FAMILY HEALTH ASSESSMENT 1

Family Health Assessment

Winona State University

Faiza O Elmi

November 10, 2019

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Family Health Assessment: Omar Family

A family health assessment is used to assess and identify potential and existing problems

within a family system. The family represents a group of people who are related to each other by

blood and relation, live in a household with similar beliefs, values and customs that are passed

through families for generations (Mantelo Cecilio, Sturiao dos Santos, Silva Marcon, 2014, p.

494). Members of a family have a great influence on each other. To promote care and the ability

for one to manage their chronic health condition, a complete understanding of family structure

can help health professionals, such as nurses, to design a care plan for the patient that will enable

the patient to be independent and able to manage their health (Jarvis, C,2017). This can allow the

care to be incorporated within the family setting to improve the overall health of the whole

family. For this assessment, I interviewed and conducted a family health assessment on a

Somali-American Father and his family in my home community.

Family Structure

I interviewed a Somali father and his family, they migrated from Somalia about 15 years

ago. The family consists of 4 members, Father Omar (55), mother, Lul (50), two children Hassan

(15), and Ferdowsi (14). Both Omar and his wife have one parent alive, and both still live in

Somalia. The father works as a support technician for a factory, the mother is currently attending

nursing school and the two children attend public schools The Omar’s are a middle class, Somali

family, who values their rich Somali culture and traditions. They practice their religion: Islam,

attending an Islamic prayer house, the mosque, with their kids weekly on Fridays to keep their

kids engaged and in touch with their Islamic and Somali heritage. Although they have embraced

the American way of life in many ways to preserve their culture, Mr. Omar believes that it's

important for their kids to speak their native language and be involved in the Somali community.
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His kids also take part in an after-school Quran studies program, which provides religious and

cultural teaching.

Omar has a history of have high cholesterol, diabetes and and respiratory issues.

cholesterol is fatty substance, or lipid, that travels in the bloodstream to the cells where it's used

to make cell membranes, vitamin D and sex hormones.” It's divided into two types known as

LDL and HDL. The two types added together make up a person’s total cholesterol level.

Diabetes is an endocrine system disorder that occurs when there is too much glucose in

the bloodstream as a result of lack of enough insulin hormones to carry sugar from the

bloodstream to the cells (Isley & Molitch, 2005). There are many types of diabetes with diabetes

type 1 and 2 being most prevalent, but more types have been identified which are associated with

genetics, medication, among other factors.

Health History

Mr. Omar believes that good health is important to their family. Although Mr. Omar

exercises regularly and his work is also physically demanding, but due to family history, he does

have high cholesterol, diabetes and some liver function and respiratory issues for which he does

take medication regularly and tries to follow a good diet regimen. His wife and two children both

claim to have no medical issues. Mr. Omar and his family do visit their doctor for their annual

physical exams and immunization. Mr. Omar’s kids are involved in extra curriculum activities

such as sports and dance class.

Present Health Status

Vitals: B/P- 130/68 while sitting in chair on left arm, P-68, R-16, T-97.8 orally, Sp02-

100% on RA. Client states he is not in any pain. Rates pain 0/10 on the pain scale.
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General Survey: appears to be healthy, well groomed, and displays upkeep of personal hygiene.

His stature is appropriate for his age. Omar has light brown clear skin and seems to be well

nourished and has an impressive amount of muscle mass. His weight and height seemed

appropriate for his age. His position was upright but relaxed and comfortable throughout the

interview. Omar shows no obvious signs of deformities. Omar’s body movements showed no

irregularity. He did not show any signs of stumbling or walking with any hesitation. Omar

displays full range of motion with no limitations. He had no involuntary movements while

walking and had no need for the use of assistive devices. Omar appears to be happy and is very

alert. He spoke with very clear and articulate speech despite appearing to be quite fatigued. His

behavior seems normal for the situation and he appeared well rested. His attire was appropriate

for the weather. Client states that he is feeling good today and that he is in a good mood. He

denies any use of illicit drugs like tobacco or cannabis. He also denies any alcohol consumption.

Skin: warm, no lesions, multiple freckles over face, chest, and arms. Hair is clean, no lice or nits.

Nails are pink, well cared for, capillary refill less than 3 seconds in fingers and toes.

HEENT: Face is symmetric. Eyes with no redness or discharge. Pupils are 3 mm. Extraocular

eye movements intact. Visual fields by confrontation intact. Oral mucosa is moist, no lesions or

erythema. Teeth in good repair, uvula midline, tongue straight. No difficulty swallowing. Nose

with discharge, nares patent, no deviations noted. Ears are aligned with eyes, no excess cerumen

or discharge seen in external canal, no lesions, able to hear whisper without difficulty. Lymph

nodes of head and neck non-palpable, nontender. Client states he is able to hear when I whisper

in both ears without difficulty.

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Thorax & Lung: Symmetric thorax, AP to lateral ratio 1:2. Respirations 20, regular, no accessory

muscle use, regular depth. Spine straight. Thoracic expansion symmetric. Lungs clear in all

fields.

Heart: Carotid pulses 2+, symmetric. Regular heart sounds, S1, S2, no other sounds.

GI/GU: Abdomen flat, normoactive bowel sounds X 4, no distention or tenderness on palpation,

last BM this morning, brown, soft. Urinating without difficulty, clear yellow.

MS/Neuro/Peripheral Vascular: Extremities without deformity. Even regular gait, Romberg

negative. Full range of motion of neck, arms, and legs. Strength 5/5 in all extremities.

Functional Assessment

Omar and his family enjoy eating traditional Somali food with his family. The diet

usually includes chicken, fish, dairy products, vegetables, flour tortillas, rice, and some fried

food. Although kids do enjoy eating American food, Mr. Omar prefers to eat mostly Somali food

daily. Mrs. Omar mostly cooks the meals at home, but the children occasionally like to eat out.

Mr. Omar does try to eat healthily and watch his diet due to his comorbidities, but he does like to

smoke occasionally. Mrs. Omar and kids are generally healthy and limit fast food and carbonated

beverages. When asked the question related to elimination pattern, the parents stated that all

family members have normal bowel and bladder patterns. In terms of sensory perception

patterns, the family expressed that they did not have any sensory deficits. The family also stated

that currently there are no diseases that have led to sensory loss in their family. They all use their

senses appropriately to absorb information.

Mr. and Mrs. Omar have a good daily routine. The children have their bedrooms and

generally sleep by 10 pm since both Mr. and Mrs. Omar work in the morning, they drop their

kids to school in the morning and head for work. Mr. and Mrs. Omar usually get between 6-7
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hours of sleep and kids between 6-8 hours. The family seems to function normally with no other

issues. Other medical issues such as sensory deficit or hearing loss were not identified. Based on

the cognitive pattern assessment, the family remains up to date on information through attending

annual physicals, routine dental and vision checkups, cognitive and emotional functioning seems

to be functional except some barriers were noted to persist in expressing emotions due to their

cultural norms.

Perception of Health

Regarding self-perception and role relationships, Mrs. Omar usually takes care of most

household chores, taking care of their kids' daily and school needs. Mr. Omar manages the

finances of the house. While they seem to have a healthy relationship however Mr. Omar, being

a very traditional Indian male, doesn’t like to discuss their sexual relationship. He indicates that

their sexual life is healthy, but they do not plan to have any more kids. They also do not prefer to

discuss sexuality with their children, which may not be very healthy, especially since both kids

are an age where the discussion would be appropriate and necessary.

Analyze the Virtual Data

Based on the assessment, The Omar family does have many functional health pattern

strengths. As a family, they do maintain a regular healthy diet, healthy sleep pattern, and regular

annual doctor checkups including dental and vision. Mrs. Omar mostly cooks food at home and

avoid any unhealthy outside food. However, there are still some weakness and barriers to a

healthy lifestyle were identified. Mr. Omar does still smoke occasionally even though he has a

respiratory problem. Also, sometimes since Mr. Omar is the only one with comorbidities, it

becomes harder for him to avoid food that may be healthy for the rest of the family but not good

for him due to his diabetes. Due to their traditional Somali lifestyle, there is not a good coping
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mechanism where kids can discuss their teen issues openly with parents. Also, Mr. and Mrs.

Omar seldom discuss other family matters openly, but Mr. Omar seems to have an upper hand in

decision making, where Mrs. Omar doesn’t have a way to truly discuss her feelings and

concerns.

A family systems approach can be applied to solicit changes in the family. Family

members influence each other because the individual doesn’t exist in isolation but as part of a

family (Green, 2018). So, when an individual has any health issues, it causes a great deal of

stress on the family. Research indicates that it can cause distress and impact the quality of life of

the individual living with the condition and significant others (Persson & Benzein, 2014). To

impact the health of the individual, the family needs to be embraced as a whole. The family must

understand how their habits impact the health of the family member living with comorbidities.

For example, if their family member has diabetes and cannot have ice-cream if everyone else in

the family is eating it, it is very hard for an individual to be compliant. Family can help to buy

diet or sugar-free ice-cream for everyone. The entire family has to support the individual and

adopt the changes to make it easy for the person living with chronic illness to live a better and

healthier life. Educating the entire family helps initiate a positive change to deliver a better

health outcome not just for the individual but for the entire family.

In conclusion, the Family health assessment helped me the nurse plan and prepare for

appropriate interventions based on the assessment results. Although Mr. Omar has a supportive

family, they can benefit from the Family systems approach. Although their overall family habits

are healthy, he can benefit more if his family can be more supportive and understanding how

they can help each other by opening up to each other emotionally reducing family stress. The

pattern of behavior in multi-generation families can reveal more effective options for solving
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problems (GenoPro, n.d.). Interventions that draw on family’s strengths and resources and

collaboration of family and health professionals can help the Omar family follow a care plan that

promotes healthy behavior to improve health outcomes for their family and himself.

Genogram

Father 84 Mother 82 Father 90 not alive Mother 72 alive

alive (heart failure, not alive No knowing health
( diabetes , breast cancer)
Dementia, heart
diabetes) failure issues

Lul 50
Omar 55 Overweight
High
cholesterol,
diabetes ,
respiratory
issues

Hassan 15 Fardowsi 14
No health issues No health issues
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References

GenoPro. (n.d.). Family Systems Theory. Retrieved from

https://www.genopro.com/genogram/family-systems-theory/

Green, S. Z. (2018). Understanding Families and Health Promotion. In, Health Promotion:

Health and Wellness Across the Continuum. Retrieved from:

https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-wellness-health-and-wellness-across-the

continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/4

Falkner, A. (2018). CCC Web Books by AWS & CDD. Retrieved from

https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-

continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/5

Jarvis, C. (2017). Physical examination & health assessment. St. Louis, Mo: Saunders.

Mantelo Cecilio, H. P., Sturiao dos Santos, K., & Silva Marcon, S. (2014). Calgary Model of

Family Assessment: Experience in a Community Service Project. Cogitare Enfermagen,

19(3), 493-501. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-

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com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=103900892&site=eds-

live&scope=site

Persson, C., & Benzein, E. (2014). Family health conversations: how do they support

health?. Nursing research and practice, 2014, 547160. doi:10.1155/2014/547160