Family Health Assessment Essay.

Family Structure

            The respondent is a Nigerian woman, likely to be in her 50s in age, for she is married to her Nigerian husband for 27 years. The family comprises of three children, the husband and the wife, who all practice an African lifestyle in terms of diet. Spiritually, the family appears to be Christian as the respondent tends to pray over the most challenging situations. Her faith is deeply rooted in Christianity. The family also seems to belong to the middle-class socioeconomic group because the respondent and her husband are in the working class, and the woman drives back and forth work, which means she can afford a middle-class lifestyle.Family Health Assessment Essay.

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Health Behaviors

The family appears to live a healthy lifestyle in terms of their diet. Firstly, the family mostly eats their traditional foods high in nutritional value. Most times, they eat rice and soups, which are healthy for the body. Secondly, the family strives to eat a balanced diet by including important dietary components in their meals. The respondent purports that she ensures to purchase foods high in vitamins and minerals such as oranges, strawberries, bananas, broccoli, spinach, and carrots, among others. Thirdly, the respondent claims that as a family, they make nutritious smoothies, as a replacement for processed sweets to diversify their meals. Smoothies are a healthy component of a diet because they enrich the body with electrolytes and minerals necessary for growth and development, as well as maintaining a healthy body. The family also takes fruits and vegetables daily for health promotion.Family Health Assessment Essay.

The respondent engages in physical exercise twice a week by running and riding a bicycle with her children around the neighborhood. These are health promotion activities considering they keep the body active and help them burn excess calories consumed, to maintain a healthy weight. The respondent’s husband also helps her maintain her mental health by alleviating her whenever she is stressed or explodes because of stressful situations. Overall, there are no incidences of illness and disease in the family, and therefore, overall, the family is considered healthy.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Functional Health Patterns

            A noteworthy health pattern in this family is healthy eating patterns. As mentioned earlier, the family is keen on a healthy and well-balanced diet. The family eats mostly rice and soups native to Nigeria, which is rich in nutrients. Additionally, the family incorporates fruits and vegetables in their diets. Examples of fruits include strawberries, oranges, and bananas. Other important vegetables incorporated in the diet include broccoli and carrots, which are rich in vitamins. In addition to this, the family tends to take smoothies as a replacement for sweets. Natural sugars are healthier compared to processed sugars found in sweets. Such sugars help the family manage obesity and other potential conditions, such as developing diabetes (Gill, 2015).

Another functional, healthy pattern would the amount of physical activity in which the family engages. The respondent mentions that she dances and rides her bicycle with the children around the neighborhood. These activities are intensive and contribute to weight management and blood pressure management.Family Health Assessment Essay.

A significant health barrier noted in the interview is the stress factors that the respondent noted. She notes that she experiences stress often. While she takes time off to reconsider her situation, she easily experiences stress. Therefore, her mental health, if left unchecked, could pose a significant barrier to her overall wellbeing. Another health barrier noted in the family is the limited time the respondent has to exercise. While she exercises when she can, she rarely gets time to do so. Therefore, if this pattern continues, her commitment to exercising may reduce, causing her health problems related to obesity and lack of physical activity. Lastly, the fact that the respondent may experience sleep deprivation because of stress levels could lead to health complications on the digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems (Engdahl, 2017). Therefore, the respondent needs to ensure to keep her stress levels low. Family Health Assessment Essay.

Family Systems Theory

Proposed by Murray Bowen, the family systems theory posits that families are emotionally interconnected, which promotes cohesiveness in a family that is required for its survival (Kerr, 2016). Therefore, whenever there is heightened tension, the family may become more united and cohesive because of their connectivity. Conversely, where there is anxiety in one of the family members, the anxiety may escalate and spread to the rest.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Based on this case study, the family can improve its mental health by ensuring that the mother, who is the respondent, reduces her stress levels. As mentioned before, if the mother is stressed, the level of emotional connectivity in the family could lead to heightened stress levels of the rest of the family members. Therefore, the respondent needs to develop a better stress coping mechanisms to avoid spreading her anxiety and stress to the rest of the family members. The mental health of the family unit is at risk of deterioration if the respondent fails to manage her stress and combat her stress inducers at the workplace and in other areas of her life.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Open ended question for family health assessment

Values, Health promotion;

What are the most important things to you in life?

Family and religion

What does your health mean to you?

My overall health means a lot to me. I have to make sure that I am healthy, and that my well-being is in the right state so that I can function properly for not only myself, but also for the benefit of my family.Family Health Assessment Essay.

How do you take care of yourself and your family?

Myself: I go to work, pray/get on prayer lines, exercise, take brain breaks, read, eat

My family: cook, clean, clothe them, spend time with them, try my hardest to provide what I can for them, care for them

Nutrition;

Can you tell me about your family diet practice?

Because we are African, the majority of the foods we eat our native to our country, Nigeria. We mainly eat rice and soups. Other than our native foods, I try to encourage my family to practice healthy dieting. We eat fruits, vegetables, and I also make nutritious smoothies instead of sweets to balance the native foods out.Family Health Assessment Essay.

How do you achieve your nutritional needs?

In regards to food, I buy many foods high in vitamins and minerals, such as oranges, strawberries, bananas, broccoli, spinach, and carrots. We also al take daily vitamins.

How does your current nutritional status influence your health?

My current nutritional status influences my health. As an againg woman, it is important that for me to feed myself with foods that wont negatively effect my body, but will increase my chances of staying healthy longer. For example, by me ensuring that I have my daily fruits/vegetables I am influencing my health positively.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Sleep/Rest;

Can you tell me how many hours you sleep in 24hr?

Because I work, I can say I sleep for approximately 6-8 hrs depending on the day

Are you well rested and ready for activities after sleeping?

Usually after sleeping, I feel very well rested, and If I don’t, its not because of a lack of sleep but because of stress

What are the major sleep deprivation that affect your health?

I wouldn’t say that I am sleep deprived, but when I am, It tends to be mostly from stress. I think about it like this: when I get home from work, I shower and sleep because I am tired. If I am stressed, I typically can’t fall asleep because my brain is on 100, no matter how tired I am.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Elimination;

Can you tell me about any concerns with your bowel/urine elimination?

I typically have no concerns with my bowel movement/urine excretion

Can you tell me how often and how much you void in 24hr period?

I typically void about 3-5 times a day, depending on how I feel. This is extremely normal for me. Typically, I start off the day voiding

Would you be able to reveal to me how regularly and the amount you void in 24hr period?

I void very regularly during a 24-hour time period. Around 3-5 times a day. Once when I wake up, sometimes after I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also depends on what I eat. Its also a normal amount, never alarming.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Activity/Exercise;

How regularly do you practice in 24hr/week time frame?

I know I don’t exercise as frequent as I should, If I’m being completely honest. I do exercise about 2x a week for 2 hrs.

Can you tell me more about energy to perform your daily tasks?

On the days where I am stressed, I usually require a little more energy to perform my daily activities only because I am not in the mood. On a regular basis, I don’t use too much energy unless its doing tasks where I need to.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Can you tell me about your hobbies/interests?

I do enjoy running, but I typically never have time to. Occasionally, I ike to ride my bike around the neighborhood with my kids. I do read, dance, watch movies, and pray.Family Health Assessment Essay.

Cognitive;

Have you encountered any memory changes?

Never in my life have I ever had memory loss

How troublesome do you discover settling on any significant choice? Can you tell me about any difficulty with concentration on any task?

I do consider myself a picky person, so it takes me a while to make final decisions at times (depending on the area of subject). I don’t have difficulty concentrating though

Sensory- Perception;

Can tell me about any changes you made in your environment about vision?

I wear glasses, and have been wearing glasses for years now. There are no changes except for upgrading my prescription.

Can tell me about any changes you made in your environment about hearing?

No changes

Can tell me about any changes you made in your environment about memory changes?

No changes

Self-perception;

Would you be able to educate me concerning how you feel more often than not?

Most of the time, I feel optimistic. I believe that we all have bad days, but everyday is a blessing. No need to dwell on the bad things, but focus on the positives. I try to have a positive attitude and maintain happiness.

Would you be able to portray yourself as an individual to me?

As an individual, I am hard-working, loving, caring, and I have a great self-esteem, and I thank God for that. I know I am beautifl because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Family Health Assessment Essay.

What might you change in your life now on the off chance that you need to transform anything about yourself?

I would change my temper. Although I tr to remain happy, I am not perfect. I stress myself out for no reason and that causes my temper to erupt. My husband always makes fun of me for it, but I trying my best to stay calm and not stress for any reason now

Role Relationship;

Can you tell me about any significant relationship?

I am happily married with my lovely husband

Are there any family problems that you have difficulty handling?

No family issues

How has your illness affected your family?

No illness

Sexuality;

Can you tell me about your current intimate relationship?

I am married to my husband, and have been for 27 years

Have you had changes in sexual relations that is concerning to you?

No changes

Can you tell me about any illness/physical restraint that has affected your sexual relationship?Family Health Assessment Essay.

No illness/physical restraint. Just age LOL

Coping;

Can you tell me about any changes in your life in the past year?

No changes

Can you tell me how often you feel tensed or relax?

I do feel tensed often, but I try to remain relaxed

How do you usually deal with stress in your life? And is it effective?

I stay on my own, and tune everyone out. This only last for so long since I have 3 kids. My husband also tries to help, but when I’m not home and even at home , I pray about it.Family Health Assessment Essay.