The Concept of Family Health

Topic: Public Health
Words: 347 Pages: 1

The concept of family health involves recording information about a person and their close relatives to examine them for health disparities. This concept is essential because it helps recognize individuals with a high risk of common disorders and other chronic diseases such as stroke, cancer, type two diabetes, and high blood pressure (Hanson et al., 2019). When people come from the same family, they are likely to have a similar genetic background. In addition, they may have similar environments and lifestyles, which is what healthcare providers use to find insights into family conditions.

Healthcare providers use varying strategies to ensure that they take care o individuals from families with family conditions. These include providing a supportive environment, advising them on regular screening, advising them against some substances and foods, and advising them to avoid certain lifestyles which may trigger the disease. Healthcare providers must ensure that they promote health by enabling, mediating, and advocating (Hanson et al., 2019). It helps to achieve better outcomes and early diagnosis of chronic disease. In family-based care, family health is essential to ensure better health outcomes are achieved.

The commonly used strategies or family health concepts vary depending on the patient’s condition, age, and gender. The nurses use various strategies, such as the frequency of the disease in the family, the risk, medication levels, and availability of healthcare services connected to the disease (Hanson et al., 2019). When a nurse finds a condition that runs in the family, they may encourage persons against a certain lifestyle that may trigger the disease to ensure that they avoid it. For example, a family with heart condition problems may be highly advised against smoking. In other cases, the nurse may administer preventive medication if the disease can be avoided by taking the medication. This helps the family members to reduce the chances of contracting the disease. Finally, nurses may consider the healthcare availability and costs, which allows them to advise family members effectively. If a condition in the family is expensive to treat, the person may be advised to get insurance policies in advance.

References

Hanson, C. L., Crandall, A., Barnes, M. D., Magnusson, B., Novilla, M. L. B., & King, J. (2019). Family-focused public health: Supporting homes and families in policy and practice. Frontiers in Public Health, 7(4).