Families come in all shapes and sizes, and the definition of what constitutes a family has evolved over time. Traditional families consist of a mother and father who have children and raise them in the same household. There is no such thing as a typical family in today’s society. The most recent word is “family of choice,” which refers to someone who prefers to care for, support, and value their family of origin over their biological family (Grand Canyon University, 2018).Family includes societal units such as LGBTQ people, grandparents raising children, stepparents, and even friendships.As nurses, we must ensure that we honor all families, regardless of their sort, in order to provide care to our patients. Working with modern families is important in patient care.It is important to ensure that there are no differences in the form or standard of treatment provided to patients.
Bowen’s family systems theory states that each person or subsystem of a family unit or system affects other sections of the system; as a result, an individual cannot be examined in isolation from the family, and an individual can only be understood through studying or recognizing the family’s complexity and emotions. Each family member is considered a subsystem of the family unit, and when one subsystem changes, the other subsystems respond and adjust in order to maintain a stable unit (Yoder et al., 2016).A nurse applying the family systems principle to health promotion will know that if one person changes their health habits, whether for the better or for the worse, the rest of the family would be affected and would likely follow suit. As a result, both the patient’s family and the nurse must view patient care and health promotion as a whole family education strategy. The nurse will obtain a deeper understanding of how to best handle the problem at hand and what expectations are achievable to set for the patient and family members by interacting with the whole family.
