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Family Health Assessment Part I

Rajinder Kaur

Grand Canyon University

NRS-429VN: Family-Centered Health Promotion

Professor Kendra Watts

October 25, 2020

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Family Health Assessment Part I

When conducting a family interview, the interviewer must gather information to identify

the family's strengths, as well as possible barriers to their health. This information ultimately

helps health care professionals, such as nurses, develop family-centered strategies for support

and guidance. An interview questionnaire was developed that was used in a family-focused

functional assessment. The interview questionnaire covered the family's values/health

perceptions, nutrition, sleep/rest, elimination, activity/exercise, cognitive, sensory-perception,

self-perception, role relationship, sexuality, and coping. The purpose of this paper to describe the

interviewed family's structure and style; Summarize the overall health behaviors of the family

and their current health; Discuss the family's functional health pattern strengths and barriers to

health that were identified throughout the interview; Lastly, explain the application of family

systems theory to solicit changes in family members that, in turn, initiate positive change to the

overall family function overtime.

The Family Structure

The family interviewed, the Mangat family, consists of four members: A husband/father,

wife/mother, a nine-year-old boy, and a two-year-old boy. The race of the Mangat family is

Asian Indian, and their ethnicity is Punjabi. The religion the Mangat family worship is Sikhism.

The family goes to the Gurudwara (Sikh temple) every Sunday. However, due to the pandemic,

they stopped. They did meditation and taught their children about Sikhi and their

language/culture, Punjabi. The husband/father and wife/mother were born and raised in India and

eventually moved to the United States; Their two boys were born here, in California. They are a

middle-class family, with the husband/father working as a Psych Tech and the wife/mother

working as a Registered Nurse both at Napa State Hospital, California. This family lives in a
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two-story house in a friendly, clean, and welcoming city. Their children's school is a walking

distance, and the parent's work is a 10-minute drive away. Overall, the Mangat family was very

kind and generous to conduct the interview and answer questions regarding their health.

Overall Health Behaviors and Current Health of the Family

The Mangat family gives a large amount of importance to their health, nutrition,

elimination, activity, cognitive, sensory-perception, self-perception, role relationship, sexuality,

and coping skills. The parents educate their children on making healthier choices so that they do

not encounter serious illnesses or disorders in the future. The family intakes five to ten servings

of fruit, vegetables, protein, and carbs concerning their nutrition. However, they consume more

carbs, so they have decided to replace carbs with protein to have a healthy and balanced diet. The

family concluded that their current nutrition allows them to be physically and mentally active

throughout their days. Regarding the family's sleep, they get up to about ten hours of sleep every

day. The children can take naps during the days, which are about 30 to 60 minutes long. As for

the elimination, each member goes to the bathroom six to seven times and day. When toilet

training their two-year-old, they remove his diaper and sit him on the toilet for about five

minutes. If he goes potty, his parents reward him with his favorite snacks. Although, if the adults

notice something abnormal in a member's toileting and incontinence, they take that very

seriously and contact their physician as soon as possible. The Mangat family are active; They

contribute to exercise, like cardio or sports, for at least one hour a day and at least three times a

week. When making decisions, listens to each other's thoughts and opinions. To determine if a

household member is ill, they observe their behaviors, such as feeling tired and refusing to do

everyday things. In addition, they also pay attention to symptoms, like coughing, sneezing, runny

nose, headache, etc. The family's hope for the future is to continue staying healthy and make
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improvements to their health, travel out of the country more often, and have their children

graduate college one day. Each family member has a role in the house. The parents go to work in

the mornings while their children attend an online school. On the weekends, everyone helps to

clean the house. The parents clean the bathroom, kitchen, and living; Since the children are

young, they help with small chores, like taking out the trash, folding laundry (with supervision),

and organizing their playroom. The husband and wife's belief and attitude towards their sexuality

is stating that it is completely normal and believes that their sexual feelings allow their

relationship to stay healthy, strong, and consistent. When it comes to coping with stress, anxiety,

or depression, the family is very supportive and there for each other in any way possible.

Currently, the family is entirely healthy and are strictly following the CDC's guidelines when

they are out in public to avoid catching the coronavirus.

The Functional Health Pattern Strengths and Barriers to Health

Based on the interview questionnaire's findings, the two functional health pattern

strengths of the Mangat family are sleep and rest, activity, and exercise. On weekdays, the family

sleeps at nine o'clock, and on weekends, the family sleeps at ten o'clock at night. They wake up

around 7:30 in the morning, which means they get more than 10 hours of sleep. The parents and

children of the family are getting enough sleep that their health care professionals recommend.

However, it is recommended that children at the age of 2-5 years old should get a maximum of

13 hours of sleep. Therefore, the toddler takes naps during the day, which are claimed to be

between 30 minutes to an hour-long. The Mangat family's sleep/rest functional health pattern is

strong and makes them mentally and physically healthier. The family works out three or more

times a week. They either go on walks, go to the gym, or play basketball for more than an hour—

this a great functional health pattern that keeps them away from diseases like diabetes or obesity.
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Three areas in which health barriers were identified are nutrition, cognition, and coping. The

family consumes more carbohydrates within their nutrition than they are supposed to because

they often eat from fast-food restaurants. The family stated that English is their second language

and rated their understanding of English as an 8.5. To fully comprehend English, they need to be

provided with more resources to have an easier time communicating with their health care

professionals. Even though the family understands that when a person is coping with stress, they

should be around them to provide support, they need to have more education on other kinds of

coping skills they can include, such as meditation, finding humor, or spending time on a

preferred subject. In general, the barriers and nursing diagnoses determined can lead to

identifying the health promotion and education necessities of the family (Green 2018).

Family System Theory Applied to Solicit Changes and Initiate Positive Changes to the

Overall Family Functions Over Time

Family systems theory can be applied to solicit changes in family members that, in turn,

initiate positive changes to the overall family functions overtime. Bowen's family systems theory

is a classic approach to examining family processes and problems (Green, 2018). One of

Bowen's concepts is that a modification in one subsystem of a family unit or system influences

other parts of the system. Observing and understanding the complexity and emotions of the

family system leads to an understanding of the individual. When a change occurs in a subsystem,

the other parts of the systems react and adapt to the transition to remain stable. For example, if

one family member decides to eat healthier and work out often, the member's actions and

decisions impact the rest of their family members. Similarly, if an individual has harmful health

behaviors, the behaviors influence the family unit.

Conclusion
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To conclude, a family interview allows nurses to collect useful information so that they

can create family-centered strategies to effectively support and guide their patients. A family

interview needs to gather knowledge on the family's structure, overall and current health

behaviors, and strengths and health barriers. With the use of a family interview, nurses can apply

family systems theory to encourage change in family members, resulting in positively changing

the overall function of the family eventually.

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References

Green, S. Z. (2018). Understanding Families and Health Promotion. Retrieved October 25,

2020, from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-

wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/

Family Interview Questionnaire
Interview Questions
Values/Health Perception
1. What are the top three values of your
family’s health?
2. How do you currently in cooperate those
values in your family’s health?
3. How do your perceptions affect your
family’s health?
Nutrition
1. Approximately how many servings of
fruits, vegetables, protein, and carbs, does
each family member intake in a day?
2. What would you change in your family's
nutrition/diet?
3. How does your current nutrition impact
your daily performances?
Sleep/Rest
1. What time does the family sleep and what
time do they wake up?
2. How many family members can take naps
during each day, and approximately for
how long?
3. For the family members who wake up
earlier than the rest, how does waking up
early affect the rest of your day?
Elimination
1. About how many times a day does each
member go to the toilet?
2. What methods are used in toilet training
your toddler?
3. How concerned does the family get with
toileting and incontinence?
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Family’s Response
1. Our family values being healthy as
possible, having a reasonable diet
according one’s health, and using cultural
resources when applicable.
2. We currently in cooperate those values in
our family’s healthy by cooking
traditional meals that have high source of
vegetables and protein.
3. Our perceptions positively impact our
family’s health. As both parents work in
the medical field, we understand the
importance of our health, which leads to
teaching our children how to make
healthier choices.
1. Each family member intakes at least five
to ten servings of fruit, vegetables, protein
and carbs.
2. We would decrease our intake of carbs
and replace it with protein.
3. Our current nutrition allows us to be
physically and mentally active for a long
period of time.
1. The family sleep at nine o’ clock on
weekdays, and ten o’ clock on weekends.
On weekdays, we wake up between 5-7 o’
clock in the morning, and on weekends
we wake up at 7:30 in the morning.
2. The children have time to take naps
during the days, and their naps are about
30 mins to an hour long.
3. Members that wake up earlier than the
rest make them feel a lot more tried and
worn out towards the end of each day.
However, they get a lot more done in a
day by waking up early.
1. Each member goes to the bathroom 6 to 7
times a day.
2. To toilet train our toddler, we remove his
diaper and have him sit on the toilet for at
least five minutes. If he does potty in the
toilet, we praise him and reward him with
his favorite snacks.

Activity/Exercise
1. About how long does each person in the
family exercise in a day, and how many
times in a week?
2. What kinds of exercises, such as cardio,
strength training, sports, does each person
in the family prefer?
3. What do you suggest that your family can
improve on regarding exercise?
Cognitive
1. From 1 to 10 (10 being great), how would
you rate your family’s ability to
understand and use the English language
and materials written in English?
2. What general steps does your family take
to understand and solve problems?
3. How are decisions made?
Sensory-Perception
1. How do you determine when a member is
ill?
2. How is your family’s eyesight?
3. Is taste a problem, if so, how it affecting
your day to day lives?
Self-Perception
1. What are your family’s hopes for the
future?
2. What was the best event with your
family?
3. What was the worst event with your
family?
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3. If there seem to be something unusual or
abnormal with a member's toileting and
incontinence, we take that very seriously
and contact our physician.
1. Each person exercises for at least an hour
in a day, and at least three times a week.
2. The kids either go on a walk with the
parents or play basketball in the backyard.
The parents go to the gym and focus more
on cardio.
3. We could include more strength training
exercises and introduce our children to
more sports other than basketball.
1. As an immigrant family, and English
being our second language, we would rate
our family’s ability to understand English
and material written in English as an 8.5.
2. To understand and solve problems, our
family identifies the issue, defines our
goals, generate solutions, evaluates the
best solution, and go from there.
3. Decisions are made by everyone voicing
out their opinions first. Then, considering
everyone’s opinion, we base our decision
on that.
1. To determine a member is ill, we notice
their behavior changing (such as feeling
tired and refusing to do normal things).
Then, we look at their symptoms
(coughing, sneezing, runny nose,
headache, etc.).
2. Our family has prescription glasses by the
osteopathic, so eyesight is not a problem.
3. No, taste is not a problem.
1. Our family’s hopes for the future are to be
able to travel more and have our children
graduate college one day.
2. A current, best event with our family was
when we went shopping, and later had
dinner at Cheesecake Factory.
3. The worst event with our family was
when one of our children got the flu. We
were worried that they might have gotten
COVID.

Role Relationship
1. What are the roles of each family
member?
2. What chores does each family member
contribute to?
3. How are your relationships outside of the
family?
Sexuality
1. What are your beliefs and attitudes about
your own sexuality?
2. How would you describe the adult
relationship within the family?
3. How do you feel about your gender
identity?
Coping
1. What methods are used when dealing with
stress?
2. How do you determine when a member is
stressed?
3. How are members of the family
supporting each other when coping with
stress?
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1. The parents go to work and the children
attend online school on the weekdays. On
the weekend, everyone helps to clean the
house. Meals are either prepared by the
mother or father.
2. The parents clean the bathrooms, kitchen,
and living room. Since the children are
young, they help with small chores, such
as helping with folding the laundry, and
cleaning up their playroom.
3. The family’s relationship outside are
professional, polite, and not too
interfering.
1. We believe it is completely normal to feel
sexual feelings, and sexual feelings allow
the adult relationship to stay strong.
2. The adult relationship with the family is
healthy, supportive, and loyal.
3. We feel confident and certain about our
gender identity.
1. When one is stressed, they usually sit and
think, plan, or exercise.
2. To determine when a member is stressed,
we notice them feeling low, complaining,
or presenting anxious behavior.
3. To support a member who is stressed,
everyone else is by their side so that they
have someone they can talk openly talk
to.