THE FAMILY
DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF
FAMILY
❏ Basic unit in society, and is shaped by all forces
surround it
❏ Primary entity of health care or institution
responsible for the physical, emotional and
social support of members
❏ Values, beliefs, and customs of society
influence the role and function of the family
(invades every aspect of the life of the family)
❏ Is a unit of interacting persons bound by ties
of blood, marriage or adoption
❏ Constitute a single household, interacts with
each other in their respective familial roles and
create and maintain a common culture
DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS OF FAMILY
❏ An open and developing system of interacting
personalities with structure and process enacted
in relationships among the individual members
regulated by resources and stressors and existing
within the larger community (Smith & Maurer,
1995)
❏ Two or more people who live in the same
household (usually), share a common emotional
bond, and perform certain interrelated social
tasks (Spradly & Allender, 1996)
❏ An organization or social institution with
continuity (past, present, and future). In which
there are certain behaviors in common that
affect each other
THE FILIPINO FAMILY
❏ FAMILY – is a basic social unit consisting of
parents and their children, considered as a
group, whether dwelling together or not
❏ Filipino family is a family of Philippine origin
❏ Philippine families exhibit Filipino cultures,
customs, traits and values, of which the most
important value is family closeness
STRUCTURE OF FILIPINO FAMILY
● The typical Filipino family consists of a
husband, wife and children, extending to include
grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This
circle is often enlarged with the selection of a
child's godparents
● The father is acknowledged head of the family.
The father commands full authority in the family
● The mother on the hand is considered be the
light of the house (“ilaw ng tahanan”). She is
responsible in all housekeeping activities, taking
care of the children, planning of meals, and
budgeting the income of the family
FAMILY AS BASIC UNIT OF THE SOCIETY
● Family Is the Basic Unit of the Society
● The family is the basic unit of social institutions
● The family unit has specific functions with
relation to its members and to the total society
● It is the most important social institution,
serving as the means of transferring culture from
one stage to another
● The primary function of the family is to ensure
the continuation of society, both biologically
through procreation, and socially through
socialization.

1. Family as a Client
● Smallest unit of care, composed of father,
mother and children (traditional)
● The family is the primary focus and individuals
are secondary
● Is a small social system and primary reference
group made up of two or more persons living
together who are: ❏ related by blood
❏ marriage
❏ adoption
● Living together by arrangement over a period
of time. (Murray and Zentner (1997)
● The focus is concentrated on how the family as
a whole is reacting to the event when a family
member experience a health issue
2. Family as a System
● Based on the roles within the system, people
are expected to interact with and respond to one
another in a certain way
● Patterns develop within the system, and each
member's behaviors impact the other members
in predictable ways
● Each part of the system affects each other.
TYPES OF FAMILY – COMPOSITION
Types of Family Composition
Nuclear /Conjugal Family
❖ Father, mother, children (natural or adopted)
living in a common household
Extended /Consanguineous Family
❖ Nuclear family + relatives; at least 3
generation
Single parent
❖ Either father or mother with children
(adopted or biological) no legal attachment
Stepfamily/Blended/Reconstituted
❖ Separated, divorced, widowed with children +
new spouse (children/relatives)
Single state
❖ Never married, separated, divorced or
widowed individual
Same sex/ homosexual
❖ Gay/lesbian + children
Cohabiting or communal
❖ Unrelated individuals who live together
TYPES OF FAMILY - LOCUS OF POWER
Patrifocal/Patriarchal
man is the main authority; decision maker
Matrifocal/ Matriarchal
woman Egalitarian
equal Matricentric
mother in dominant position/ husband is OFW
Patricentric
father in dominant position/ wife is OFW
TYPES OF FAMILY – RESIDENCE
Patrilocal live with the residence of
groom/relatives of groom Matrilocal
bride’s family Bilocal
either both side Neolocal resides independently/
Decides on their own
Avunculocal reside with or near the Maternal
uncle of the groom
TYPES OF FAMILY – DESCENT
Patrilineal affiliates a person with a group of
relatives through his or her father
Matrilineal affiliates a person with a group of
relatives through his or her mother
Bilateral affiliates a person with a group of
relatives through both or his or her parents
A. Family Health Task Health task differ in
degrees from family to family TASK - is a
function, but with work or labor overtures
assigned or demanded of the person 5 Family
Health Tasks (Maglaya, A., 2004)
1. Recognizing interruptions of health
development
2. Making decisions about seeking health care/
to take action
3. Dealing effectively health and non-health
situations
4. Providing care to all members of the family
5. Maintaining a home environment conducive
to health maintenance
Duvall & Niller (1985) identified task essential for
a family to function as a unit:
1. Physical maintenance ➢ provides food
shelter, clothing, and health care to its members
being certain that a family has ample resources
to provide
2. Socialization of Family ➢ involves preparation
of children to live in the community and interact
with people outside the family
3. Allocation of Resources ➢ determines which
family needs will be met and their order of
priority
4. Maintenance of Order
5. task includes opening an effective means of
communication between family members,
integrating family values and enforcing common
regulations for all family members
6. Division of Labor ➢ who will fulfill certain
roles e.g., family provider, home manager,
children’s caregiver
Reproduction, Recruitment, and Release of
family member
Placement of members into larger society –
consists of selecting community activities such as
church, school, politics that correlate with the
family beliefs and values
7. Maintenance of motivation and morale –
created when members serve as support people
to each other
 FAMILY ROLES
1. Nurturing figure – primary caregiver to
children or any dependent member
2. Provider – provides the family’s basic need
3. Decision maker – makes decisions particularly
in areas such as finance, resolution, of conflicts,
use of leisure time etc
4. Problem-solver– resolves family problems to
maintain unity and solidarity
5. Health manager – monitors the health and
ensures that members return to health
appointments
6. Gatekeeper - Determines what information
will be released from the family or what new
information can be introduced
B. CHARACTERISTICS OF A HEALTHY FAMILY
1. COMMITMENT
It is important that all family members are
committed to the family and to each other
Husbands and wives who are committed to the
marriage have found a major way of keeping the
marriage going
It is important that the family comes first over
those outside of the family rather than letting
outside activities take prominence over the
family, those activities that do should be
eliminated
Healthy families tend to select activities that
promote the family as being important and help
the family to grow closer
2. TIME TOGETHER
Healthy families are ones that spend time
together
The amount of time is often as important as the
activity chosen
One important event that is often lacking in
many families today is a family meal time.
Healthy families spend this time being together,
enjoying a meal and talking about what is going
on in each of their individual lives
These families also spend time playing together
and doing activities that all of the family
members enjoy doing
Healthy families also have created family
traditions including celebrating birthdays,
holidays and other important events
3. COMMUNICATION
An important aspect of a healthy family is
communication. This involves listening to and
supporting one another
It is important for parents to listen to their
children as much as they expect their children to
listen to them
Communication also involves conflict which is a
part of every family
The healthy family is able to fight fairly and
resolve conflicts that do occur
4. APPRECIATION
In healthy families there is an admiration for
each other
Families respect one another and appreciate
what each member of the family contributes
The accomplishments of each family member
are valued by the others
Each family member looks for the good in the
rest of the family
5. SPIRITUALITY

Although not all of those surveyed were

members of a particular church or religion, they
still felt that spirituality was important

These families had a sense of spiritual well-being

Parents are expected to teach their children right

from wrong and present good examples of
behavior for their children

It is also important for parents to teach their

children how to make moral choices for
themselves as they mature

6. COPING SKILLS

Healthy families are able to deal with crisis

situations that may occur

Crises in families may be small or large, but

healthy families are able to find solutions to their
problems

They often depend upon one another for the

support that they need

When healthy families cannot solve their

problems they are willing to go outside of the
family for solutions. (Sale, 2016)