Importance of Family in the Health of Our Society

¶ … Family in Health of Our Society

The Family System as a Tool to Promote Health

Family is vital to the health and well being of our society. Only recently have researchers and healthcare providers began realizing that families work as a system to help promote health among family members. Families are more a whole than the sum of individual parts (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003). Thus what affects one family member will ultimately affect others. The health or behaviors of one family member may directly or indirectly affect the health and well being of other family members.

Because families are more widely recognized as systems that can create a healthy or unhealthy environment, nursing researchers are suggesting a more integrative and holistic approach to care that focuses on families as system. Integrative practice suggests that nurse practitioners consider families as systems and work with families in this regard to help promote the health and well being of all members (Denham, 2003). In the past health care services have addressed or focused on the needs of individuals rather than the needs of families and family systems, in essence ignoring the "processes associated with family life related to health outcomes" (Denham, 2003: 143). This unfortunately leads to substandard care that doesn't address the needs of family members, who can contribute significantly to the health and well being of one another.

A model of health care that promotes the interest of the family system should provide a framework enabling family members to exchange ideas with nursing staff and various other health professionals, should provide methods for understanding family uniqueness and commonalities and should incorporate family diversity and practitioner diversity into family care (Denham, 2003: 145). Such a system would allow more inclusive care that concentrates on the complex interactions that occur within a family system.

The family system works best in promoting health and well being when nursing works to encourage familial participation and health. Currently trends in family nurses have included diversifying nursing practice, increasing research into family systems and care and increasing family content within academic nursing environments (Wright & Leahey, 1990).

Family centered care is achieving more attention as nurses continue to uncover new ways to address the needs of families. In the past families have largely been ignored in favor of more individual oriented care, however this is changing as researchers begin examining family interactions and their effects on family health and family care (Wright & Leahey, 1990). This change is positive in nature, promoting better relationships between families and health care providers and promoting better understanding of family care.

Family Concept of Nursing Practice

Within my area of nursing practice, as an RN clinical educator at a large hospital, the family concept incorporates intimate family members and friends and anyone one else directly involved in patient care. This idea corresponds to the notion that family members are part of a system of complex interactions and adaptations. However within my field there is still a strong pattern of caring for individuals as parts of a whole without consideration to familial factors that may contribute to a family members health and well being. The family systems concept however is forcing nursing coordinators and trainers including in my field to review their notions of family and redesign care that is more focused on the health and well being of a family as a whole rather than an individual member. This requires more collaboration not only among patients and healthcare providers but also among nurses and family members.

It is a helpful concept and vital to the well being of patients, particularly as I am responsible for classes and training for all nurses and nursing assistants. It is vital as part of my job function that I train nurses to recognize the importance of family and understand their role in relation to a patient's family and care.

For purposes of initiating family care the concept that works best is the idea that family's are systems, and nurses can promote health and "congruence" throughout families by assessing "processes, planning changes, implementing interventions and evaluating outcomes" for the entire family (Denham, 2003: 147). This notion suggests that nurses must change their line of thinking from caring for an individual patient to caring for the family.

Family Development Theory and Nursing Practice

This theory suggests that Families are systems, comprised of interacting elements and exchanging positive and negative feedback among one another. Family systems thus grow and change with time, becoming adaptable and more tolerant to change and differentiation. Families also inherently have within them hierarchies and boundaries that must be respected. Families are not individuals but rather the sum of many parts or people.

With respect to nursing practice, the family developmental theory suggests that as a nursing trainer I should work to help nurses understand how families interact, adapt and change over the course of a patient's treatment. It is also important to understand what roles each member of the family play in a hierarchical manner, and understand how a patient's illness has affected the family system. A nurse might be able to suggest interventions to encourage better family functioning once these elements are defined and recognized. Under this theory a family is viewed as a unit or whole rather than the sum of individual parts. Hence a family is not one sick member or one dominant member but the sum of everyone, including everyone's feelings, emotions and strengths or weaknesses.

The family development model assumes that family systems include members that are interdependent but also interactive, and assumes that developmentally-based tasks occur over specific intervals, that achievement of tasks leads to success and happiness and failure to achieve tasks leads to dismay or negativity (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003). This assumes that while individuals might need care, that care should include careful consideration of familial patterns to determine what steps are necessary based on the family stage to promote optimal care.