Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page
OpenStax Logo
Population Health for Nurses

Chapter Summary

Population Health for NursesChapter Summary

Chapter Summary

28.1 Family as Client

Everyone has their own definition of family. Whatever that definition, the nurse must work with the family and their dynamics. Regardless of the structure, families share certain common functions and characteristics. The functions and characteristics of the family can and will affect the health of the individual. Nurses must educate families on self-care, health promotion, and disease prevention.

28.2 Frameworks of Practice

Families go through life cycles, from starting a family to growing old. Each family may go through certain developmental tasks at their own pace. Nurses need to differentiate these tasks to formulate a holistic perspective on the family. Certain frameworks and theories help guide nurses in caring for families and help nurses understand how these familes operate as a social system. These include the socioecological framework, the transactional model, general systems theory, the Calgary Family Assessment model, and the Calgary Family Intervention model.

28.3 Family Health Nursing

In family health nursing, the nurse focuses on viewing the “client” as one unit or group of people. Family health nurses work in a variety of settings such as home care agencies; local, state, or national agencies or organization; or hospital systems. Family health reflects the family’s ability to meet each family member’s physical, psychological, spiritual, safety, economic, emotional, and intellectual needs. A family’s ability to meet these needs is affected by the SDOH.

28.4 Conducting a Family Nursing Assessment

A family health assessment is a systemized process of collecting and organizing data nurses may use to determine a family’s strengths and areas of concern. Nurses gather information through interviews with the family and observation of the family’s environment and by collecting community data. Specific tools, including ecomaps and genograms, can help nurses conduct family assessments, and it may take more than one interview to collect the necessary data. Once the nurse conducts the family health assessment, they must formulate a nursing care plan that includes assessment, diagnosis, planning, and evaluation.

28.5 Family Violence

Families may experience developmental or situational crises. Families may also experience IPV, abuse, and/or neglect. Nurses must understand the different types of abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological) and their signs and symptoms. Nurses have an ethical role in preventing and intervening in any abuse. Nurses can implement strategies at all levels to help families that are in crisis and prevent abuse and neglect.

PreviousNext
Order a print copy
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/population-health/pages/1-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/population-health/pages/1-introduction

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Apr 23, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.