Understanding family structure and style is essential to patient and family care.
Conducting a family interview and needs assessment gathers information to identify
strengths, as well as potential barriers to health. This information ultimately helps develop
family-centered strategies for support and guidance.
This family health assessment is a two-part assignment. The information you gather in this
initial assignment will be utilized for the second assignment in Topic 3.
Develop an interview questionnaire to be used in a family-focused functional assessment.
The questionnaire must include three open-ended, family-focused questions to assess
functional health patterns for each of the following:
Values/Health Perception
Nutrition
Sleep/Rest
Elimination
Activity/Exercise
Cognitive
Sensory-Perception
Self-Perception
Role Relationship
Sexuality
Coping
Select a family, other than your own, and seek permission from the family to conduct an
interview. Utilize the interview questions complied in your interview questionnaire to
conduct a family-focused functional assessment. Document the responses as you conduct
the interview.
Upon completion of the interview, write a 750-1,000-word paper. Analyze your assessment
findings. Submit your questionnaire as an appendix with your assignment.
Include the following in your paper:
Describe the family structure. Include individuals and any relevant attributes defining the
family composition, race/ethnicity, social class, spirituality, and environment.
Summarize the overall health behaviors of the family. Describe the current health of the
family.
Based on your findings, describe at least two of the functional health pattern strengths
noted in the findings. Discuss three areas in which health problems or barriers to health
were identified.
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 2
Describe how family systems theory can be applied to solicit changes in family members
that, in turn, initiate positive changes to the overall family functions over time.
Cite at least three peer-reviewed or scholarly sources to complete this assignment. Sources
should be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located
in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment
to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Family Assessment
In conducting the functional family assessment, it was necessary to find family friends
willing to take part in the interview. It was also necessary for the family chosen to feel free while
discussing the various aspects of health captured in the interview. Considering the personal
nature of some of the questions, the family’s identity remains hidden. From the demographics
information, the chosen family comprised of five members, that is, two parents and three
children. They were from a white racial background and belonged to the middle class. They
practice Christianity and reside in a rather tranquil neighborhood. Worth noting is that they all
took part in the interview and the questions asked had their basis on the eleven functional health
patterns.
In covering the values and health perception, the questions required answers about the
family’s values in life. It also covered opinions pertaining to their health and the extent to which
they follow recommendations from a doctor. In terms of their health status, the response was that
they have positive health outcomes and rarely fall ill. Similarly, the family admitted to always
adhering to medication treatments and tried to complete their medicines per the doctor’s
instructions. However, they faced challenges in adhering to recommendations on dietary habits,
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 3
exercising, and lifestyle changes. Overall, they admitted to understanding that the doctor’s
recommendations often provide far greater positive effects on sustaining health than medical
treatments.
The second functional health aspect involved nutrition. The questions sought to find out
the family’s awareness on nutritional elements of foods consumed such as checking food labels
and choice of snacks. The family indicated that they regularly used nutrition labels as they
guided them in comparing and making food choices. With the fast growth of the food sector, the
need for convenience in obtaining food has given rise to innumerable fast food outlets. Due to
being readily available, the family indicated to taking convenience foods. Going by the
description, their common snacks contained less fiber, more fat, and lower amounts of
micronutrients compared to the food eaten at home. It was agreed that reading nutrition labels
can enables the family to make informed choices while purchasing foods and encourage them to
inculcate desirable nutrition habits.
Focusing on the elements of sleep and rest, the questions asked looked into the sleeping
habits of the family such as the quantity and quality of sleep per night. The adults indicated to
getting five to six hours of sleep per night while the children slept for eight hours. Sleeping for
less than six hours every night seemed to enable them to operate optimally and they had no
desire to increase the sleeping time. In the current fast-paced world, having six hours of sleep
possibly sounds okay but the recommended sleeping time among adults remains eight hours
(Karaca, 2016). Regarding sleeping behavior such as snoring, the family stated that nobody
snores. The absence of snoring pointed out a high quality of sleep for the family.
The other element addressed elimination, with the questions focusing on bowel
movements and their frequency. The family asserted that everyone has regular bowel
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 4
movements, with an average of two bowel movements per day. They lacked major elimination
conditions, namely constipation (below three bowel movements on a weekly basis) and diarrhea
(above three bowel movements per day involving loose stools). In terms of activity and exercise,
the adults indicated to spending 30 minutes of exercise per week while the children exercised at
school during games time. With the predominant exercise being running, the family seemed
more focused on keeping their cardiovascular systems healthy.
When it came to cognitive information, it was necessary to examine the decision making
and existence or absence of confusion and forgetfulness. Their responses indicated that the adults
discussed on important decisions while others could be made independently. No incidences of
confusion or forgetfulness occurred in the family. It is worth noting that experiencing frequent
incidences of confusion necessitates medical attention. Assessing their sensory-perception, the
family members had no problems with their senses except for the father who suffered from
myopia and used lenses to address it. Similarly, their self-perception indicated a hopeful and
optimistic family with big plans for the future. Each one considered themselves an important and
valuable member of society.
Since there was need to understand the role relationship, sexuality, and coping, questions
were asked in relevance to the same. The marriage partners indicated to having a blissful marital
relationship and considered each other as best friends. They also shared the roles of raising up
the children and disciplining them. The same manifested in their sexuality as they frequently
engaged in sex (3 times a week) and neither partner suffered from sexual dysfunction. As a
family, they use different methods of coping with stressful events, including the use the services
of a family therapist. They seemed conscious of the dangers of living with unresolved stress or
emotions. Overall, the family is enjoying health as no one is sick.
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 5
Based on the results, the family possessed strengths in functional health patterns, most
notably in values/health perception and coping. The family place much value on honesty and
diligence. They also practice Christianity in earnest without neglecting family traditions. The
assessment revealed that the family uses coping strategies so as to avoid a buildup of unhealthy
emotions (Temel & Kutlu, 2019). This enables the members to handle stressful situations
optimistically thus maintaining their positive outlook in life. On the other hand, three areas
depicting health problems include nutrition, exercise, and sleep/rest. The family’s snacking
habits posed a major threat to their health as their choice of snacks contained high levels of fats
while lacking in micronutrients. In their exercise, the family lacks an exercise routine and the 30-
minutes claimed on a weekly basis falls short of the recommended levels. Similarly, the
sleep/rest habits of the family fall short of the recommended sleep hours which could be
detrimental to their well-being and productivity. Addressing these areas could prove extremely
useful for the family.
The family systems theory can be useful in soliciting changes among family members
due to the profound impact exerted by the family members on each other. For instance, changing
the behavior of one parent such as alcohol and substance abuse works significantly towards
eliminating marital distress (Błażek, 2016). It also eliminates other associated problems that
often contribute to maltreatment of children in the family. This change in turn plays a vital role
in the parents’ ability to offer sufficient nurturing, attachment, and care to their children.
Consequently, it becomes possible for the parents to deliver a secure foundation for their
children. The changes prompt the parent to seek out different resources to help the family. This
agrees with the fact that a change in one member of the family triggers a change in the way that
the other family members behave and feel.
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 6
References
Błażek, M. (2016). Parental attitudes and parentification of children in families with limited
parental care competencies. Polish Journal of Applied Psychology, 14(3), 93-108.
Karaca, T. (2016). Functional Health Patterns Model–A Case Study. Case Studies Journal ISSN
(2305-509X) Volume, 5.
Temel, M., & Kutlu, F. Y. (2019). Functional Health Pattern Model Based Care Plan for a
Depression Diagnosed Patient. Florence Nightingale Hemşirelik Dergisi, 27(1), 91-103.
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 7
Appendix
QUESTIONNAIRE
This survey is purposely designed to collect data for a family-focused functional
assessment. Information provided is purely for academic purposes.
Section A: Demographics
- How old are you?
a) Mother [ ] 18-25 [ ] 26-30 [ ] 31-35 [ ] 36-40 [ ] 41-50
b) Father [ ] 18-25 [ ] 26-30 [ ] 31-35 [ ] 36-40 [ ] 41-50 - How many children do you have?
- Race/Ethnicity [ ] Black [ ] White [ ] Hispanic [ ] Other….
- Social class [ ] Upper [ ] Middle [ ] Lower [ ]
- Religion [ ] Islam [ ] Christianity Other….
Section B: Functional Assessment
FAMILY ASSESSMENT 8
- Values, health perception: What is the overall health status of your family? Do you constantly
adhere to instructions and recommendations from a doctor when given? - Nutrition: How often do you read food labels for nutritional information? What is your
preferred type of snacks? - Sleep/Rest: How many hours do you sleep at night? Is snoring a problem for anyone?
- Elimination: How would you describe your bowel movements? How many times does it occur
in a day? - Activity/Exercise: How long do you exercise in a typical day? What are the kinds of exercise
that you do? - Cognitive: How do you make decisions in the family? Are there incidences of confusion or
forgetfulness? - Sensory-Perception: Do you experience any problems with your sight, hearing, taste, smell or
touch? - Self-Perception: Do you consider yourself valuable to society? Do you have future plans?
- Role Relationship: How much do you enjoy your marital relationship? Do you share family
roles? - Sexuality: What is your frequency of having sex? Do you suffer from sexual dysfunction?
- Coping: How do you cope with stressful situations?