Family health assessment plays an important role in the management of different health conditions. Disparate aspects are addressed when carrying out such assessments. The family interviewed is from Sweden. The father, Mr. Bengt, is 50 years old, while the mother is 47. The children are two boys aged 15 and 13 and a girl aged 8 years.
Values/Health Perception
The Bengt family members are staunch Christians, and they draw the majority of their values from the Bible, which they read almost every day. They define health as a state of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing. The family has a history of hypertension. Both the maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother suffer from high blood pressure. The family acknowledges the importance of preventive healthcare, and thus even though none of them is diagnosed with hypertension, they normally go for routine check-ups. Additionally, they lead healthy and active lifestyles. The family has set goals to observe healthy living and take preventive approaches, especially when dealing with hypertension.
Nutrition
The Bengt family defines nutrition as having a balanced diet most of the time. The family is adventurous in terms of trying new foods, which they normally cook at home. They rarely eat in restaurants because they want to ensure that they consume balanced meals. The family has a home garden where they have planted different vegetables. Given the history of hypertension in the family, they avoid fatty foods and consume a lot of fruits and vegetables. Mr. and Mrs. Bengt do not take alcoholic drinks. Instead, the family enjoys fruit juices and milkshakes. Mr. Bengt thinks that the current diet is healthy as explained above.
Sleep/Rest
The family follows a regular sleep/rest routine. On average, they sleep for 8 hours. During the week, sleep time is normally 9.30 PM for all family members. However, over the weekend, they sleep between 10 and 10.30 PM depending on the activities being undertaken. The boys like to stay up late engaging in different activities, but the rule is that they should be asleep latest at 10 PM during weekdays and 11 PM over the weekends. Playing video games distracts the boys from following a regular sleep pattern. However, this issue is handled by setting rules indicating the time that everyone should be asleep.
Elimination
Currently, the family does not have any problems with their bowel movements. However, a week ago, one of the boys had a school outing, and when he came back, he had constipation issues. Nevertheless, the problem cleared in a few hours. Mr. Bengt has problems with holding his bladder throughout the night. Therefore, he wakes up at least once at night to relieve his bladder. Apart from that, the only other time when a family member wakes up to urinate at night is after taking lots of fruit juice or milkshakes, especially over the weekend. Generally, the family does not have any health issues that complicate the process of elimination.
Activity/Exercise
The idea of exercising is popular in this family. Due to the family history of hypertension, everyone engages in different physical activities. Mr. and Mrs. Bengt normally have jogging sessions thrice a week. The boy’s cycle for long distances over the weekend, and they are involved in different games in school. The daughter does not like exercising, but she engages in rope skipping in the company of a friend from the neighborhood. To maintain the current shape, Mr. and Mrs. Bengt rarely miss their three days of jogging every week, not unless they are traveling or attending to important work-related duties.
Cognitive
The family’s cognitive skills and abilities are assessed using different strategies. The children are evaluated depending on their school performance. Mr. and Mrs. Bengt are entrepreneurs running a family business. They assess their cognitive skills by their ability to solve diverse business-related problems like devising working marketing strategies and exploring expansion options for the business. Of late, the daughter has been performing exemplary in school, which happened after she decided that she wants to become a pediatrician later in life. The family’s verbal or numerical reasoning has not changed significantly in the recent past.
Sensory-Perception
Generally, the family has good visual abilities. However, of late Mrs. Bengt has been complaining that she cannot see objects from a distance. Therefore, she has an appointment with an ophthalmologist in the coming week for a check-up to determine what the problem could be. None of the family members has had trouble with hearing in the recent past. However, when Mr. Bengt turned 49 years old, he had an ear infection, but it was treated successfully, and he regained his hearing ability fully. No sensory issues have been experienced in the family over the past few months.
Self-Perception
Mr. Bengt believes that image is everything, and thus he dresses officially most of the time, and especially when going to work. Mrs. Bengt follows the same rules. She likes to dress in a simple, but smart way. The family has a mantra that self-worth is a personal issue that is defined by the values that one upholds. As such, the family is respectful and kind towards others. Mr. Bengt notes that he feels confident about his image, and he has passed the same perception to his family members. However, the daughter is highly concerned with what other people will say about her dressing style.
Role Relationship
The family follows some established traditions even though it can be termed as a modern family set-up. For instance, most of the time, Mrs. Bengt prepares the meals, while the boys tend to the garden. This assumption of roles follows the traditional perception that women are involved in homemaking activities, while men undertake physical tasks (Kachel, Steffens, & Niedlich, 2016). However, these gender roles are changing slowly as the boys are showing interest in cooking lessons, and they are increasingly helping their mother in the kitchen. The current roles can be changed such that anyone can do any task without leaning on traditional gender roles.
Sexuality
The idea of discussing sexuality is taken positively and viewed openly by the family members. During dinner, the boys discuss openly their girlfriends. The daughter does not have a boyfriend, but she contributes to different topics concerning sexuality. Mr. Bengt says no sexuality-related issues are viewed as taboo in the family. The firstborn broke his virginity when he turned 15, and he confided in the mother after the event, which was later discussed at the dinner table after a few days. The parents encourage openness when it comes to matters to do with sexuality.
Coping
Currently, the family is coping with the fact that the maternal grandmother is bedridden, and she has suffered greatly since she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer a few years ago. This aspect has affected the children significantly, but the parents encourage them through prayer as a coping mechanism. LaBarbera and Hetzel (2016) posit that prayer can be used as a coping mechanism during depressing moments. Additionally, the 13-year old boy has been a victim of cyber-bullying. The family constantly affirms to the boy that he is wonderfully made and his self-worth can only come from within. Nixon (2014) notes that sharing incidents of cyber-bullying with loved ones is one of the best coping mechanisms. The wellness issues are based on the assessment of this family’s poor self-perception by the daughter and Mrs. Bengt’s sight problem.
References
Kachel, S., Steffens, M. C., & Niedlich, C. (2016). Traditional masculinity and femininity: Validation of a new scale assessing gender roles. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(956), 1-19. Web.
LaBarbera, R., & Hetzel, J. (2016). Christian educators’ use of prayer to cope with Stress. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(4), 1433-1448.
Nixon, C. L. (2014). Current perspectives: The impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, 5, 143-158. Web.