Herzing University
Introduction
An assessment refers to a process that is use to gather and organize information. Family assessment achieves this through ways that enable a family to avoid and tackle problems. Family assessment aims fully to understand different family views in an unbiased manner. It also aims to understand family values, strengths and goals. An effective family assessment also aims to build a strong relationship between family members and in engaging families and helpers in exploration of goals, values and strengths in order to create mutual respect and trust (Thomlison, 2009).
Identifying Family Data
The family to be discussed here is a nuclear family that includes a father aged 56 years, mother aged 52 and one child aged 22 years. The father is a business owner running a vehicle repair garage. The mother works as a supermarket attendant and part-time as in public schools in the preparation of food in different schools. The child is still in college where she is doing a course in law. Her relationship with her parents is somehow strained although the parents have been doing all they can to develop a close relationship with the child as much as they can.
Developmental Stage and History of Family
The couple met 25 years ago when the mother had just finished college, and the father was working for a construction company near the college. The couple dated for 3 years after which they decided to start-up a family through civil marriage. The couple got their daughter almost one year after they got marriage and decided not to have another child. The family passed the entering the relationship stage, conceptualizing and planning how the new family would be like, and the marriage stages successfully. The family is now getting ready for a launching adult children stage (Mcgoldrick & Carter, 1999).
Environmental Data
The family lives in a rental 3-bedroom house. The family admits that the home is sufficient for their need. The family is close to several social amenities such as schools, health services, and recreation. The home is also in an environment that has very low rate of crimes, and the environment is safe from various environmental hazards such as industrial pollution.
Family Structure
Internally, the family is made up of mother, father and one child making up a nuclear family. The family also owns a cat and a dog as pets with the father and mother acting as the head and decision makers in the family. Externally, the family has an extended family that is inclusive of five generations with three generations being included in the nuclear family, maternal grandmother and a maternal great-grandmother who are widowed. The family faces a great challenge maintaining the failing health of their great-grandmother who still prefers living an independent life. All the members of the 3rd, 4th and 5th generations have no major health issues. Through their involvement in the family business, the family is also surrounded by a number of staff members who work in the business. There is no much involvement between the mother’s job and the family other than providing financial support to the family.
Family Functions
Critical interactions taking place among the family members form the crucial functioning part of the family assessment. This part includes routine and basic duties that are done on a daily basis, which include meal preparation, laundry, house care, and child caring among others. These duties may change depending on challenges and events that a family goes through or on specific members of the family. In this family, the father works mainly to provide financial support to the family while the mother works to supplement the financial needs in the family. She is also involved in doing much of the house chores including meal preparation, laundry, house care, and caring for their child. The daughter also helps in doing some of these chores. The mother also takes the greatest responsibility of reminding her family to have check-ups and dental visits regularly. The grandmother makes sure that the daughter is well cared for and has all she needs. As suggested by Wright & Leahey (2009), the family is in the first stage of health and illness which is health promotion.
Family Stress and Coping
The family denies any presence of stress mainly in the area of finances, health and communication with one another. The only stress in the family is the failing health of their great grandmother although they have taken proper medical measures to keep her strong. Although the family does not engage a lot in discussing emotional issues among themselves so often, they admitted that they are able to have discussions on emotions affecting one of their members between each other.
Family Nursing Diagnosis
Diagnosis
The first diagnosis, which is directly related to health promotion in the family, is the fact that the wife showed interest in enhancing her knowledge on health issues especially in dealing with the health of the great grandmother. There is also an ineffective trend in maintenance of health in the family especially on the denial of the effects of excessive alcohol consumption. The family also suffered an ineffective family communication especially on issues relating to their emotions and ways of handling them.
Intervention
For the first diagnosis, the intervention includes taking the great grandmother to a health facility in order to get proper diagnosis of her condition and acquire treatment. Seeking help from the elderly institutions may also help deal with the old-age complications. For the second diagnosis, a good intervention may include visiting websites that offer guidelines on how to manage alcoholism. The family should also embrace communication between one another to help them understand one another and help each other in dealing with issues that arise.
Summary
The current assessment focused on the nuclear family made up of a father, mother and daughter. Their extended family includes a grandmother and great grandmother. The family is stable financially with no major health issues other than the failing health of their great grandmothers. The father is the main source of financial support supported by the mother while the daughter is still in school. Functions in the family are also well defined.
References
Mcgoldrick, M., & Carter, B. (1999). The Expanded Family Life Cycle: Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Thomlison, B. (2009). Family Assessment Handbook: An Introductory Practice Guide to Family Assessment. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
Wright, L. M., & Leahey, M. (2009). Nurse and Families: A Guide to Family Assessment and Intervention (5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company.
