The Family & Health Problem of a Member

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY FUNCTIONING AND THE HEALTH PROBLEM OF A FAMILY MEMBER: A CASE ANALYSIS

The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between the functioning of a family and the health problem of a middleaged male member of that family. The focus of this research is on assessing the individual's family system and the development of a familyoriented intervention strategy. Clientcentered data and a review of the literature related familyoriented intervention is presented as a part of this introduction.

Two types of client centered information are presented. The first type is clientspecific data, while the second type includes research findings relevant to the client problem.

The individual family member that is the subject of this research is a 53 year old man who is suffering from Crohn's disease, a form of ileitis. The individual is married, and lives with his wife (aged 43) and two teenaged daughters (ages 18 and 14). The subject is also a concert violinist who has been required to curtail some of his professional activities as a consequence of his physical condition.

Review of Literature The systems approach to the family provides a theoretical context for the application of family theory to the chronically ill family (Broderick and Smith, 1989, pp. 113129). Johnson's behavioral system model of nursing provides a framework for

applying family theory in a nursing context (Faw

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egrity of the family (patient) is threatened, and those functions enhanced by system balance are not adequately served, when behavioral regularities are disturbed; (8) behavioral system balance is a manifestation of successful adjustments and adaptations, even though observed behavior may not appear to be consistent with accepted cultural or biologic norms for healthy behavior; (9) living systems can and do operate at varying levels of effectiveness and efficiency, but, to be able to operate at all, some minimum level of balance, both internally and externally, must be maintained; (10), a behavioral system possess sufficient flexibility to react effectively to usual variations in the forces acting upon it, and it possess sufficient stress tolerance to permit effective adjustment to many extreme variations in these forces; (11), at some point in their lives, most families (patients) likely experience a psychological crisis, social crisis, or physical illness sufficiently disturbing to behavioral system balance to require external assistance; and (12) nursing is capable of, and should be the external force which provides external assistance both when behavioral system imbalance occurs, and at other times to preclude the development

Category: Medical - T