Hartman family: case study questions essay sample

The children are at a risk of suffering a heart disease if the disease is genetic in the family, and this underscores the need for the family nurse to ensure familial risk assessment is done for precautionary purposes (Arar, Delgado, Lee and Abboud, 203). The cold temperatures may also pose health risks such as common cold to all family members. The family diet may also pose a health diet if it is not healthy. Lifestyle-related health risks such as obesity may result if one or more of the family members do not exercise adequately. The family has health potentials such as living near a health facility, having good family relationships founded on love and affection and availability of most basic needs.
Ecological and/or contextual issues affecting the family include their diet, the environment within and outside the house, and their economic wellbeing. A family nurse must consider the air the family breathes, the food they take and the water they drink to see if it is alright, and advise them accordingly.
The Functional aspects in this family are notably good. For example, the power structure puts the grandparents at the top, and they exercise their power well, maintaining a peaceful, loving atmosphere. Each member plays their role well, such as the grandma’s food preparation and cleaning. This ensures that everything is going on properly, including timely food serving, a clean environment and availability of supplies such as food and other requirements. Good communication augments the good relationships extant among the family members, which go a long way in alleviating such health risks as depression and anxiety. The family’s strengths include the strong relationships among all family members and the availability of basic needs such as food, quality shelter and education, which can be capitalized on to enhance health.
The Hartman family members are Christian faithful who never miss church services. This confers on them some form of social capital, since if they faced a problem, the church would likely come to their economic rescue. The family also has a good relationship with the Greenleys as evidenced by their dinner party. The family’s strong social networks with Portia and David are also evident. These networks comprise social capital and can be socially and economically valuable (Ferlander, 2007). One such usefulness is seen when James has to accompany his wife to the hospital and calls David to look after the children, to which he (David) happily obliges.
The concept of health promotion applies to the Hartman family in several ways. For example, seeing that the family faces several risks such as diet-related and environment-related health risks, it is important that they adopt health promotion actions, such as adherence to healthy diets, cultivation of healthy interpersonal relationships founded on love, compassion and support, as well as regular medical checks with a view to early detection of any health issue that may arise. The family nurse should also help the family in health promotion by offering guidance on health-related issues in an ethical and evidential manner (Carter et al., 2011).
The family nurse should educate the family on the importance of taking health promotion and precautionary measure seriously. To this end, the nurse should educate the family members on the importance of eating right, exercising appropriately, having health family relationships and taking regular medical checks (Carter et al., 2011). The family nurse should also design a customized family care that considers the individual and family health needs, offering relevant counseling to the person(s) who need it, and providing relevant health literature materials such as videos, pamphlets and booklets (Carter et al., 2011).

References

Arar, N., Delgado, E., Lee, S., & Abboud, H. E. (2013). Improving learning about familial risks
using a multicomponent approach: the GRACE program. Per. Med., 10 (1): 35-44.
Carter, S. M et al. (2011). Evidence, Ethics, and Values: A Framework for Health Promotion.
American Journal of Public Health, 101(3): 465-472.
Ferlander, S. (2007). The Importance of Different Forms of Social Capital for Health. Acta
Sociologica, 50(2): 115-128.