Instructor’s Guide
Family Health Care Nursing:
Theory, Practice, And Research
By Rowe Kaakinen
7th edition
, Chapter 1
Family health care nursing: an introduction
This chapter provides an introduction to and broad overview of family health care nursing,
explaining why this information is important to nurses who care for today’s families. Family nursing is a
scientific discipline based in theory, and chapter 1 introduces theoretical concepts important to the
nurse’s understanding of how to care for groups. It also provides definitions of family, family health,
family health care nursing, and traits healthy families exhibit. It describes the evolution in the past few
decades of family nursing as its own specialty as well as the many roles for nurses within this discipline.
The concepts of family structure, function, and process are reviewed, as are family roles. Chapter 1
emphasizes both the historical and evolving value of family as a basic unit of human society and as a unit
of analysis. It approaches health and illness as family events, with changes in the individual affecting the
entire family’s functioning. This chapter lays the foundational knowledge of the nature of interventions in
family nursing.
Critical concepts
▪ Family health care nursing is an art and a science that has evolved as a way of thinking about
and working with families.
▪ Family nursing is a scientific discipline based in theory.
▪ Health and illness are family events.
▪ The term family is defined in many ways, but the most salient definition is, the family is who
the members say it is.
▪ An individual’s health (on the wellness–illness continuum) affects the entire family’s
Functioning, and in turn, the family’s ability to function affects each member’s health.
▪ Family health care nursing knowledge and skills are important for nurses who practice in
, Generalized and in specialized settings.
▪ The structure, function, and processes of families have changed, but the family as a unit of
analysis and service continues to survive over time.
▪ Nurses should intervene in ways that promote health and wellness, as well as prevent illness
Risks, treat disease conditions, and manage rehabilitative care needs.
▪ Knowledge about each family’s structure, function, and process informs the nurse in how to
optimize nursing care in families and provide individualized nursing care tailored to the
uniqueness of every family system.
Review of key terms
Contemporary family: generally refers to the changing structure and function of today’s
families, including single-headed households, cohabitating couples and parents, blended
families, same-sex couples and parents, and grandparents raising grandchildren. Family
functions have expanded from a focus on reproduction, socialization of the young, economic
survival, and health care functions. The functions have shifted to include intimate relationships,
communication, and shared responsibilities with the larger society.
Family: two or more individuals who depend on one another for emotional, physical, and
economic support. The members of the family are self-defined (hanson, 2005).
Family as a component of society: care that views the family as one of many institutions in
society, similar to the health, economic, educational, or religious institutions.
Family as a system: care that focuses on the interaction between and among family members,
including subsystems within the family (e.g., dyads such as mother–father and parent–child) and
outside the family (e.g., schools, churches, and community agencies).
, Family as client: care that focuses on the family members as a unit rather than any one
individual.
Family as context: care that focuses on the individual but considers the family’s influence on
the individual.
Family functions vs. Family functioning: family functions are all the ways that families serve
their members, related to prescribed social and cultural obligations and roles of family in society.
Denham (2003) described family functioning as “individual and cooperative processes used by
developing personas to dynamically engage one another and their diverse environments over the
life course” (p. 277).
Family health: a dynamic, changing state of well-being that includes the biological,
psychological, spiritual, sociological, and cultural factors of individual members and the whole
family system.
Family health nursing: the process of providing for health care needs of families within the
scope of nursing practice. Nursing care can be designed with the family as context, the family as
a whole, the family as a system, or the family as a component of society.
Family process: the ongoing interaction between family members through which they
accomplish their instrumental and expressive tasks (denham, 2005).
Family structure: the ordered set of relationships within the family and between the family and
other social systems. Genograms and ecomaps are tools used for the assessment of who
comprises the family unit and the interactions between family members and other systems.
Health function of families: refers to historical and contemporary tasks of family members
providing care for the health and illness of one another; vitally important as a resource to the
larger society.
Family Health Care Nursing:
Theory, Practice, And Research
By Rowe Kaakinen
7th edition
, Chapter 1
Family health care nursing: an introduction
This chapter provides an introduction to and broad overview of family health care nursing,
explaining why this information is important to nurses who care for today’s families. Family nursing is a
scientific discipline based in theory, and chapter 1 introduces theoretical concepts important to the
nurse’s understanding of how to care for groups. It also provides definitions of family, family health,
family health care nursing, and traits healthy families exhibit. It describes the evolution in the past few
decades of family nursing as its own specialty as well as the many roles for nurses within this discipline.
The concepts of family structure, function, and process are reviewed, as are family roles. Chapter 1
emphasizes both the historical and evolving value of family as a basic unit of human society and as a unit
of analysis. It approaches health and illness as family events, with changes in the individual affecting the
entire family’s functioning. This chapter lays the foundational knowledge of the nature of interventions in
family nursing.
Critical concepts
▪ Family health care nursing is an art and a science that has evolved as a way of thinking about
and working with families.
▪ Family nursing is a scientific discipline based in theory.
▪ Health and illness are family events.
▪ The term family is defined in many ways, but the most salient definition is, the family is who
the members say it is.
▪ An individual’s health (on the wellness–illness continuum) affects the entire family’s
Functioning, and in turn, the family’s ability to function affects each member’s health.
▪ Family health care nursing knowledge and skills are important for nurses who practice in
, Generalized and in specialized settings.
▪ The structure, function, and processes of families have changed, but the family as a unit of
analysis and service continues to survive over time.
▪ Nurses should intervene in ways that promote health and wellness, as well as prevent illness
Risks, treat disease conditions, and manage rehabilitative care needs.
▪ Knowledge about each family’s structure, function, and process informs the nurse in how to
optimize nursing care in families and provide individualized nursing care tailored to the
uniqueness of every family system.
Review of key terms
Contemporary family: generally refers to the changing structure and function of today’s
families, including single-headed households, cohabitating couples and parents, blended
families, same-sex couples and parents, and grandparents raising grandchildren. Family
functions have expanded from a focus on reproduction, socialization of the young, economic
survival, and health care functions. The functions have shifted to include intimate relationships,
communication, and shared responsibilities with the larger society.
Family: two or more individuals who depend on one another for emotional, physical, and
economic support. The members of the family are self-defined (hanson, 2005).
Family as a component of society: care that views the family as one of many institutions in
society, similar to the health, economic, educational, or religious institutions.
Family as a system: care that focuses on the interaction between and among family members,
including subsystems within the family (e.g., dyads such as mother–father and parent–child) and
outside the family (e.g., schools, churches, and community agencies).
, Family as client: care that focuses on the family members as a unit rather than any one
individual.
Family as context: care that focuses on the individual but considers the family’s influence on
the individual.
Family functions vs. Family functioning: family functions are all the ways that families serve
their members, related to prescribed social and cultural obligations and roles of family in society.
Denham (2003) described family functioning as “individual and cooperative processes used by
developing personas to dynamically engage one another and their diverse environments over the
life course” (p. 277).
Family health: a dynamic, changing state of well-being that includes the biological,
psychological, spiritual, sociological, and cultural factors of individual members and the whole
family system.
Family health nursing: the process of providing for health care needs of families within the
scope of nursing practice. Nursing care can be designed with the family as context, the family as
a whole, the family as a system, or the family as a component of society.
Family process: the ongoing interaction between family members through which they
accomplish their instrumental and expressive tasks (denham, 2005).
Family structure: the ordered set of relationships within the family and between the family and
other social systems. Genograms and ecomaps are tools used for the assessment of who
comprises the family unit and the interactions between family members and other systems.
Health function of families: refers to historical and contemporary tasks of family members
providing care for the health and illness of one another; vitally important as a resource to the
larger society.
