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Family Description
The family was interviewed for the purpose of completing this health family assessment is a Russian-American family, whose ancestors migrated to the USA in the early 20th century. The family is comprised of three people, which include the father (43 years old), the mother (40 years old), and the daughter (18 years old). The family lives together. Father works as an engineer for General Electric, the mother is a housewife, and the daughter attends one of the local colleges available in the area. The family is assimilated and well-integrated into American society, to the point where their national heritage does not play a big influence in their daily lives. However, they do possess certain traits similar to the Russian-American community, namely in terms of gender relationships, family cohesion, and choices in cuisine (Giger, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to summarize the findings of the interview using Gordons functional health patterns (Moorhead, Johnson, Maas, & Swanson, 2014), identify two potential family health issues, and provide potential solutions to the problems.
Findings Summary
Values and Health Perceptions
All three family members acknowledge the importance of healthcare in their lives as well as the necessity of introducing healthy habits in children from an early age. The family follows the basic sanitary precautions, such as washing hands frequently, brushing teeth and flossing two times per day, and keeping the house clean and germ-free on a weekly basis.
Nutrition
The family follows a 3-meal eating pattern typical to Eastern Europe, with breakfast early in the morning, dinner in the afternoon, and supper in the evening. The family diet consists of stews, porridges, and vegetables in small amounts. The family considers its diet to be healthy and does not feel the need to change its eating patterns.
Sleep/Rest
Every family member sleeps for 6-7 hours per day on average. Father stays up after work to play an extra hour or two of videogames and wakes up early in the morning to drive to work. His wife wakes up with her husband and does not sleep until he comes to bed with her. Daughter stays late due to hobbies, assignments, and the internet. All family members feel like they are not getting enough sleep.
Elimination
The family does not report any abnormalities in their elimination patterns. These only occur during particular sicknesses, which are usually motivated by the symptomatology of the disease.
Activity/Exercise
The family does not indulge in daily exercise. Father plays sports with friends on an irregular basis. The mother does not indulge in the exercise at all, stating that chores are exercise enough. The daughter performs some sports at college, though prefers to skip class. None expresses a particular interest in improving their exercise pattern.
Cognitive
None of the family report any significant cognitive issues. Daughter says she often forsakes important activities (such as studying) in favor of simple pleasures. While the parents are used to performing calculations in mind, the daughter uses the calculator on a regular basis.
Sensory-Perception
Father and daughter have poor eyesight due to the extensive use of the computer. Mother has excellent eyesight. None reports any hearing acuity problems.
Self-Perception
The adults have solid personalities and confidence in who they are. They did not seem to shy away from questions related to psychology, which is a common trait among Russian-Americans (Giger, 2014). The daughter refused to discuss any issues related to self-perception.
Role Relationships
All members of the family denied any significant problems related to their family or its structure. Everyone was content with the roles occupied. The daughter and mother claim to feel lonely on a regular basis. Mothers loneliness was associated with housework, whereas the loneliness felt my daughter was associated with the inability to connect with her peers.
Sexuality
All members of the family found questions regarding sexuality and sexual life to be intrusive and chose not to answer them. This is typical of many Russian-Americans, who consider their intimate lives to be very private (Giger, 2014).
Coping
The main sources of stress in the family are related to work and education. Father and daughter cope with stress by playing videogames. The mother did not report any notable stressors aside from perpetual loneliness.
Potential Wellness Problems
As identified during the interview, two potential health problems for this family include a lack of exercise in the family as well as signs of depression and social ineptitude in the daughter. A lack of movement and physical exercise can result in various health issues, such as underdevelopment of certain muscles, obesity, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, and various associated problems. The daughter shows signs of depression, which is exemplified by a lack of interest in socialization, general reclusiveness about public and private life, disinterest in studying, and internet addiction. If not properly diagnosed and treated, this health issue has the potential of causing severe physical and psychological stress.
Recommendations
The lack of exercise is largely caused by poor scheduling which results in a lack of free time for the family to perform any physical activity. Normalizing sleeping patterns, reducing the amount of time spent at the computer, and including a daily morning exercise routine is likely to improve the situation. Family exercises would be a good way to get the family together and enjoy socialization and physical activity alike. Father can bring his wife and daughter to play sports with his friends, which would help both of them with feelings of loneliness and social rejection. These measures, combined together, would significantly bolster the levels of physical readiness in the family and reduce the chances of developing obesity, musculoskeletal diseases, and other health issues related to a lack of movement. Daughters psychological issues, however, are a much more serious concern. American-Russians have a tendency to dismiss psychological problems as insignificant issues that a person should deal with on their own (Giger, 2014).
However, as the mounting body of evidence shows, a lack of timely and quality psychological help can result in a more severe case of depression (Karyotaki, Kleiboer, Smit, & Turner, 2015). To ensure the safety of the daughter, her family should bring her to a counselor for inspection. Even if it turns out that she does not suffer from depression, social isolation and computer addiction are still serious detriments to a healthy way of life. However, parents must be careful in their approach and establish a relationship of trust between them and their child. As it stands, it seems that there is a disconnection between the father, who seems oblivious about his daughters feelings and problems, and the daughter, who does not seem intent on opening up to him.
References
Giger, J. N. (2014). Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention (6th ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier.
Karyotaki, E., Kleiboer, A., Smit, F., & Turner, D. T. (2015). Predictors of treatment dropout in self-guided web-based interventions for depression: An individual patient data meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 45(3), 2717-2726.
Moorhead, S., Johnson, M., Maas, M. L., & Swanson, E. (2014). Nursing outcomes classification (NOC) (5th ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier.
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