The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.
This paper will discuss the importance of the family health nursing for today’s nurses. It will also discuss the importance of understanding the history of the family and how it has changed and evolved. The paper will explore the concept of what constitutes a family today and will include a personal view of family health nursing.The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.
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Family as an important focus for nurses
In the ever-changing world of technology in the healthcare setting, it is important not to overlook the family as a very important part of caring for the patient. (Farvis, 2002 p.1) The family is an extension of the patient and one is dependent on the other members for providing emotional and physical support. “The family is the most important element in achieving and…show more content…The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.
What affects one family member can have an impact on everyone.
Changing family To understand how the family is changing, one must understand the history of the family. Throughout history, a traditional family consisted of a father, mother, and children. The extended family lived close and functioned as a group. The industrial revolution began a change in the family structure as families moved to different parts of the country. The family structure also changed with women’s liberation and divorce resulting in single-parent households. Gay and lesbian movements changed the structure of the family from heterosexual couples to same sex parents. The movement of marriage being a requirement for a family to a choice has weakened the family structure. With today’s families scattered all over the country, the matriarch, or patriarch of the extended family is far less able to keep his or her kin united, caring, and supportive of one another. “In these disconnected nuclear families, certain trends—workaholism, alcoholism, depression, severe stress, isolation, escapism, and a push toward continuous supervised activity for children.The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.
How does a family work as a system in promoting the health of its members? Family is playing an important part in helping to ensure that patients are fit and following the advice of health care professionals. This is because the family is a foundation of support for everyone. At the same time, members can learn about what is impacting their loved one and what kind of procedures need to be followed. When this happens, there will be higher amounts of compliance as they will ensure that the patient continues to stick with their treatment protocol. (Saleeba, 2009) Moreover, the family understands the specifics about the individual’s condition and their daily routines. This can help health care professionals to decide if the person is following the proper steps in their therapy. Once this takes place, is the point that health care professionals can make adjustments to reflect changing realities. Those patients, who have their families involved, will be able to receive better care by ensuring that nothing is overlooked.The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.
Heritage Assessment of the Three Culturally Diverse Families
Dana Likes
GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY
NRS-429V
Rhonda Johnston
July 12, 2015 “To deliver high quality health care services to an increasingly diverse population, it is vital to be culturally competent. This approach is especially applicable in the United States where a big part of the population consists of immigrants coming from all over the world”. (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014). This is where the Heritage Assessment Tool (HAT) becomes very appropriate. It helps when assessing one’s ethnic, religious, and cultural heritage, along with health traditions. By evaluating the heritage assessment questionnaire, healthcare providers can cultivate a therapeutic relationship and approach in care. The following paper will discuss the usefulness of applying the HAT when evaluating three culturally diverse families. The African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and White Origin Americans will be compared to identify the differences in health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration. Lastly, common health traditions and practices will be discussed.The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.
HAT delivers an informative approach that helps to identify the best care that can be provided to culturally diverse populations. “It consists of 29 questions that are focused on identifying a patient’s cultural background, family relations, religious practices, and beliefs along with social support. It helps to highly increase the knowledge of culturally-based health beliefs and practices. By taking time and performing the HAT, the nurse learns about the patient’s culture which enables self-growth experience, and aids in better care for patients with a wide range of cultures” (Saver, 2007).The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay. The HAT allows the nurse to learn and understand patients’ individualized views on health and their practices along with the perception of nursing health. Cultural ties are known to directly impact the way one thinks and receives health care services, including but not limited to acceptable health promotion messages, preventative measures in health care along with curative and old-age care services” (Clark, 2002). By taking patients cultural uniqueness into consideration, the nurse can form a positive patient-nurse relationship which will gain mutual respect between the nurse and patient, and will help to promote better care. The HAT helped to identify the similarities and differences between the three families. Some of the components that affect health maintenance among the families are ethnic background with countries of origin, along with the foods that are consumed on a daily basis, activities that are related to a specific culture, such as practicing religion along with maintaining relationship with extended families. Health protection would include practicing folk traditions and superstitions. Health restoring includes practicing a holistic approach that includes home remedies and religious rituals along with special diets.The Concept of Family Health in Nursing Practice Essay.