Family Dynamics and Healthcare: A Comprehensive Guide
Family: The Basic Unit of Society
Man is a social being connected within various groups and networks. These relationships maintain social identity, provide material aid, services, and information. The family is the basic care unit of society, a structure that has undergone significant changes in recent years.
The family represents the link between the individual and their community. A family-centered healthcare approach focuses on the relationships between family members, treating the family as a whole and acknowledging the diverse relationships within it.
It’s important to remember that family members also participate in workplaces, educational settings, and emotional spheres, constantly exchanging information.
Defining Family
Is defining family simple? Many definitions rely on the Western model (monogamy, procreation, exclusivity, stability, etc.).
“The family is a procreative core that generates basic kinship relationships.”
“The family is an organization of production, consumption, and relationships based on primary affective bonds, satisfaction, ideology, socialization, culture, economics, location, reproduction, or protection.”
The family is a dynamic and adaptable organization, evolving alongside the social context.
The human family is the fundamental and most basic group.
Family Functions
- Enculturative
- Regulatory
- Healthcare
“…a group of people related by household, blood, marriage, or adoption, generally limited to a family, their spouse, and unmarried children living with them…” (UN)
“…a biopsychosocial unit composed of a variable number of people, functioning as a group that fulfills vital functions such as sexual intercourse, reproduction, education, and sustenance.”
- The primary source of care for its members
- The source of self-management education
- The source of socialization support
- The home (the physical space where the family lives) is where most health problems are addressed informally, without recourse to medical services.
Current Sociological Trends in Families
- Children tend to live with their parents until adulthood.
- Extended adolescence and youth prolong dependence on family while pursuing education.
- Young couples may delay marriage but continue living with parents.
- Longer life stages with couples living in empty-nest households.
- Women’s integration into adult life is no longer solely through marriage and motherhood due to full workplace integration.
- Increased cohabitation among young people as an alternative to formal marriage.
- Marital breakdown leads to single-person and single-parent households.
- Institutions like substitute families, foster care, home help, and nursing homes provide support in critical situations.
- Elderly individuals remain at home as long as possible.
Family Dysfunction
- Inability of a family to solve problems, often due to changes in family structure.
- Common characteristics:
- Failure in parental roles and role confusion.
- Conflicts due to environmental pressures or inappropriate relationships among members.
- Resistance to change.
- Presence of a “scapegoat” for family problems.
- Continuous threat of separation by a family member.
Families Requiring Specialized Help (Rücker and Stierli)
- Families in the process of dissolution
- Families with young offenders
- Families with parents who abuse their children
- Families with drug-addicted members
- Families with a history of suicide attempts
- Families with children with physical or mental disabilities
- Families with members with psychosomatic illnesses
Managing Psychological Problems (Patient and Caregiver Emotional Reactions)
Avoid:
“Conspiracy of Silence” among caregivers
“Loneliness and isolation” of the ill person due to unexpressed feelings
Skills Training
Complex Care Considerations
What to do instead of what not to do
Stress Reduction
Overload is the subjective emotional response (stress) of the caregiver to the objective demands associated with caregiving.
Offer services to provide:
- Free time
- Maintenance of social life
- Job maintenance. Don’t just provide care services.
Consider:
Restructuring of care responsibilities by sex, age, etc.
Restructuring of care responsibilities by sex, age, etc.