Family and Health Values

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the health values, attitudes, and behaviors of the family system. It discusses the role the family plays in teaching healthy behaviors and in caring for its sick members. It examines how the family functions in relation to the external environment to meet its health needs. New approaches to health care involving increased family participation are also discussed such as family-centered care, Orem's self-care theory, Newman's theory of health, and the Calgary family assessment model. The paper concludes that the most useful is the Calgary family assessment model because it incorporates all of the other models in some way.

From the Paper:

"The concept of family most commonly used in my area of nursing practice is one where both the patient and family is considered to be the unit of care. It is the patient who is the actual focus and is predominant while the family is given secondary focus. This concept of family conforms to the first way nursing is conceptualized as a context to the patient (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003). The family is more perceived as a consultant in our practice, and there is minimal involvement of the family in the patient's plan of care. The family mainly is viewed as the patient's primary social support resource."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brown, K. (2002). Nursing Theory. http://www.tusc.kent.edu/nursing/nrst10002/npnotes/classes/npclasss02.html
• Friedman, M., V. Bowden & Jones, E. (2003). Family nursing research: Theory and practice, 5th edition. Toronto: Pearson Education.
• Institute for Family-Centered Care (2007). Family-Centered Care. http://www.familycenteredcare.org/
• Newman, M. (2002). The pattern that connects. Advanced Nursing Science, 24 (3), 1-7.
• Wright, L. & Leahy, A. (2005). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.

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