Family assessment

Family assessment

Social determinants of health are complex situations in which individuals are born and live that impact their p0erception, attitudes, and understanding of their health. The factors can be categorized as political, socioeconomic, and cultural practices and beliefs that influence a person’s ability to access the healthcare system. According to the World Health Organization, social determinants of health are the social determinants shape the distribution of health resources, including funding, human resources, and infrastructure. Studies have shown that social determinants are the major causes of lifestyle health conditions such as obesity, heart-related illnesses, diabetes, and depression, among others (Schroeder, Malone, McCabe, & Lipman, 2018). Social determents such as access to quality healthcare services, individual behaviour and attitudes, income level, and occupation significantly influenced George’s family in terms of family health.

The family has access to quality healthcare services. However, one of the daughters has shown intentional disregard to health benefits of nutrition and proper dieting as a way of promoting quality health. Her attitude towards dieting clearly shows that she does not comprehend the health implications of too much animal proteins in her body. Similarly, there is a problem of lack of physical exercises in the family. According to the reports from the interviews, only George’s work can be considered as providing him with an opportunity for physical exercises. As such, there is a need to promote a positive lifestyle by introducing structured and regular physical exercises to the family. Most importantly, the change of behaviour and perception about the significance of physical exercises to the family members as well as the importance of strict adherence to proper dieting is key to a healthy family.

The social determinants such as occupation and individual attitude are the highest contributors to the status of the family health. The mother has clearly defined the family menu and monitors her children with regards to quality and quantity. However, the daughter finds it hard to follow the laid down family menu. Similarly, the attitude of the members of George’s family clearly shows that they are more exposed to lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and other overweight-related illnesses.

Appropriate screening procedures will be important for the positive health outcomes of the family. The screening exercises will be defined based on the age of the members of the family and the most relevant health risk factors. The first step is to categorize the family members into groups, depending on their age. For instance, they can be grouped into the age between birth and 18 years. In this category, the most suitable candidates for screening would be the children. The screening exercise will focus on pelvic examination for girls, breast lump examinations, testicular examination for boys, skin lesions for both boys and girls, and checking the cholesterol level of the teenagers, especially those approaching the adulthood. As a family with young adolescent girls, it would be appropriate to advise the children within the age bracket that is considered sexually active to screen for HIV/AIDS (Logie et al. 2017). Sexuality and reproductive health are important for the positive family outcome and as such, the girls within the age of sexual activities should be screen to make them certain of the sexuality.

For George’s family, I would recommend the examination of the children’s cholesterol level to determine if the level of cholesterol in their body indicate a health risk that can develop into issues of brain mental problems, heart-related illnesses, and overweight, among others. I recommend the screening of the level of cholesterol in the body because the young adults, especially the adolescents, have a bigger demand for foods, which may lead to ignoring the recommended consumption of healthy foods and overfeeding on unhealthy foods that can increase the amount of cholesterol in the body (Bergmann, Ket al. 2019). Similarly, the risk of developing overweight-related illnesses.

For the individuals beyond 35 years in the family, I would recommend a mammogram for the mother, prostate screening for the father, and colonoscopy for both the father and the mother. These tests aim at finding out if the adult members of the family suffer from any of the cancers types that are common among older people beyond 35 years. The prostate screening would be more important in detecting any types of cancer on George. Early detection through screening reduces the prevalence of deaths that are related to cancer as the patient can be exposed to various intervention strategies that help in deterring the spread of cancer (Rozen et al., 2004).

Denham’s Family Health Model has been used to help families to adopt positive health behaviours that lead to positive family health outcomes. The model involves family members that reside within a social unit described as a family. It can involve a family of father mother and children as noted in the family of George. The model includes seven processes called caregiving, change connectedness, communication, cathexis, celebration, and coordination. The perspective of the model can be understood from the concept of interaction between the family members based on their past experiences, the present health situations and the future health aspirations of the members of the family (Palacios, 2016). The model is focused on both individual and family health. As noted in George’s family, the members of the family are exposed to a variety of health risks according to their understanding of the implications of their behaviours to the quality of their health.