MIDTERM (SLIDES) Flashcards
What is the Historical Definition of Family?
People connected through blood, marriage, adoption. Standard nuclear family
What is the new perspective of family?
“Family is who they say they are”
People who are bound by strong emotional ties and have a passion for being involved in one another’s lives
Family Types (8)
Blended family
* Extended family
* Childless couple
* Single (lone) parent family
* Step family
* Traditional nuclear family
* Same sex family
* Adopted/ foster family
Examples of Family Diversity in Canada
Family size is shrinking
Less couples are getting married
Marriage is happening later in life
Number of same sex couples has increased
Single parent families have increased (8/10 are led by women)
The number of multi generational households has grown significantly
Cultural diversity
What is the family systems theory?
The entire family system shifts in response to a stressor; problems are due to relationship dynamics and reciprocal interactions b/t family members
Which person in a family is most vulnerable for developing physical /mental illness?
The person who takes on the brunt of the responsibility of dealing with familial distress
Impact of divorce on the family system:
- role changes: compensation
- stressors: less time, money, and energy
- parental conflict: transfers anxiety onto children; creates imbalance in fam system
- boundaries: may become more permeable
- triangulation: alliances may shift
Role of the RPN (fst):
- recognize that illness and suffering in one member will impact entire unit
- help families identify dysfunctional patterns
- help families identify how the stressor is impacting each member and whole system
- recognize that family roles and rituals can change during times of illness
- recognize that family communication patterns will change
- acknowledge that our goal is to help rebuild stability and strengths as a family system
Key concepts of FST:
- relationships and interconnectedness b/t systems
- each family viewed as unit, rather than individuals
- system is greater than sum of individuals
- family system is always trying to maintain stability
- a significant event or change in 1 fam member will impact entire unit
- boundaries b/t fam and environment
- family relationships are not linear but circular
What is Bowen’s theory of self differentiation?
the process and ability of differentiating from family in order to be yourself; having differences from family members while still remaining emotionally connected
What are Bowen’s 8 concepts?
- differentiation of self
- triangulation
- nuclear family emotional process
- family projection process
- multigenerational transmission process
- sibling position
- emotional cut off
- emotional process in society
Two perspectives of differentiation:
- interpersonal: one’s ability to differentiate from family; own identity, opinions
- intrapsychically: separation of emotions from rationality
What is Bowen’s concept of differentiation?
- people well differentiated can recognize dependence, remain connected, but don’t get ‘caught up’ in other’s emotions (emotionally autonomous)
- well differentiated: means you have the ability to see yourself as distinct and separate in terms of thoughts/feelings of others
- well differentiated ppl have healthy boundaries
Outcomes of being well-differentiated:
- lower risk of MH issues
- make decisions rationally
- less impacted by other’s emotions, but still care
- more adaptable/flexible under stress
- maintain clear emotional boundaries
Outcomes of being poorly differentiated:
- fusion
- rely on acceptance and approval of others
- more emotionally reactive
- cope poorly w/ stress
- higher risk of MH issues
- become ‘fixers’, ‘people pleasers’
What is fusion?
people form intense relationships with others and their actions depend largely on the condition of the relationships at any given time; needs become ‘one’, yet one person’s needs are always prioritized over the other
What is Bowen’s concept of triangulation?
- when two people attempt to reduce or divert conflict/tension, they will pull in a third person to “absorb” it
- more common w/ poorly differentiated people
- temporary fix; doesn’t actually resolve the root problem
- Bowen believed the most important triangle was between child and parents
What is Bowen’s concept of nuclear family emotional process?
- refers to how families cope w/ increasing tension based on lvl of differentiation
- four patterns exist to ease anxiety and balance equilibrium
- can lead to triangulation
What are the four patterns of the nuclear family emotional process?
- emotional distance b/t couple (avoid tension)
- dysfunction in one spouse
- projection of parental anxiety onto a child
- marital conflict (couple takes out anxiety on one another)
What is Bowen’s concept of the family projection process?
- the primary way parents transmist their emotional fears onto child
- parent is afraid something is wrong w/ their child
- often results from poorly differentiated parents
- the child can also become poorly differentiated
What are the three steps parents will project their emotional fears onto their child? (family projection process)
- parent focuses on a child out of fear that smthn is wrong w/ child
- parent interprets child’s behaviour as confirmation of the fear
- parent will treat child as if smthn is really wrong with them
What is the multigenerational transmission process?
- families repeat and pass on patterns thru generations
- in each gen, child who is most involved in family’s fusion moves towards a lower lvl of self differentiation
- people select mates w/ similar differentiation
What is Bowen’s concept of emotional cut off?
- extreme response to family projection process
- complete separation from family of origin to reduce tension
- greater emotional fusion = greater likelihood of cut off
- can be physical or emotional separation
What is a consequence of emotional cut off?
People are more likely to repeat the emotional and behavioural patterns they were taught in future relationships
What is Bowen’s concept of sibling position?
- the order in which you were born predicts certain characteristics
- Bowen was interested in the impact on families when birth order traits don’t fit w/ what is expected
In the concept of sibling position, what are the characteristics that each sibling will ideally adopt?
- oldest children: more responsible, conscientious, ‘leaders’
- middle children: more social, peacemaker, caretaker
- youngest: free spirited, creative, more extroverted
What is Bowen’s concept of societal emotional process?
- how societal factors can influence family functioning, vice versa
- Bowen predicted that society goes thru periods of regression, creates anxiety for families
- ex; society encourages parents to be overprotective –> less independence and coping skills
What is a family life cycle?
- typical path that most families go through at expected times
- r/t arrival/departure of members (birth/death), couple unions, separations, raising and launching of children
How is stress created/resolved in the family life cycle?
- transitions create stress; disequilibrium occurs
- achieving developmental tasks helps individual fam members to realize their own tasks
Developmental and Family Life Cycle Theory:
- families develop and change over time,
- families experience transitions from one stage to another
- sx develops from unresolved adjustment to life cycle task
What are the stages of family life cycle?
- beginning families (married couple w/o children)
- childbearing families (oldest child: birth - 30 months)
- families w/ preschool children (oldest child: 2 1/2 - 6 yrs)
- families w/ school children (oldest child: 6-13 yrs)
- families w/ teens (oldest child: 13-20)
- families as launching centers (first child to last child leaving home)
- families in middle years (empty nest to retirement)
- aging families (retirement, death)
What are the developmental tasks/challenges of beginning families (new couple)?
- commitment to a new system
- formation of a marital system
- realignment of relationships w/ extended families and friends to include spouse
What are the developmental tasks/challenges of families with young children?
- accepting new members into the system
- adjusting to make space for children
- joining in child rearing, financial and household tasks
- realignment of relationships w/ extended family
What are the developmental tasks/challenges of families w/ teens?
- increasing flexibility of boundaries
- grandparents aging: beginning shift toward joint caring for older gen
- shifting of parent child relationships to permit teen to move in/out of system
- refocus on midlife marital and career issues
What are the developmental tasks/challenges at the launching stage?
- renegotiation of marital system as a dyad
- development of adult - adult relationships bt parent/child
- realignment of relationships to include in-laws and grandchildren
- dealing with disabilities and death of grandparents
What are the developmental tasks/challenges of aging families?
- accepting the shift of generational roles
- maintaining own and/or couple functioning and interests in the presence of psychological decline; exploration of new familial and social role options
- support for a more central role of middle gen
- making room in system for wisdom and experience of the elderly, supporting older gen
- dealing w/ loss of spouse, siblings, and other peers and prep for own death
What are some variable that impact the developmental life cycle model?
- adopted families
- low income families
- religion
- ethnicity
- blended families
The impact of divorce on the family life cycle:
- making decision to end relationship, separate ties
- acceptance of unsuccessful marriage
- working on issues: dividing assets, finances, custody, visitation
- dealing w/ extended fam and friends
- grieving loss
- adapting to separate lives
- managing emotions such as hurt, anger, guilt, etc
How can the RPN use the developmental life cycle model?
- identify which stage fam is at
- the nurse can anticipate what challenges the fam might be facing
- the nurse can see which tasks are not being accomplished
- nurse recognizes that each member has individual developmental goals, and different tasks
- nurse can help fam adjust to transitions
What is Olson’s Circumplex Model of Family Dynamics?
- looks at two main aspects of fam functioning
- suggests that balanced levels of cohesion and flexibility help functioning
What is flexibility/adaptability in Olson’s Circumplex Model of Family Dynamics?
- the degree to which the family can change and adapt to new situations or challenges
- looks at who makes the decisions or rules
- dysfunctional families have less adaptability
- chaotic, flexible, structured, rigid
- flexible, structured considered to be balanced
What is cohesion in Olson’s Circumplex Model of Family Dynamics?
- degree of emotional relational closeness among fam members
- dysfunctional families are overly enmeshed; loyalty valued over autonomy
- disengaged, separated, connected, enmeshed
- separated, connected considered to be balanced
Balanced families (Olson):
- adaptability scale: structured or flexible
- cohesion scale: separated or connected
Unbalanced families (Olson):
- adaptability scale: chaotic or rigid
- cohesion scale: disengaged or enmeshed
What is the goal of therapy using the Circumplex model?
- move families into a place of balance within each domain by improving their communication skills
What are the levels of flexibility in Olson’s Circumplex Model?
- chaotic
- flexible
- structured
- rigid
What are the levels of cohesion in Olson’s Circumplex Model?
- disengaged
- separated
- connected
- enmeshed
What are the concepts of cohesion in Olson’s circumplex model?
- I - We balance
- closeness
- loyalty
- independence/dependence
What are the three main categories of the CFAM model?
- structural
- developmental
- functional
- you do not need to assess all categories in 1st session
Who created the CFAM model?
Lorraine Wright and Maureen Lahey (1984)
What three subcategories make up the structural category of CFAM?
- internal
- external
- context
What three subcategories make up the developmental category of CFAM?
- stages
- tasks
- attachments
What are the two subcategories of functional category in CFAM?
- instrumental
- expressive
What falls under the internal (structural) subcategory of CFAM?
- family composition: anyone who feels they are a part of the family
- gender/sexual orientation: beliefs about male/female behaviour
- rank order (birth order and gender)
- subsystem: can highlight family’s level of differentiation
- boundary: what separates family/individual from those outside family system?
Types of boundaries:
Rigid: can lead to disengagement and social isolation
Diffuse: lead to poor differentiation w/i family
Can ask: who do you turn to outside the family when things get tough for you?
What falls under the external (structural) subcategory of CFAM?
- extended family
- larger systems: larger social system and community outside of family system
Can ask: what agencies are involved w/ your family? What are your community supports?
- Eco map is a good tool to gather this information
What falls under the context (structural) subcategory of CFAM?
- ethnicity
- race
- social class
- religion
- environment
What is the purpose of a genogram?
- visual representation of family members, ages, relationships, attachments, deaths, illnesses
- depict multigenerational patterns + health conditions
- helps clinician engage w/ family and begin therapeutic rapport
- identify immediate family, inclusion of pets and non blood kin
What is an ecomap?
- a visual representation of the family’s relationships with others outside of the immediate family system
- uses symbols to express strengths of connections and supports between family and larger system
- straight lines indicate strong connections
- dotted lines indicate tenuous connection
- wavy lines indicate stressful connections
- the wider the line. the stronger the bond
What falls under the instrumental- functional subcategory of CFAM?
- activities of daily living; routines
What falls under the expressive (functional) subcategory of CFAM?
- when families are not coping w/ instrumental issues, expressive issues are often present
- emotional communication
- verbal communication
- non verbal communication
- circular communication
- problem solving
- roles
- influence/power
- beliefs
- alliances/coalitions
What is role strain:
- occurs when family members are put in situations where they lack role knowledge or experience
What is role conflict?
- occurs when there are conflicting demands/expectations between two roles held by the same person
- performance of one role impacts performance of the other
What is role overload?
When one person has too many roles and they lack resources, time, and energy to meet those demands
What is influence (functional - expressive)?
- who has the power in the house?
What are beliefs (functional - expressive)
fundamental ideas, opinions, and assumptions held by the individuals and the family system
What are alliances/coalitions? (functional - expressive)
the intensity of the relationships between family members (e.g. triangulation)
How would you assess family strengths/resilience?
- ability to perform roles flexibly
- ability to be sensitive to the needs of all members
- ability to communicate thoughts and feelings effectively and respectfully
- ability to meet physical, emotional, spiritual needs of family members
- ability to use crisis experience as means of growth
- ability to accept help when appropriate
Nursing diagnoses you could use:
- variance in roles w/ family and significant other
- variance in relationships w/ fam and SOs
- variance in communication patterns
- variance in family coping
- variance in support structures
The role of the family nurse is to:
- assess, maintain, and regain the highest level of family health possible by promoting health within the entire family unit
- health promotion is learned within fams; patterns of health behaviours passed on to next generation
Nursing interventions:
- regain equilibrium by:
- removing barriers to needed resources
- providing education about illness/tx
- facilitating therapeutic conversations about impact of illness on fam
- empowering family members by recognizing and building on their strengths and promoting areas of resilience
- providing support to caregivers
- identifying unhealthy patterns in relationships, roles, functioning
- recognize family values/beliefs that may have negative impact
- engaging with families in therapeutic, non judgemental manner
What is mental illness?
- health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, or behaviour
- associated w/ distress and/or problems functioning in social, work, or family activities
What is mental health?
- a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make contributions
- means more than the absence of illness
- we all experience varying degrees of mental health
Mental health is on a:
wellness-illness continuum
healthy –> reacting –> injured –> ill
Concept of recovery:
- not meant to imply a cure, but rather refers to a return to functioning
- the illness is not the central focus
Four aspects of recovery:
- finding and maintaining hope
- finding a new identity w/ positive sense of self
- taking responsibility for one’s life
- finding meaning in life despite
family systems perspective:
- mental illness in one family member will impact the entire family unit
- being diagnosed w/ a mental illness can trigger crisis for family system
- when family is in disequilibrium leads to changes in routines, communication patterns, roles and relationships in an attempt to adapt and create new sense of stability
Common themes for families living w/ mental illness:
- feelings of grief/loss
- anxiety/fear about ill family members ability to cope
- fear and confusion about how to manage their ill loved one’s behaviours
- lack of hope for future
- lack of knowledge about the illness
- social isolation/stigma of mental illness
- lack of access to resources or fear of using them
- role changes within the family
- lack of control around the decision surrounding the ill family member’s care
What is chronic sorrow?
- chronic sorrow is a form of grief that describes long term periodic sadness that parents and caregivers feel from ongoing experience of loss
- grieving their once healthy child
- periods of satisfaction and happiness
- considered normal, but can lead to depression if left untx
What is chronic sorrow triggered by?
a situation or event where there is ongoing disappointment, a loss of hope for the future and no predictable end