The evaluation of the health of a family is an essential aspect of a healthcare practitioner’s work. Problems with one’s health, and chronic illnesses, in particular, may have an effect not only on the patient but also on the patient’s family and the patient’s ability to participate in daily activities. Health evaluation requires skills and expertise from healthcare practitioners to evaluate the health state of family members and spot changes or irregularities.
Therefore, family health assessment can be termed as the process of gathering information from family members regarding ways to improve health and reduce the risk of illness is referred to as the family health assessment. The nurse’s impressions of the family’s make-up, norms and standards, theoretical knowledge, and capacity for communication are all part of the family assessment. Before we can go any further, we need to know why family health assessment is important?
Why is family health assessment important?
First, when looking at the importance of family health assessment, it is essential to note that family decisions significantly impact the health of individuals and groups within the community. When evaluating a patient, nurses must be aware of how crucial it is to include the patient’s family members since even a single health concern may have substantial repercussions for the whole family.
The Family-Based Assessment has several advantages, including the following:
- It makes family involvement easier to achieve.
- It assists caretakers in gaining a better understanding of the family’s capabilities, objectives, and priorities.
- It assists in determining the family structure and available resources.
- It helps do so since it reflects the opinions and decisions of the family.
- It reflects the families’ requirements, enabling the intervention to be adapted to meet those needs.
Examining Medical History of Family Members
When conducting a family health assessment, it is essential to realize that the family’s medical history is of massive significance. A family history health assessment includes the patient’s complaints, current diseases, medical history, and family medical history (Bickey, 2013). During a therapeutic dialogue, a family health evaluation will take place. These kinds of talks have shown to be effective in enhancing families’ health. Academics provide the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM). It is “an integrated, multidimensional framework based on the foundations of systems, cybernetics, communication, and change theory.” It is inspired by postmodernism as well as the biology of cognition.
It encompasses structural, developmental, and functional categories, each of which is further subdivided into subcategories. On the other hand, not every subcategory needs to be investigated at the very first meeting. The practitioner is responsible for making an appropriate decision for the patient, considering the family and the circumstances. CFAM and the selected subcategories direct the majority of family health assessments. They are both chosen after taking into account the particulars of the family.
A Comprehensive Family Assessment
Completing a complete family evaluation does not include using a “tool” but rather a “process.” This does not imply that tools are unnecessary; however, using them to record needs or stimulate debate about assessment concerns may be helpful. However, family members must participate in a conversation tailored to their circumstances.
A complete evaluation cannot be achieved by just filling out a family health assessment questionnaire; this will not capture all that is required. The information gathered in earlier safety and risk assessments may serve as a foundation upon which the first comprehensive evaluation can be built. All of the safety concerns, the work that has been made on the safety plan, and the areas of risk and strengths that have previously been recognized are investigated in terms of the influence they have now on the requirements.
The process involves determining how well the family understands the dangers and threats that their children face, determining what the family has done so far to address the issues, determining what the family believes to be the obstacles that stand in the way of progress, and determining the family’s most pressing requirements concerning the dangers and threats that face their children. After that, this information is included in the extensive family evaluation and the assistance plans.
It is common for important information to surface at the first meeting with the child, the teenager, and the family; this information must be captured in the complete family assessment. The service plan development uses all of the information gathered throughout the evaluation phase.
Reviewing the information already available, meeting with the family, and interviewing children and youth when appropriate with the use of the right family health assessment questions. Also, meeting with the staff of many other organizations, obtaining highly specialized evaluations, identifying the family needs and requirements, donating to the use of child welfare interference, making conclusions about services, recording data and judgment with the family, and performing a systematically study of progress, and narrating the process to the family are all essential parts of the process.
Family assessment tools in community health nursing
The use of family health assessment tools in a community provides a systematic approach to better comprehending a family unit and assisting family members in determining how a person’s disease affects their position within the family. Nurses participate in this process around their community of practice in what is known as family health assessment nursing.
Step 1
Recognize the Organization of the Family.
Acquaint yourself with the various members of the family.
Utilizing a family genogram provides a systematic approach to gathering and documenting this information. Genograms may be found online.
Step 2
Gain an understanding of the typical roles that families play.
Step 3
Gain an understanding of how to evaluate the structure and function of families in clinical practice.
Many family evaluation instruments have been developed to assist family physicians in evaluating the structure and function of families in clinical settings.
Evaluations and Checkups for Families
Draft: (Draw a Family Test) Individual or group examinations may be carried out using this straightforward, practical, and economical instrument to evaluate families’ functioning. It can be used to analyze members of the family as a whole. The family members are given a chance to express themselves, which leads to the revelation of inherent challenges within the family structure. It reveals a great deal about the patient’s sentiments, connections with the people around them, self-esteem, and intellectual difficulties they are experiencing. A highly insightful approach to getting to know the patient, particularly useful when dealing with younger patients. Because of the following factors, it was shown to be beneficial and illuminating:
Evasive and guarded patients are more likely to divulge their underlying features. This is because individuals are more cognitively aware of what they may reveal via verbal communication, making evasive and guarded patients more likely to reveal their underlying characteristics.
Drawing allows one to communicate the unconscious label that expresses a distorted fundamental need. Drawings are the first to reveal evidence of incipient psychopathology and the last to shed signs of disease when a patient has recovered from their condition.
A family genogram is a visual depiction of a family tree that shows the interaction of at least three generations within a family. Genograms are also known as family trees. The genogram provides a graphical representation of all the living and deceased members and those who have passed away, who genetically, emotionally, and legally compose a family.
1. The APGAR Family
A quick evaluation of how well a family is functioning may be accomplished with the help of this 5-question assessment questionnaire. It gauges the degree to which a person is content with their connections within their family:
2. Adaptation
The capacity of a family to use and share its natural resources may come from either inside or outside the family.
3. Partnership
the division of labor in making decisions is used to quantify the pleasure of finding solutions to difficulties via communication.
4. Growth
Defines the degree to which one is content with the flexibility to change and relates to health’s physical and emotional components.
5. Affection
Feelings experienced with and between family members are used to gauge the degree to which one is content with the level of emotional connection and interaction within the family.
6. Resolve
relates to how family members divide their time, money, and space; this indicates how satisfied they are with the commitments made by other family members.
Family health assessment papers
Below is a family health assessment example of a family health assessment paper. The paper can also be referred to as a family health assessment essay
A Case Study family health assessment paper example
Centered on an individual’s health beliefs, health perception and management are based on maintaining and protecting a person’s health. Mental, physical, and social well-being all go hand in hand with being healthy. Food is essential to the Riyami family’s health beliefs since only a physically fit individual can avoid small and big medical disorders. Mr. and Mrs. Riyami are health-conscious and take their medicine regularly. They employ herbs and home medicines to treat minor ailments, according to their cultural traditions. Rather than going to the doctor regularly or for more severe problems like the flu or a headache, they choose to have everyone in their family take herbal remedies instead. In social situations, their older son consumes alcoholic beverages and smokes cigarettes. They devote themselves entirely to their religious duties.
Nourishment and metabolism evaluation focuses on determining how much nutrition is consumed concerning the body’s metabolic needs. Nutritional intake is evenly distributed among family members, and drinking enough fluids to stay hydrated is a significant concern for everyone. They eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and prefer to limit their intake of salt, sugar, and carbs. The family often consumes herbal tea. The family makes it a point to consume the recommended number of calories each day while also attempting to consume as much of their traditional cuisine as possible rather than fast food.
Individuals’ sleeping and resting habits are examined to get insight into their relaxation routines. Since Mr. Riyami works the early morning shift, he tries to go to bed by 10 p.m; every night. A trained nurse, Mrs. Riyami, gets enough sleep during the day and wants extra relaxation on her days off because of her night shift schedule. After school, their boys prefer to take sleep and avoid staying up late at school. As a full-time employee, he wants to get some shut-eye early in the morning. Every person in their household takes approximate sleep according to their regimen.
Elimination is described as the excretory pattern. From the evaluation, no one in the family appears to have difficulty with their excretory routine. The household does not have any complaints about their bowel movement or urine.
When we talk about “activity and exercise,” we’re referring to things like going to the gym, doing things for fun, and anything else that requires us to expend mental or physical energy. Mr. Riyami used to play soccer and now likes watching soccer games as a pastime after quitting the sport 20 years ago. Despite her hectic schedule, Mrs. Riyami recognizes the significance of regular physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Every day, Mr. and Mrs. Riyami take a stroll for 30 to 45 minutes. Their boys participate in soccer and like it since they get a decent exercise while still having a wonderful time.
Assessment of an individual’s cognitive and sensory abilities is an evaluation of their capacity to comprehend and respond to any given piece of information and their ability to detect that information correctly. This evaluation aims to determine a person’s cognitive ability and capability. Mr. and Mrs. Riyami are well-educated; Mrs. Riyami just finished her RN-BSN degree with excellent marks and has no difficulty analyzing or reacting to any new knowledge. There was no history of mental illness in their lineage.
Assessing a person’s self-perception focuses on their conduct and attitude toward themselves, including their sense of self-assurance, identity, and physical appearance. No one in the Riyami family struggles with low self-esteem. Despite their circumstances, they are satisfied with their way of life and think God and others have given them many blessings. Mr. and Mrs. Riyami educate their children the same thing and pray for them to have enough self-confidence and not worry about their value.
Role and Relationship patterns assess people’s relationships and roles in the world. The Riyamis are a religious and close-knit family. Mr. and Mrs. Riyami are devoted parents who instill a strong sense of self-worth in their children. It’s a pleasure for Mr. and Mrs. Riyami to meet new people and spend time with their loved ones. Their family and friends respect them.
Sex and reproduction pattern evaluation considers an individual’s contentment or discontent with their sexuality and reproduction. Riya is content with their sex lives. They cherish their private times together and attribute their deep tie to love. Despite their hectic schedules, they try to carve out quality time for one another.
Examining a person’s ability to manage stress and the coping mechanisms are known as a coping and stress tolerance assessment. Mr. and Mrs. Riyami believe that God provides all of life’s joy and sadness and the strength and support needed to overcome both. As problems arise, they exchange information and interact to find solutions via mutual understanding and cooperation. During moments of joy and sorrow, they turn to God in prayer. Friends and family members are an essential element of their support network.
The Riyami family’s nutritional-metabolic pattern and coping-stress tolerance pattern were the two nursing wellness diagnoses based on interviews with the family. Mr. and Mrs. Riyami take their medicine on time, but they often miss meals or don’t eat enough because of their busy schedules and stress. It’s particularly challenging for Mrs. Riyami since she has diabetes and must monitor her diet at work. It’s difficult for Mr. Riyami to avoid stress since he is hypertensive, yet he frequently gets stressed out by his job load or other unexpected events. Their children have no health concerns since they’re young and energetic, but parents are concerned about their diet because they don’t want their children to develop health problems like hypertension or diabetes.
Gordon’s health pattern evaluation was a lifesaver when evaluating the family’s health history. This is a beautiful tool for analyzing and assessing patients and families for nurses. Learning about the family from many health perspectives allowed me to understand better the influence of various health patterns on the family’s well-being and functioning.
Conclusion
In addition to physiological data, the evaluation of a family’s health also considers information about the psychological, social, cultural, and economic elements that impact the family’s existence and health. It is vital to collect these data so that appropriate solutions may be proposed to deal with the hazards that have been identified. The nursing care plan supplies all relevant information required to enhance the family’s health.
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