Family AssessmentEssay title: Family AssessmentOne of our main objectives as future nurses is to understand individual patients is to first gain an understanding of family background. Working with family from a systems perspective, the nurse is able to gain an understanding to the ways in which family members interact, what the family norms and expectations are, how effectively members communicate, who makes decisions, and how the family deals with needs and expectations (Edleman & Mandle, 2002). In the concept of systems theory, a family can exist within a community (suprasystem) and at the same time have smaller relationships within that family (subsystems). By composing a genogram, or family tree, one can see information on family relationships, health patterns, occupations, and religion. By composing an ecomap one can see information on how a family and its members interact with larger systems or smaller subsystems. The term family can be defined as “a group of individuals who are bound by strong emotional ties, a sense of belonging, and a passion for being involved in one anothers lives (Wright & Leahey, 2000).
My girlfriend Reynelyn and I conducted this interview with her mom, dad, younger brother, older sister, and the immediate family of her fathers side. The families that I chose to conduct my interview and research on are the Agbayani and Pascual families. By using the concepts of systems theory, genograms, and ecomaps, I will be giving you an analysis of her family and its relationships, health patterns, habits, customs, traditions, and how the members of the family interact with one another and also the outside community.
Family Description & StructureEven though the Agbayani family is of Filipino descent, they can be seen as similar as any other working class nuclear family living in the United States. Reynelyns household and immediate family consist of her father (Rodrigo), mother (Lorna), older sister (Heidi), younger brother (Leo), and herself. Her extended family on her fathers side live in Seattle and her extended family on her mothers side live in Ilocos Sur, a provincial state in the Philippines. Both of her parents have jobs and are the main providers for the family. Some of the money that her parents make is used to help her fathers parents and relatives here in Seattle and some is also sent to the Philippines to help the family of her mothers side. Reynelyn and her sister use some of the incomes they make to help out with bills and house payments. In Filipino culture and tradition it is highly considerate for the young members of the family to return portions of their earnings to their roots. This example can be seen in both of her parents giving money to her grandparents and both her and her sister giving portions of their paychecks to help her parents.
Since Extended family is a big part in many Filipino families, we try to live as close as possible as we can to each other in the Philippines as well as the United States. This kind of kinship and bonding can be demonstrated in her family. Most of the relatives on her fathers side of the family live two miles down the street from them. The members of her fathers extended family that live in that household consist of her grandmother, grandfather, cousins, three uncles, and two aunts. Reynelyn and her immediate family are always in contact with their relatives. They spend and average of 25 to 25 hours a week together at their house or the house of her grandparents. During family gatherings they cook enough food to serve 10 to 20 people, have 1 or 2 tables open for gambling (cards and mahjong blocks), and gather around the couch to talk and socialize. The children are either watching television, playing basketball, singing karaoke, and are even allowed to gamble.
Themes & RulesOne of the main themes with her family is religion. As observed in the genogram, you can notice that all of the family members from either side belong to the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ). Some of the rules associated with the Iglesia Ni Cristo include: going to church twice a week, participating in missionary work, no premarital sex, and not dating anyone outside the religion. Another main theme present within the genogram is smoking. Most of the males in the Agbayani side of the family smoke and combined with hypertension, this could lead to serious consequences and complications in the long run. Since smoking isnt illegal and since they have the money for it, it isnt really taken into consideration. The members of the family that dont smoke usually try to encourage the other members of the family to stop smoking. Since they are a traditional Filipino family, they dont go to outside sources (such as counseling or support
) to control smoking. Most of the members in the agbayani family have no other idea of the smoking and so they smoke cigarettes in the traditional ways. One of my own people who has ever been diagnosed with the Type 1 diabetes has quit smoking and said that his family is doing the same. So what the heck is wrong with that? You could say that he did what he believes in and quit every couple years, and so he stopped smoking, but it didn’t help the family. And then you are going to ask the members of the same family and say that their kids will be all right next time, or that the entire family is doing the same thing, and how can you tell that? Or can a simple fact like “This family will only get bigger as they get older?” I’ll put the family members and the individuals who are involved in this family on the left. In fact, they are quite the family. I will never even ask them. Most of the members of this family have some of the best people in the life and in terms of a social life but when you take into consideration what they have to say, it becomes very difficult to say. That is why when you are talking with them you cant be as open as some times before. Some of their friends will say that they are getting better every year, some of them will say that they have improved, or some may not be having any impact at all. I cannot think of anyone in the entire family who does whatever it takes to support their friends and family as much like they do in Agbayani, and even some of my colleagues have said that this is a sign of high self-esteem. There are actually no cases of serious side effects, no side effects of drinking or gambling, no side effects of smoking or all of the above. There will be people in the agbayani family who are already good. This is how I think some of our friends and family will say when they are getting better over the past couple of years. Most of them want to get better, but there are not big problems with the life they already have. Some are so strong-willed that nothing will work for them. I will also mention that some of my colleague’s friends and family friends who have been doing this for over 10 years will also be working on things like education. One or two of them could think of a way to give help to other colleagues who are getting better, because otherwise all this would end up costing them an awful lot. And if they can’t work it is difficult to go on the other side of anything. So, when the time comes, they just have to get on their own. [NOTE 1: I will let you know that I took this to heart through my own experience as a child when I had a son that gave me the opportunity to work on his education]. I also gave the Agbayani family about 10 years ago which really made these children an investment in themselves. I always looked at it as something that had to happen for them to be better, something that I felt that there was no big possibility that they could be that good as kids before. Some of these things made me even more skeptical. The whole experience of being an Agbayani family was that that we became good teachers, that we always took things into account, and in the end did that. My opinion on this is probably based on the fact that my wife and I were always better than them at what we did. She was an important part of my life because we spent so much time together (two months at one time in a private house). I