Women’s Health Companion Optimizing Outcomes for
Mothers, Children, and Families, 2nd Edition, Susan L.
Ward, Shelton M. Hisley
Family - ANSWER:two or more individuals who are joined together by marriage,
birth, or adoption and live together in the same household
Nuclear family - ANSWER:children live in a household with both biological parents
and no other relatives or persons
Child-free family - ANSWER:a family is child free by choice or infertility
Extended family - ANSWER:a couple shares household and child-rearing
responsibilities with parents, siblings, or other relatives
Extended kin network family - ANSWER:a specific form of an extended family in
which two nuclear families of primary or unmarried kin live in proximity to each
other
Single parent family - ANSWER:the head of the household is widowed, divorced,
abandoned, or separated
Blended (reconstituted nuclear) family - ANSWER:includes two parents with biologic
children from previous marriage or relationship who marry or cohabitate
Binuclear family - ANSWER:a post-divorce family in which the biologic children are
members of two nuclear households, with co-parenting by the father and the
mother
Heterosexual cohabitating family - ANSWER:a heterosexual couple who may or may
not have children and who live together outside of marriage
Gay and lesbian families - ANSWER:include those in which two adults of the same
sex live together as domestic partners with or without children, and those in which a
gay or lesbian single parent rears a child
Family development theories - ANSWER:use a framework to categorize a family's
progression over time according to specific, typical stages in family life
Culutre - ANSWER:Based on shared values and beliefs
Is learned and dynamic
Is integrated into life and uses symbols
, Race - ANSWER:a group of people who share biologic similarities such as skin color,
bone structure, and genetic traits
Ethnicity - ANSWER:a cultural group's sense of identification associated with the
group's common social and cultural heritage
Stereotyping - ANSWER:assuming that all members of a group have the same
characteristics
Acculturation - ANSWER:the process of modifying one's culture to fit within the new
dominant culture
Assimilation - ANSWER:related to acculturation and is described as adopting and
incorporating traits of the new culture within one's practice
Magico-religious belief paradigm - ANSWER:health and illness are determined by
supernatural forces such as God, gods, magic, spirits, or fate
Scientific or biomedical health paradigm - ANSWER:assumes that physiology explains
all illness and life itself
Curandero(curandera) - ANSWER:a holistic healer who deals with physical,
psycholocgic, and social problems for Mexican Americans
Espiritistas - ANSWER:a healer who communicates with spirits for the physical and
emotional development of the patient. Used by Puerto Ricans
Sobador - ANSWER:an individual who uses massage and manipulation to treat
patients with joint and muscle problems. Used by Mexican Americans
Shaman - ANSWER:a woman or man who enters an altered state of consciousness, at
will, to contact and utilize another type of reality to acquire knowledge and power
and to help other people. Native American
Spirituality - ANSWER:the individual's experience and own interpretation of his or
her relationship with a supreme being
Taboo - ANSWER:a behavior or thing that is to be avoided
Ethnocentrism - ANSWER:the conviction that the values and beliefs of one's own
cultural group are the best or only acceptable ones
Cultural competence - ANSWER:the ability to understand and effectively respond to
the needs of individuals and families from different cultural backgrounds
Complementary therapy - ANSWER:any procedure or product that is used as an
adjunct to conventional medical treatment