The Family: A Healthcare Perspective
Introduction
Humans are social beings within various groups and networks. These connections 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’s Role in Healthcare
The family is 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. This approach acknowledges the diverse relationships within families.
It’s important to consider the family’s influence in work, education, and emotional aspects of life, as these areas constantly exchange information.
Defining Family
Defining family can be complex. Many Western definitions are based on models of monogamy, procreation, uniqueness, and stability.
“The family is a procreative core that generates basic kinship relations.”
“The family is an organization of production, consumption, relationships, and affective ties. It addresses needs, socialization, ideological, cultural, economic, and locational references, reproduction, and protection.”
The family is a dynamic and adaptable organization that evolves with the social context. The human family is the primary and most basic group, with key functions including:
- Enculturation
- Regulation
- Healthcare
“…a group of people related by blood, adoption, or marriage, generally limited by the head of the family, their spouse, and unmarried children living with them…” (UN)
“…any biopsychosocial unit comprising a variable number of individuals and groups that carry out activities related to intercourse, reproduction, education, and livelihood.”
- The fundamental source of care for its members
- The power of self-care education
- The source of social support
- The home (physical space where the family lives) is where most health problems are addressed informally, without resorting to medical services.
Justification for Family-Centered Healthcare
- Family health determines community health; promoting family health promotes community health.
- Social changes affect family functions, creating new needs (e.g., working women have less time for children or elderly family members).
- The family is a core generator of habits (human personality develops through socialization within different groups).
- The family is an open system and functions as a unit (any issue affecting one member affects all others).
Current Sociological Trends in Families
- Children live with their parents longer.
- Extended adolescence prolongs dependence on family while pursuing education.
- Engaged couples live with parents longer.
- Childless couples (empty nesters) experience longer life stages.
- Women’s integration into adulthood is not solely through marriage and motherhood due to increased workplace participation.
- Cohabitation among young people is an alternative to marriage.
- Marriage breakdown leads to single-person and single-parent households.
- Institutions like foster care, home help, and nursing homes support families in critical situations.
- The elderly remain at home longer than in traditional societies.
Family Dysfunction
- Inability of a family to solve problems, often due to changes in family structure.
- Common characteristics:
- Confusion of parental roles.
- Conflicts due to external pressures or internal relationship issues.
- Resistance to change.
- Scapegoating one family member.
- Continuous threat of separation by a member.
Families Needing Specialized Help
- Families in the process of dissolution
- Families with young offenders
- Families with parents who abuse their children
- Families with drug-addicted members
- Families with suicidal members
- Families with children with disabilities
- Families with members with psychosomatic illnesses
Managing Psychological Problems
Emotional Reactions of Patients and Caregivers
Avoid overprotection.
Caregiver “conspiracy of silence.”
Patient “loneliness and isolation” and difficulty expressing feelings.