable to assist them in times of need.
• What the family understand about health effect, health practices, eating, exercise & communication.
2. Through the family the nurse focuses on health promotion, & health education.
. Case finding, the presence of health problems in one member may lead to discovery of diseases & risk factors
4. When interviewing within the family context, nurses provide family health care & clear understanding of the individuals & their functioning.
5. Assess the family to consider as a resource of support.
6. Effect of family health on community health
If they have low level of health they will influence the community health because they lack the recourses to manage their own affairs.
They frequently create problems & health hazards for others.
Money that goes for children with learning behavior difficulties caused by problems at home.
Characteristics of healthy families
1. Facilitate interaction among members: healthy families use both verbal &non verbal communication, means smiling encouragingly, being available, doing an unsolicited favor, giving a gift to convey feelings & thoughts without words.
• They are sensitive to each other. They share & work in collaboration with each other.
• Communication is necessary to carry its basic function,
• demonstrate affection & acceptance, promote identity & affiliation, guide behavior through socialization.
2. Enhancing individual development: Healthy family response to individual’s needs, provide freedom & support.
• E.g. support a father who loses his job. Recognizes the growing child’s need for independence.
• The results of promoting individuality are an increase in competence, self- reliance social skills, intellectual growth, and self- management.
3. Having structured environment relationship: Establish member roles & tasks.
• E.g. primary decision maker, home maker, families in rural areas, isolated communities is different from those of the industrial society.
4. Active coping effort: Healthy families actively attempt to overcome life’s problems & issues. When faced with change they assume responsibility for coping to meet the demands of the situation.
• When one family use to cut down on meat & substituting their protein food.
5. Healthy Environment & life- style: Healthy families create safe & hygienic living conditions for their members.
• Removing the potential hazards. Encourage balance of activity & rest.
• Foster good nutrition; promote healthy emotional & supportive environment that lead to positive growth of family members.
6. Regular Link with the broader community: families maintain dynamic ties with the broader community.
Participate in external groups & activities. Join in religious activities.
• They know what is going on in the world. Attempt to understand significant social, economic & political issues.
• The Nursing Process in Family Health
• It is defined as a systemic, purposeful set of interpersonal actions, providing force for change that is the important tool of the community health nurse.
• Family nursing process is as a systematic organized method of critically thinking about the family.
Characteristics of the tool
1. Nursing Process is a problem solving process at all levels.
2. It is a management process that requires analysis of a situation, decision making, planning, organizing, directing & others.
3. It is a change process that works to improve various levels of health- related systems & the way people behave within those systems
Components of nursing process :
Application in family health
• Assessment: it is the first phase of the process. That involves:
• Collection of data.
• Interpretation of data. Using different data at the same time for counseling for different problems.
– Collection of data: the nurse can collect a wide range of data but because of limited time & resources she/he will focus on actual needs.
• Sources of data collection in a community: they are primary & secondary.
• The client is the primary. Secondary are significant others.
– The other secondary sources include health team members, client records.
– Methods of data collection:
Observation, interviewing, & examination.
– Observation: seeing the family & environment tells the nurse the about the socioeconomic level & ability to cope using present recourses. It depends on non-verbal communication.
– Interviewing: the nurse may conduct a formal interview to gather a health history & to encourage client expression.
– Informal direct questioning can sometimes provide data about client health status & needs.
– Examination: that includes inspection, palpitation, percussion, applied to community with different forms such as surveys, screening, epidemiological research, and all providing information in response to selected questions for data gathering.
Family health assessment
• Data collection categories:
1. Family demographics: refers to as socioeconomic status, age, occupation.
2. Physical environment: describes geography, climate, and housing.
3. Psychological & spiritual environment: refers to information as affectionate relationships, mutual support, and promotion of member’s self- esteem.
4. Family structure & roles: includes socialization process, division of labour.
5. Family function: refers to a family’s ability to carry out appropriate developmental tasks.
6. Family values & beliefs: vales might deal with raising children, making spending money.
7. Family communication patterns: include the frequency & quality of communication within a family and between the family and its environment.
8. Family decision making patterns: refers to how decisions are made in a family, by whom, & how they are implemented.
9. Family problem solving patterns: describes how a family handles the problems, who deal with them, the flexibility of a family to problem solving.
10. Family coping patterns: encompass how a family handles conflicts & life changes, the nature & quality of family support.
11. Family health behavior: refers to familial health history, current physical health status, use of resources.
12. Family social & cultural patterns: comprises family culture, cultural adaptation to present circumstances & developed meaningful relationship