Family Health Nursing: Theories, Family Types, and Care
Approaches
Family nursing Theory QUESTIONS WITH WELL VERIFIED
ANSWERS
Family Health Care Nursing
the process of providing for the health care needs of families that are within the scope of
nursing practice. This nursing care can be aimed toward the family as context, the family as a
whole, the family as a system or the family as a component of society.
Family as Context
The individual is in the foreground, and the family is in the background. The family is the
resource for the individual. (Traditional)
Family as Client
All family members are in the foreground, and no individual is exclusive of the whole. (Family-
centered care)
Family as System
The family is the client. (Family therapy)
Family as a Component of Society
The family is a component of the main institutions of society. (Community health)
Family Functions
Reproduction; Socialization; Affective; Economic; Health care
Legal family
Relationships through blood ties, adoption, guardianship, or marriage
Sociological family
Groups of people living together with or without legal or biological ties
Biological Family
Genetic, biological networks among and between people
,Psychological family
Groups with strong emotional ties
Traditional Family
The family is a group of persons united by ties of marriage, blood, or adoption, constructing a
single household; interacting and communicating with each other in their own respective social
roles of husband and wife, mother and father, son and daughter, brother and sister, and creating
and maintaining a common culture
Family Nursing Theory - Critical concepts
No single theory or conceptual framework sufficiently describes the multifaceted relationships
of family structure, function, and process; Family theories assist nurses in making critical
decisions concerning the care of families; Improving the quality of nursing care of families is the
major function of theory in family nursing; Family theories guide practice and research, and vice
versa; Incorporating various theories enhances nursing practice; Integrating inter-professional
practice theory with family nursing theory is critical to contemporary nursing practice.
Theories
abstract or general ideas subject to rules and organizations that: Contain concepts, relations,
and propositions; Show logical relationships between concepts to illustrate patterns (i.e., family
cohesion and mental health); Attempt to make sense of complex phenomena in the world (i.e.,
domestic violence); Describe; explain; predict; increase knowledge; enhance understanding;
and improve nursing care
Concepts
building blocks for theory development—concrete or abstract images of a phenomenon
Propositions
statements about the relationship between two or more concepts
Hypothesis
a statement predicting an expected relationship between concepts
What is a Conceptual Model or Theoretical Framework?
A set of general propositions that illustrates the connection between concepts. The concepts
are integrated into meaningful configurations or patterns.
The conceptual models that guide nursing have evolved from three major disciplines
, family social science (e.g. Family Stress Theory and Change Theory); family therapy and nursing
models and theories (e.g. Neuman's Systems Model & Parse's Human Becoming Theory).
Conceptual models are based on observations, insights and deductions, and nurses typically
draw from many theoretical conceptual foundations, using a more pluralistic and eclectic
approach.
Family Assessment and Intervention Model
is a multidimensional framework consisting of three key groupings: structural; developmental;
and functional. Each category has its own subcategories and clarifies family strengths;
limitations; roles and all possible resources the family has or may need. These findings assist the
nurse to assess the Jones family's perspectives at this specific time in their lives and enable the
nurse to help with any difficulties or challenges the family may encounter. The CFIM is a
classifying framework conceptualizing the interconnection between a particular domain (i.e.
cognitive; affective; or behavioral) of family functioning and a particular intervention offered the
nurse.
Deductive Reasoning
Thinking about the whole and then breaking down into parts; move from the general to the
specific
Inductive Reasoning
Thinking about parts to create a whole; move from specific to general/whole
The Nursing Process - With Family
a critical reasoning or inquiry process that facilitates clinical problem solving in partnership and
collaboration with individuals; families; groups and communities. Therefore since each family is
a complex integrated structure the use of an organized theoretical framework such as the
Nursing Process is critical to the knowledge work of nurses. Using the nursing process with a
family is similar to using it with an individual in that the steps are identical but the process is
much more complex.
Family must be viewed as
a 'unit of care' and not as 'the patient and his/her family.' The family nursing process involves
the assessment of the family's strengths and their challenges in meeting the needs of the family
and the needs of its members.
When using the nursing process with family we will
Approaches
Family nursing Theory QUESTIONS WITH WELL VERIFIED
ANSWERS
Family Health Care Nursing
the process of providing for the health care needs of families that are within the scope of
nursing practice. This nursing care can be aimed toward the family as context, the family as a
whole, the family as a system or the family as a component of society.
Family as Context
The individual is in the foreground, and the family is in the background. The family is the
resource for the individual. (Traditional)
Family as Client
All family members are in the foreground, and no individual is exclusive of the whole. (Family-
centered care)
Family as System
The family is the client. (Family therapy)
Family as a Component of Society
The family is a component of the main institutions of society. (Community health)
Family Functions
Reproduction; Socialization; Affective; Economic; Health care
Legal family
Relationships through blood ties, adoption, guardianship, or marriage
Sociological family
Groups of people living together with or without legal or biological ties
Biological Family
Genetic, biological networks among and between people
,Psychological family
Groups with strong emotional ties
Traditional Family
The family is a group of persons united by ties of marriage, blood, or adoption, constructing a
single household; interacting and communicating with each other in their own respective social
roles of husband and wife, mother and father, son and daughter, brother and sister, and creating
and maintaining a common culture
Family Nursing Theory - Critical concepts
No single theory or conceptual framework sufficiently describes the multifaceted relationships
of family structure, function, and process; Family theories assist nurses in making critical
decisions concerning the care of families; Improving the quality of nursing care of families is the
major function of theory in family nursing; Family theories guide practice and research, and vice
versa; Incorporating various theories enhances nursing practice; Integrating inter-professional
practice theory with family nursing theory is critical to contemporary nursing practice.
Theories
abstract or general ideas subject to rules and organizations that: Contain concepts, relations,
and propositions; Show logical relationships between concepts to illustrate patterns (i.e., family
cohesion and mental health); Attempt to make sense of complex phenomena in the world (i.e.,
domestic violence); Describe; explain; predict; increase knowledge; enhance understanding;
and improve nursing care
Concepts
building blocks for theory development—concrete or abstract images of a phenomenon
Propositions
statements about the relationship between two or more concepts
Hypothesis
a statement predicting an expected relationship between concepts
What is a Conceptual Model or Theoretical Framework?
A set of general propositions that illustrates the connection between concepts. The concepts
are integrated into meaningful configurations or patterns.
The conceptual models that guide nursing have evolved from three major disciplines
, family social science (e.g. Family Stress Theory and Change Theory); family therapy and nursing
models and theories (e.g. Neuman's Systems Model & Parse's Human Becoming Theory).
Conceptual models are based on observations, insights and deductions, and nurses typically
draw from many theoretical conceptual foundations, using a more pluralistic and eclectic
approach.
Family Assessment and Intervention Model
is a multidimensional framework consisting of three key groupings: structural; developmental;
and functional. Each category has its own subcategories and clarifies family strengths;
limitations; roles and all possible resources the family has or may need. These findings assist the
nurse to assess the Jones family's perspectives at this specific time in their lives and enable the
nurse to help with any difficulties or challenges the family may encounter. The CFIM is a
classifying framework conceptualizing the interconnection between a particular domain (i.e.
cognitive; affective; or behavioral) of family functioning and a particular intervention offered the
nurse.
Deductive Reasoning
Thinking about the whole and then breaking down into parts; move from the general to the
specific
Inductive Reasoning
Thinking about parts to create a whole; move from specific to general/whole
The Nursing Process - With Family
a critical reasoning or inquiry process that facilitates clinical problem solving in partnership and
collaboration with individuals; families; groups and communities. Therefore since each family is
a complex integrated structure the use of an organized theoretical framework such as the
Nursing Process is critical to the knowledge work of nurses. Using the nursing process with a
family is similar to using it with an individual in that the steps are identical but the process is
much more complex.
Family must be viewed as
a 'unit of care' and not as 'the patient and his/her family.' The family nursing process involves
the assessment of the family's strengths and their challenges in meeting the needs of the family
and the needs of its members.
When using the nursing process with family we will
