Family Composition and Roles
John is an African American who is 40 years old and lives in the city of Miami. John has a wife Leah and three children: Frank who is 16 years, Donald 10 years, and Michelle 6 years. The family has two pets: Regge, the dog, and the cat called Swat. John is a technician at the Carnival Cruise Lines and is the sole provider in the family. His salary from the company facilitates the smooth running of the family. Leah stays at home looking after children and performing other domestic chores.
John is the head of the family: he pays fees for the children and provides all the basic needs required by the family. Michelle is still young while Donald and Frank are now teenagers and need care from the parents. Parents need to monitor the behavior of their children in order to avoid unwarranted character change influenced by the environment.
Changing lifestyles and unhealthy eating habits are manifest in the life of John. Unhealthy eating and detrimental lifestyle changes have resulted in John’s weight gain. Weight gain led to psychological and physical challenges, which affects the family and stresses them. According to Nicolas et al. (2008), the unhealthy family setting is a concern for every member of the family. Apparently, irrespective of the support from the family and their mutual understanding, John becomes a cause of misery because of his behavior. Overweight and abuse of alcohol is a big threat to many people in contemporary societies.
Developmental Stages and Role of Families
A close look at the family reveals the one that is going through a number of developmental stages. It is evident that the family is in the stage of childbearing, preschool, and teenage. The stages are clear because the parents are childbearing and have three children. Consequently, the stages of school-going and teenage are practical from the children who have ages ranging from 6 to 16 years. The three children are school going and two of them are teenagers.
Fundamentally, parents should provide guidance to their children as they progress through the various stages of development. It is important to assert that the developmental stage of individuals affects the stability of their families (Miami-Dade County, 2013). In John’s case, the effects on the family are evident through the lack of parental love and affection to children particularly those in adolescent and teenage stages. The effectiveness of role performance in relation to previous developmental stages is low. A low scale of effectiveness transpired because of John’s behavior that espouses alcoholism and neglect.
School going children want more time for interaction. Association of Black Psychologists (2003) explains that parents should encourage their children to develop a good culture and help them lead to productive lifestyles. Families with teenagers have to provide mental and social support through interactive and open discussions that focus on figuring out the experiences of children. The discussions help children secure a successful future by pointing out their problems and supporting their interests.
Johns indulgence in alcohol has affected his children. The high effect on his children occurs because the children are young and need parental care and attention. The relevance of providing care and attention for children in adolescent and teenage stages is because the provision facilitates successful transition and prevents emotional challenges, which can affect them as they grow.
Nursing Diagnosis
Management of Diseases and Parental Challenges
A nursing diagnosis of the family facilitates the identification and management of various predispositions and ailments. Fundamentally, the drinking habit of John has led to a contraction of diabetes type 2. Besides the health state of John, the family also has a genetic predisposition. The predisposition concerns John’s wife, Leah who has a history of breast cancer. In effect, Leah’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 40, a condition that led to her untimely demise.
The condition is also apparent in Leah who contracted breast cancer in late 2013. The predisposition compounds the challenges faced by the family. On the other hand, the family ensured that they immunize their three children accordingly. Immunization against diseases such as polio, diphtheria, pneumonia, and mumps are some of the several immunizations that the family focuses on because their children are still young.
A short nursing care plan comprises regular visits to the hospital for checkups. John needs to visit the hospital regularly so that his weight is monitored and managed. Conversely, Leah has to ensure that management and control of cancer are systematic and up to the required standards.
The family has started experiencing challenges of juvenile delinquency linked to their firstborn, who has been engaging in crime within the neighborhood. The boy’s engagements emanate from the high rate of crime in the city and the drinking habit of his father. Due to his drinking habit, the father does not have time to monitor and train the young boy in line with the legal aspects of life. As such, the young boy who is 16 years learns from the activities that take place within the neighborhood. According to Nicolas et al. (2008), crime rates in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood are high, especially among the youth.
Consequently, the family has had regular cases of hospital admission particularly after John contracted diabetes. Moreover, Leah’s condition, which is hereditary, has increased her visits and admissions in the hospital. Besides her condition, she was once admitted to the hospital due to depression triggered by the events taking place in the family. The main hospital that provides healthcare to the family and other residents in the neighborhood is under the management of the health department of Miami-Dade County.
Decision-Making, Communication, and Discipline in the Family
Communication and decision-making in the family follow a format where John gives commands and directives that override all other decisions from the family members. After giving the directives, the wife and children have to comply and abide by every provision espoused in the directives. As a result, John is the sole decision-maker in the family. By being, the sole decision-maker in the family the wife has had to retain some ideas that would improve the overall state of the family.
This is because whenever she tries to present the ideas she receives unwarranted scorning and reprimanding from her husband. Miami-Dade County (2013) explains that communication among many African American families in Miami is ineffective. The unrealistic nature of communication prevalent in the family concerns the absence of consultation and involvement of family members. It is elementary to explain that the family has developed some kind of resentment towards John. The resentment transpires because the wife and the children feel that the decision-making process downplays their needs and expectations.
John’s drinking habit has elevated the rate of violence within the family. Presently, the rate of domestic violence in the family is on the rise. The belief held by John concerning the place of a woman in the family further increases the rate of violence in the family. Apparently, John believes that a woman has her main role in homemaking and child-rearing. As such, he does not accept advice or ideas that come from his wife or children.
In actual sense, the violence in the family transpires when the wife or children try to present ideas that they believe are good for the family. Whenever, there are instances of violence, the extended family that includes John’s father, Simon come together to admonish and advise him to refrain from issues of violence. Robbins, Briones, Schwartz, Dillon, and Mitrani (2006) elucidate that the extended African American families believe that consultation and family reprimand is the best and effective way of according discipline to those who perpetrate violence in families. However, on occasions that concern grave levels of violence, the family refers the case to county authorities for effective counseling and discipline.
Cultural and Religious Affiliations, Goals, and Crisis Management Plan
The health and social status of the family follow the provisions of Christianity. John’s family attends Mt. Olivette Baptist Church. Moreover, inherited cultural affiliations are also among the factors that influence the health and social state of the family. The essence of consultation and dialogue that the family follows during instances of violence is a provision championed by the Christian belief, which elevates the importance of dialogue in conflict resolution.
Some of the goals that the family expects to achieve overtime include advancing their children’s education and starting a business that will increase family revenue. The need to have an additional source of revenue is because the present state is devoid of an external source of support. The absence of an external source of income for the family leads to an overload on John who is the sole breadwinner. Moreover, the family believes that with an additional source of income, they will be in a position of addressing emergencies because presently, they do not have a functional emergency plan.
References
Association of Black Psychologists. (2003). Psychological treatment of ethnic minority populations. Washington: Association of Black Psychologists.
Miami-Dade County. (2013). Income & poverty in Miami-Dade County.RER planning research & economic analysis, 1(1), 1-52.
Nicolas, G., Helms, J., Jernigan, M., Sass, T., Skrzypek, A., & DeSilva, A. (2008). A conceptual framework for understanding the strengths of black youths. Journal of black psychology, 34(3), 261-28.
Robbins, M., Briones, E., Schwartz, S., Dillon, F., & Mitrani, V. (2006). Differences in family functioning in grandparent and parent-headed households in a clinical sample of drug-using African American adolescents. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 12(1), 84-100.