Introduction
Families in the U.S. are often under pressure from daily stress. The relationship, life-work balance in parents, problems of healthy upbringing, economic issues, and other routines could seriously undermine the health condition of parents and children. Due to solving pressing matters enumerated above, families often forget about keeping their health and health of the children in order. Lack of attention from parents to children’s diet may usher in problems with sleep and eating disorders that often lead to obesity (Chaput & Dutil, 2016). The interviewed family consists of a mother, father, and two male children 3 and 7 years of age. The mother is 34 years old unemployed homemaker. The father is a 49-year-old private contractor in home care nursing. The older child goes to the first grade of primary school. The mother was the only person who participated, therefore, this health assessment draws data solely from her.
Assessment
Values, Health Perception
The interviewee seems to be aware of the fact they may not be the exemplary followers of a healthy lifestyle, but they try to exercise in part at Sundays and have certain knowledge healthy diet. Above that, health traditions are not numerous, but the knowledge of them is sufficient to avoid heart diseases, traumas, obesity, and other common issues that often arise from negligence to one’s lifestyle. Health goals appear to moderately optimistic as the mother mentioned aiming to avoid major health issues for all family members.
Nutrition
The understanding of nutrition is practical and sufficient to understand its value for health. Nutrition in the mother and children appear to be in order. Mother avoids eating fast foods, carbohydrate-and fat-rich dishes, especially in the late evening. Children are allowed to eat sweets as much as they want, yet, as the mother suggests, they never eat more that 4-5 of them per day. The older child food choices are largely formed by the mother who forces him to eat fruits, vegetables, and meat. The younger one’s diet consists primarily of chocolate milk, which is a worrisome trend, as the interviewee admits. The father’s diet she regarded as unhealthy, due to his work schedule.
Sleep/Rest
Each family member receives at least eight hours of sleep on most of the weekdays, which seems to be sufficient for normal daily activity. The interviewee did not mention only one factor that distracts the family from sleeping normally. Occasionally, the father has to make and receive emergency calls at night, but apart from that, sleeping issues are not disturbing the family.
Elimination
The interviewee admitted having occasional issues with having a liquid bowel movement that she connected to eating old foods from the refrigerator. Apart from herself and the younger son, she knew little of the other family member’s waste elimination. Her younger son and have at least one solid stool a day. Urination problems were not identified.
Activity/Exercise
As it was already mentioned earlier, the family goes for a walk and exercise in the park on Sundays. The interviewee additionally attends the aqua park near her house once or twice a week taking the children with her. The father exercises only on Sundays. The interviewee names the sedentary lifestyle a problem for her husband. As a strategy to implement, she suggests taking short walks around his the office a few times a day.
Cognitive
Cognitive functions appear to be within reasonable bounds. No cognitive issues were reported by the interviewee that is connected to her sons or her husband. Verbal and numerical reasoning were not reported to have changed. However, the interviewee admitted not paying much attention to the issue because she noticed nothing extraordinary so far. Therefore, the information is not sufficient to make a concluding statement.
Sensory-Perception
The interviewee reported having no changes in vision, hearing, or taste in any of the family members. She noticed that her parents and the parents of her husband have no issues as well even though they are rather elderly. The only thing the interviewee mentioned was the dry problem that the husband had after a while of working on the computer. Therefore, no impairments of the sensory system seem to burden the family.
Self-Perception
The interviewee’s body image was rather realistic as she admits to being overweight by approximately a dozen pounds. She reported his husband as also overweight and fully aware of the fact. The children are not reported as overweight, but the interviewee mentioned the older son has a slightly oversized belly. Nevertheless, the interviewee does not feel negative about weight issues that seem to persist in the family regarding them as temporary.
Role Relationship
The role distribution in the interviewee’s family represents old-fashioned or traditional American nuclear family where the husband provides the majority of the family’s income while the wife cares for the kids and the house. The mother reported that she is rather content with her position, yet admitted feeling bored at times, feeling the need for a hobby.
Sexuality
Sexuality is not a taboo in the house as the mother reports. She recalled being shy to tell the older child about how kids are born when he first asked the question. The only taboo topics she mentioned was the sexual life between her and her husband as she felt this information is unnecessary for the children to know.
Coping
Husband and wife feel depressed at times for distinct reasons. While the husband is reported to be often tired after work, the wife feels that way due to boredom. She names are playing with children her main coping mechanism, while husband copes by playing video games and watching TV. The interviewee considers the chosen methods healthy as they effectively reduce their stress levels.
Wellness problems
The major wellness issues for the family is the proneness to having excessive weight. The problems are mostly drawn from the husband’s inactive lifestyle and dietary issues (Fock & Khoo, 2013). The wife’s major issue is depression, which originates from her passive role in the relationship and boredom she experiences from being surrounded by daily choirs (Fryer, 2013). Neglecting or postponing the issues with excessive weight can lead to heart diseases and other concerns, which identifies the need for active intervention, at least for the husband (Khayyam-Nekouei, Neshatdoost, Yousefy, Sadeghi, & Manshaee, 2013).
Conclusion
The conducted family assessment found that except for weight issues and minor cases of depression the family exhibits no signs of serious or immediate health concerns. Healthy habits and knowledge of the problems can aid them in devising adequate strategies to address the issues mentioned. Workload issues, in this case, seem to be difficult to resolve by anything except a strong commitment to the healthy lifestyle. Therefore, counselling might be required to communicate such commitment.
References
Chaput, J. P., & Dutil, C. (2016). Lack of sleep as a contributor to obesity in adolescents: Impacts on eating and activity behaviors. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13(1), 103-112.
Fock, K. M., & Khoo, J. (2013). Diet and exercise in management of obesity and overweight. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 28, 59-63.
Fryer, D. (2013). Psychological or material deprivation: Why does unemployment have mental health consequences? In E. Mclaughlin (Ed.), Understanding unemployment (pp. 116-138). London, UK: Routledge.
Khayyam-Nekouei, Z., Neshatdoost, H., Yousefy, A., Sadeghi, M., & Manshaee, G. (2013). Psychological factors and coronary heart disease. ARYA Atherosclerosis, 9(1), 102-108.