Custom «Family Health Assessment» Essay Paper Sample

Introduction: 

This paper would take into consideration of the family health assessment of a typical family setting of a household consisting of four members.  The husband (40) is working in a multinational pharmaceutical company as Product Manager, his wife (32) works as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), with a major global accounting firm. Their two daughters, elder girl aged six years, and younger girl aged four years attend primary school in the neighborhood. This is a nucleus family and since both parents are in responsible jobs, they utilize the services of a governess and domestic help to look after the children during their working hours. However, they spend quality time with their children after work and during holidays and vacation time.

(1) Briefly summarize findings for each functional health pattern for your family:

First the functional health pattern of religious beliefs. This respondent group is deeply religious minded and inculcates good Christian values and beliefs in their children too.

Coming to the second aspect, health care, they take good care of their mental and physical family health and possess a youthful zest for life. Coming to the next aspect dietary nutrition, their dietary habits are well under check avoiding fats and richly saturated foods and preferring greens, salads and fresh vegetables and seasonal fruits. They conduct regular medical checkups and follow advice of health care specialists and medical practitioners, whenever necessary. They get regular uninterrupted sleep and take time to attend gym activities at least thrice a week. With regard to functional health pattern of elimination, their urinary and bowel movements are regular and uninterrupted without any cause for concern. Next, activity exercise, they exercise regularly and visit the gym at least thrice a week. They have good control over their senses and take care to practice meditation and mind exercises for mental strength and stress release.

Regarding self perception and social networks they are well accepted in social circles and have a large circle of friends and well wishers. Regarding sexuality, the wife has not had any miscarriages or still deliveries. Both her children have been normal deliveries carried out in a local hospital with least complications. Both the children are healthy and well looked after. They do not seem to have any identity problems and are quite happy in all matters concerning their professional and personal lives. Finally explaining coping with stress, being busy professionals it is quite natural that they would need to face certain stress situations at work, which they are able to cope without professional help. Each partner is a constant source of warmth, counsel and guidance to the other and together they are quite adept in meeting and overcoming challenges in both their personal and professional lives.

(2) Record two or more wellness and family nursing diagnosis that you identified about your family based on your assessment. "Nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment about individual, family, or community responses to actual or potential health problems/life processes. Nursing diagnoses provide the basis for selection of nursing interventions to achieve outcomes for which the nurse has accountability (NANDA, 2009)." (Diagnosis Submission, 2011). The wellness diagnosis that I have identified about this respondent family is that they are extremely health conscious and devote at least 2 hours to physical and mental exercises every day. These include "cardiovascular and respiratory status, mobility, and activities of daily living" like jogging, gymnasium and tennis besides swimming and playing squash, chess and sukudo" (Organizing Data According to Gordon's 11 Functional Health Patterns, 2002).

There are several other aspects that need to be considered too. For one thing, both the parents are busy professionals who may, due to the kind of duties they perform, not be able to devote much time for the family. For another, both their daughters are of tender age (6 years and 4 years respectively) when parental affection and attention is most needed. Nurses and maids could replace the parents only up to a certain extent and not too much. The family nursing diagnosis needs to manifest the fact that parents would need to take turns to take care of the household and the young children if the personalities and lives of the small children need to be constructively modeled for the future. Thus, it is important that the parents share greater parental responsibility towards upbringing of the two small children.  The wellness diagnoses needs to consider both the physical, psychological and social health of all the members of the family in unison and also on an individual basis.

(3)  Record family health promotion strategies along with community and web-based        resources that will enable you to support or fulfill your wellness diagnoses. The family health promotion strategies could be in terms of interviewing and counseling the respondents as to their actual state of mental and physical health and the ways and means by which these could be further improved. It does not necessarily dwell on the negative aspects like stress, work pressures or stiff targets, but considers how challenges could be turned into opportunities and self beliefs. Wellness diagnoses concentrates on the positives of human health and how through attitudinal and motivating stratagems, it is possible to achieve complete optimum health care through "Healthcare behaviors: health promotion and illness prevention activities, medical treatments, follow-up care." (Functional Health Patterns: Concept maps: Functional Health Patterns with Related Nursing Diagnoses. Functional Health Patterns Concept Maps, 1994, P.1). For safeguarding and maintain the wellness diagnosis of this respondent family it is also possible to take up the following family health promotion strategies:

1. "Explore community services that match the goals of the family

2. Facilitate family access to needed services through advocacy and supportive guidance

3. Supervise and teach about prescribed and other medications

4. Coordinate communications between providers, employers, and other organizations to meet coping needs of the individual and his or her family." (Edelman & Mandle, 2005).

(d) How did you use the systems theory guide (Edelman & Mandle, 2010, chap. 7) in assessing your family?

The systems theory guide as (Chapter 7) 'Health Promotion throughout the lifespan' by Carole Lium Edelman and Carol Lynn Mandle served as a premise or basis upon which the edifice of family assessment was carried out. It has helped immensely in setting the required criteria and parameters against which the individual elements concerning a family's health, nutrition and well being were assessed. Besides, it offers uncontroversial and clear cut theories of health and well being through evaluation of the respondent family was possible.

Conclusion:

The aspect of family health assessment is indeed a complex and multifaceted issue, entailing as it were, intricate aspects of physical, mental and physiological constraints. This is accentuated by the stress and rigors of modern day living, considering as it were the demands and needs of living in multicultural society. Therefore, under these circumstances, it is but natural that wellness diagnoses consider and offer solutions in terms of both short and long term family health promotion strategies that could alleviate constraints and issues in the areas of human health and wellbeing.