Family and Community Health Nursing Course Lecture 12 Promoting Family Health

The family system is a basic unit within which health behavior, including health values, health habits, and health risk perceptions are developed, organized and performed. The interrelationship between health behavior and the family" is a highly dynamic one in which each may have a dramatic effect on the other ".
Families behave as units and need to be viewed in totality for therapy to be effective. The total family can be considered as the client. As the basic unit in the society, the family shapes and is shaped by the external forces surrounding it. Above all the forces operating in society and in the family are continually, intervening, interacting, and changing.
Definition
Family can be defined as "two or more individuals who share a residence or live near one another, depend on one another for emotional, physical or economical support and share a sense of affection and belonging. The members of the family are self-defined".
IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY AS UNIT OF CARE
Why family is the focus (or unit) of community health nursing practice?
1. Effect of family health on individual health.

2. Through family health care that focuses on health promotion, self-care, health education and family counseling can be made to curtail risks that life styles and environmental hazards create.

3. Case finding (discover of diseases and risk factors) is another good reason for providing family health care.

4. By providing family health care one can achieve a clearer understanding of the individuals and their functioning when they are viewed within their family context.

5. The family is a vital support system for individuals, and this resource need to be assessed and incorporated into treatment plans for individuals.

6. Effect of family health on community health
Since family health affects the health of individuals, families and communities, nurses who help families develop and maintain positive health patterns and practices are also promoting community health.

Characteristics of Healthy Families

Healthy families were described as having six important characteristics.

1. Facilitative interaction among family members-
Healthy families communicate. They use frequently both verbal and nonverbal communication means. Its members have learned to share and to work in collaboration with each other. High degree of communication facilitate promotion of health and development of their members.

2. Enhancement of Individual Development-
Healthy families are able to accept each member unconditionally and respect each one s right to be his or her own self. The result of promoting individuality is an increase in competence, self-reliance, social skills, intellectual growth, and overall capacity for self-management among family members.

3. Effective Structuring of Relationships-
In a technological advanced societies however, most families must adapt their roles to be consistent with changing family needs created by external forces. As women enter the work force, for instance, family roles, relationships, and tasks must change to meet the demands of the new situation. Many husbands assume more house making responsibilities. The healthy families recognizes its members changing developmental needs and adapts parenting roles, family tasks, and controls fit to each stage.

4. Active Coping Effort
Healthy families actively attempt to overcome life s problems and issues.
When faced with change they assume responsibility for coping to meet the demands of the situation. Their coping ability is enhanced by receptivity to new ideas and means for solving problems.

5. Healthy Environment and Life-Style
Healthy families create safe and hygienic living conditions for their members.
Another sign of a healthy family is it promote a healthy family life-style by encouraging an appropriate balance of activity and rest, they foster a nutritionally sound diet and promote regular exercise etc.

6. Regular Link with the Broader Community
Healthy families maintain dynamic ties with the broader community. They participate regularly in external groups and activities. We may see them join in religious activities. It exposes them to a wider range of alternatives and a variety of contacts, which increases their options for finding resources and strengths their coping skills.

Guidelines for Family Health Assessment

An assessment of family health will be most accurate if it incorporates the following guide-lines.

1. Focus on the family as a total unit.

2. Ask goal-directed questions

3. Collect data over time

4. Combine quantitative and qualitative data





Prepared by:
Professor Dr. Muna AbdulWahab Khaleel
UOB / College of Nursing / 2016