Overall Health Behaviors of the Family
Understanding family structure and style is essential to patient and family care. Conducting a family interview and needs assessment gathers information to identify strengths, as well as potential barriers to health. This information ultimately helps develop family-centered strategies for support and guidance.
This family health assessment is a two-part assignment. The information you gather in this initial assignment will be utilized for the second assignment in Topic 3.
Develop an interview questionnaire to be used in a family-focused functional assessment. The questionnaire must include three open-ended, family-focused questions to assess functional health patterns for each of the following:
Values/Health Perception
Nutrition
Sleep/Rest
Elimination
Activity/Exercise
Cognitive
Sensory-Perception
Self-Perception
Role Relationship
Sexuality
Coping
Select a family, other than your own, and seek permission from the family to conduct an interview. Utilize the interview questions complied in your interview questionnaire to conduct a family-focused functional assessment. Document the responses as you conduct the interview.
Upon completion of the interview, write a 750-1,000-word paper. Analyze your assessment findings. Submit your questionnaire as an appendix with your assignment.
Include the following in your paper:
Describe the family structure. Include individuals and any relevant attributes defining the family composition, race/ethnicity, social class, spirituality, and environment.
Summarize the overall health behaviors of the family. Describe the current health of the family.
Based on your findings, describe at least two of the functional health pattern strengths noted in the findings. Discuss three areas in which health problems or barriers to health were identified.
Describe how family systems theory can be applied to solicit changes in family members that, in turn, initiate positive changes to the overall family functions over time.
Cite at least three peer-reviewed or scholarly sources to complete this assignment. Sources should be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Course Materials if you need assistance.
Family Health Assessment
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Name and Number
Lecturer's Name
Assignment Due Date
Family Health Assessment
Family health assessment is an essential method of examining a family to learn about the family's lifestyle and health. According to Ginsburg et al. (2019), family health assessment gives healthcare professionals insight into family health. It helps determine areas the family should focus on to improve the overall health. To design a better care plan for a family, it is necessary to understand the different dynamics of a person's behavior and value. The functional health patterns provide vital functions for evaluating family members (Part, 2020). This literature uses Gordon's functional health patterns to assess the health of Johnson's family. Open-ended questions will be administered to the members based on the eleven categories.
Family Structure
Johnson's family was selected to participate in the assessment. This family consists of four members: - Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their two children. Mr. Johnson is 60years old, and his wife is 55 years old. Their firstborn son is 24 years, whereas the daughter is 20 years. This is an African-American family from the middle class, living in a family owned-home. The father and the mother have stable jobs to support the family. The father is an accountant in a business organization, and the mother is a senior teacher in a neighboring high school. The firstborn son recently completed his Master's degree while the daughter is pursuing her Bachelor's degree. This family regularly takes part in community projects and frequently hangs out with friends on weekends. Every member is aware of their health and occasionally visits the doctor for medical check-ups and prescriptions. Besides, they follow their health tradition like herbal medicine and home remedies to cure minor ailments such as flu and stomach gastric issues.
Overall Health Behaviors of the Family
From the Interview questionnaire and responses, the husband has weight issues, and he takes medicine for high blood pressure. The wife has diabetes but stated that she keeps in touch with her doctor. However, the children are healthy and have no health complications. The elder son smokes a cigarette and takes alcohol. To maintain health, the family undergoes regular health check-ups and exercises daily. The daughter and the son are gym lovers: the father and the son like walking and jogging.
Functional Health Strength and Health Problem
The two primary functional health strengths of Mr. Johnson's family include regular exercise and a regular intake of fruits and vegetables. The family maintained that they like taking fruits and vegetables. Three major health problem areas include cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption of their elder son, and stress. Research indicates that stress suddenly increases blood pressure and blood sugar levels (Kivimäki & Steptoe, 2018). Since Mrs. Johnson has diabetes, she must ensure she avoids stress. However, their son's behavior gives the family stress because they are worried that his alcohol consumption may lead to addiction, which may endanger his life. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson also have stress complaints due to work pressure and untimely food intake.
Family System Theory and Application
The Family System Theory (FST) is a theory of human behavior that defines the family as a complex social system where members interact to influence each other's behavior (Lucero et al., 2018). It describes the role of a family in an individual's behavior patterns. Mandak et al.(2017) noted that the interaction within the family makes it appropriate to view the system as a whole instead of viewing it as individual elements. This concept has been applied to various a...