Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Faiza O Elmi
A family health assessment is used to assess and identify potential and existing problems
within a family system. The family represents a group of people who are related to each other by
blood and relation, live in a household with similar beliefs, values and customs that are passed
through families for generations (Mantelo Cecilio, Sturiao dos Santos, Silva Marcon, 2014, p.
494). Members of a family have a great influence on each other. To promote care and the ability
for one to manage their chronic health condition, a complete understanding of family structure
can help health professionals, such as nurses, to design a care plan for the patient that will enable
the patient to be independent and able to manage their health (Jarvis, C,2017). This can allow the
care to be incorporated within the family setting to improve the overall health of the whole
family. For this assessment, I interviewed and conducted a family health assessment on a
Family Structure
I interviewed a Somali father and his family, they migrated from Somalia about 15 years
ago. The family consists of 4 members, Father Omar (55), mother, Lul (50), two children Hassan
(15), and Ferdowsi (14). Both Omar and his wife have one parent alive, and both still live in
Somalia. The father works as a support technician for a factory, the mother is currently attending
nursing school and the two children attend public schools The Omar’s are a middle class, Somali
family, who values their rich Somali culture and traditions. They practice their religion: Islam,
attending an Islamic prayer house, the mosque, with their kids weekly on Fridays to keep their
kids engaged and in touch with their Islamic and Somali heritage. Although they have embraced
the American way of life in many ways to preserve their culture, Mr. Omar believes that it's
important for their kids to speak their native language and be involved in the Somali community.
FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 3
His kids also take part in an after-school Quran studies program, which provides religious and
cultural teaching.
Omar has a history of have high cholesterol, diabetes and and respiratory issues.
cholesterol is fatty substance, or lipid, that travels in the bloodstream to the cells where it's used
to make cell membranes, vitamin D and sex hormones.” It's divided into two types known as
LDL and HDL. The two types added together make up a person’s total cholesterol level.
Diabetes is an endocrine system disorder that occurs when there is too much glucose in
the bloodstream as a result of lack of enough insulin hormones to carry sugar from the
bloodstream to the cells (Isley & Molitch, 2005). There are many types of diabetes with diabetes
type 1 and 2 being most prevalent, but more types have been identified which are associated with
Health History
Mr. Omar believes that good health is important to their family. Although Mr. Omar
exercises regularly and his work is also physically demanding, but due to family history, he does
have high cholesterol, diabetes and some liver function and respiratory issues for which he does
take medication regularly and tries to follow a good diet regimen. His wife and two children both
claim to have no medical issues. Mr. Omar and his family do visit their doctor for their annual
physical exams and immunization. Mr. Omar’s kids are involved in extra curriculum activities
Vitals: B/P- 130/68 while sitting in chair on left arm, P-68, R-16, T-97.8 orally, Sp02-
100% on RA. Client states he is not in any pain. Rates pain 0/10 on the pain scale.
FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 4
General Survey: appears to be healthy, well groomed, and displays upkeep of personal hygiene.
His stature is appropriate for his age. Omar has light brown clear skin and seems to be well
nourished and has an impressive amount of muscle mass. His weight and height seemed
appropriate for his age. His position was upright but relaxed and comfortable throughout the
interview. Omar shows no obvious signs of deformities. Omar’s body movements showed no
irregularity. He did not show any signs of stumbling or walking with any hesitation. Omar
displays full range of motion with no limitations. He had no involuntary movements while
walking and had no need for the use of assistive devices. Omar appears to be happy and is very
alert. He spoke with very clear and articulate speech despite appearing to be quite fatigued. His
behavior seems normal for the situation and he appeared well rested. His attire was appropriate
for the weather. Client states that he is feeling good today and that he is in a good mood. He
denies any use of illicit drugs like tobacco or cannabis. He also denies any alcohol consumption.
Skin: warm, no lesions, multiple freckles over face, chest, and arms. Hair is clean, no lice or nits.
Nails are pink, well cared for, capillary refill less than 3 seconds in fingers and toes.
HEENT: Face is symmetric. Eyes with no redness or discharge. Pupils are 3 mm. Extraocular
eye movements intact. Visual fields by confrontation intact. Oral mucosa is moist, no lesions or
erythema. Teeth in good repair, uvula midline, tongue straight. No difficulty swallowing. Nose
with discharge, nares patent, no deviations noted. Ears are aligned with eyes, no excess cerumen
or discharge seen in external canal, no lesions, able to hear whisper without difficulty. Lymph
nodes of head and neck non-palpable, nontender. Client states he is able to hear when I whisper
Thorax & Lung: Symmetric thorax, AP to lateral ratio 1:2. Respirations 20, regular, no accessory
muscle use, regular depth. Spine straight. Thoracic expansion symmetric. Lungs clear in all
fields.
Heart: Carotid pulses 2+, symmetric. Regular heart sounds, S1, S2, no other sounds.
last BM this morning, brown, soft. Urinating without difficulty, clear yellow.
negative. Full range of motion of neck, arms, and legs. Strength 5/5 in all extremities.
Functional Assessment
Omar and his family enjoy eating traditional Somali food with his family. The diet
usually includes chicken, fish, dairy products, vegetables, flour tortillas, rice, and some fried
food. Although kids do enjoy eating American food, Mr. Omar prefers to eat mostly Somali food
daily. Mrs. Omar mostly cooks the meals at home, but the children occasionally like to eat out.
Mr. Omar does try to eat healthily and watch his diet due to his comorbidities, but he does like to
smoke occasionally. Mrs. Omar and kids are generally healthy and limit fast food and carbonated
beverages. When asked the question related to elimination pattern, the parents stated that all
family members have normal bowel and bladder patterns. In terms of sensory perception
patterns, the family expressed that they did not have any sensory deficits. The family also stated
that currently there are no diseases that have led to sensory loss in their family. They all use their
Mr. and Mrs. Omar have a good daily routine. The children have their bedrooms and
generally sleep by 10 pm since both Mr. and Mrs. Omar work in the morning, they drop their
kids to school in the morning and head for work. Mr. and Mrs. Omar usually get between 6-7
FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 6
hours of sleep and kids between 6-8 hours. The family seems to function normally with no other
issues. Other medical issues such as sensory deficit or hearing loss were not identified. Based on
the cognitive pattern assessment, the family remains up to date on information through attending
annual physicals, routine dental and vision checkups, cognitive and emotional functioning seems
to be functional except some barriers were noted to persist in expressing emotions due to their
cultural norms.
Perception of Health
Regarding self-perception and role relationships, Mrs. Omar usually takes care of most
household chores, taking care of their kids' daily and school needs. Mr. Omar manages the
finances of the house. While they seem to have a healthy relationship however Mr. Omar, being
a very traditional Indian male, doesn’t like to discuss their sexual relationship. He indicates that
their sexual life is healthy, but they do not plan to have any more kids. They also do not prefer to
discuss sexuality with their children, which may not be very healthy, especially since both kids
Based on the assessment, The Omar family does have many functional health pattern
strengths. As a family, they do maintain a regular healthy diet, healthy sleep pattern, and regular
annual doctor checkups including dental and vision. Mrs. Omar mostly cooks food at home and
avoid any unhealthy outside food. However, there are still some weakness and barriers to a
healthy lifestyle were identified. Mr. Omar does still smoke occasionally even though he has a
respiratory problem. Also, sometimes since Mr. Omar is the only one with comorbidities, it
becomes harder for him to avoid food that may be healthy for the rest of the family but not good
for him due to his diabetes. Due to their traditional Somali lifestyle, there is not a good coping
FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 7
mechanism where kids can discuss their teen issues openly with parents. Also, Mr. and Mrs.
Omar seldom discuss other family matters openly, but Mr. Omar seems to have an upper hand in
decision making, where Mrs. Omar doesn’t have a way to truly discuss her feelings and
concerns.
A family systems approach can be applied to solicit changes in the family. Family
members influence each other because the individual doesn’t exist in isolation but as part of a
family (Green, 2018). So, when an individual has any health issues, it causes a great deal of
stress on the family. Research indicates that it can cause distress and impact the quality of life of
the individual living with the condition and significant others (Persson & Benzein, 2014). To
impact the health of the individual, the family needs to be embraced as a whole. The family must
understand how their habits impact the health of the family member living with comorbidities.
For example, if their family member has diabetes and cannot have ice-cream if everyone else in
the family is eating it, it is very hard for an individual to be compliant. Family can help to buy
diet or sugar-free ice-cream for everyone. The entire family has to support the individual and
adopt the changes to make it easy for the person living with chronic illness to live a better and
healthier life. Educating the entire family helps initiate a positive change to deliver a better
health outcome not just for the individual but for the entire family.
In conclusion, the Family health assessment helped me the nurse plan and prepare for
appropriate interventions based on the assessment results. Although Mr. Omar has a supportive
family, they can benefit from the Family systems approach. Although their overall family habits
are healthy, he can benefit more if his family can be more supportive and understanding how
they can help each other by opening up to each other emotionally reducing family stress. The
pattern of behavior in multi-generation families can reveal more effective options for solving
FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 8
problems (GenoPro, n.d.). Interventions that draw on family’s strengths and resources and
collaboration of family and health professionals can help the Omar family follow a care plan that
promotes healthy behavior to improve health outcomes for their family and himself.
Genogram
Lul 50
Omar 55 Overweight
High
cholesterol,
diabetes ,
respiratory
issues
Hassan 15 Fardowsi 14
No health issues No health issues
FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 9
References
https://www.genopro.com/genogram/family-systems-theory/
Green, S. Z. (2018). Understanding Families and Health Promotion. In, Health Promotion:
https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-wellness-health-and-wellness-across-the
continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/4
Falkner, A. (2018). CCC Web Books by AWS & CDD. Retrieved from
https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-
continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/5
Jarvis, C. (2017). Physical examination & health assessment. St. Louis, Mo: Saunders.
Mantelo Cecilio, H. P., Sturiao dos Santos, K., & Silva Marcon, S. (2014). Calgary Model of
com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=103900892&site=eds-
live&scope=site
Persson, C., & Benzein, E. (2014). Family health conversations: how do they support