Family Assessment Part II
Social determinates of health (SDOH) are described as the conditions in which individuals are born, live, play, work, learn, worship, and age that affect function, health, and quality of life (QoL). SDOHs are classified into five broad areas: health and health care, education, social and community context, economic stability, and neighborhood and built environment (Clements, 2018). In the previous assignment, a family assessment was conducted on Family Y, an African-American lower-middle-class family. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the SDOH associated with the family’s health status, propose age-appropriate screening strategies for the family members, and explore a health model that can be used in a plan of action.
SDOH That Affects the Family Health Status
The SDOHs that affect Family Y’s health status include education, economic stability, health and health care, and neighborhood. All the family members have reached high school education and above, which enables them to understand the importance of healthy lifestyle practices and the consequences of unhealthy habits. Zajacova and Lawrence (2018) explain that individuals who have attained a higher educational level live healthier and longer lives than those with less education. Besides, people with low education levels are likely to engage in unhealthy habits like tobacco smoking, unhealthy dietary habits, and lack of physical exercise.
Due to the high education levels in the family, the members were able to get income opportunities that enabled them to purchase private medical insurance and consequently access healthcare services, including specialized services. Zajacova and Lawrence (2018) assert that education contributes to better, more stable sources of income that bring higher income and enable families to build wealth that is used to enhance their health. Furthermore, the family lives in a safe neighborhood with access to adequate clean water, healthy foods, healthcare facilities, and transportation options. This has significantly impacted the family’s health since they are free from water-borne and water-wash diseases. Besides, access to healthy foods reduces the intake of junk foods which lowers the risk of lifestyle diseases (Clements, 2018). Lastly, the access to healthcare facilities has enabled the family to obtain essential and specialized healthcare services, which improves their health.
Age-Appropriate Screenings for Each Family Member
Family Y members are at risk of chronic illnesses contributed by risk factors such as a family history of diabetes and hypertension, and race. Therefore, age-appropriate screenings are vital to helping identify chronic diseases at an early stage and take appropriate interventions to treat them or delay their progress. Appropriate screenings for Mr. Y (62 years with controlled Type 2 Diabetes and hypertension) include colorectal cancer screening,
The United States Preventive Services Taskforce (USPSTF) recommends screening for colorectal cancer in adults aged 45 to 75 years (USPSTF, n.d.). Cholesterol screening is also needed since he is at risk of heart disease. An annual eye and foot exam are also recommended due to the risk of cataracts and diabetic foot ulcer.
Age-appropriate screenings for Mrs. Y (59 years) include blood pressure, blood sugar, colorectal cancer, cholesterol, cervical cancer, and mammography screening. The USPSTF recommends screening hypertension from 18 years and diabetes from 35 years. In addition, it recommends cervical cancer screening in women 30-65 years, including three-yearly with cervical cytology alone and five-yearly with high-risk HPV testing alone (USPSTF, n.d.). The USPSTF further recommends biennial screening mammography for females 50 to 74 years. The recommended screening for the daughters (35, 32, and 28 years) includes blood pressure, blood sugar, monthly self-breast exam, biannual dental check-ups, and cervical cancer screening. The appropriate cervical cancer screening for the 28-year-old as per the USPSTF recommendations is three-yearly cervical cytology alone (USPSTF, n.d.). Furthermore, recommended screenings for the son (23 years) include blood pressure and biannual dental check-ups.
Health Model
The Health Belief Model (HBM) was selected to help develop a plan of action. HBM predicts and explains changes in people’s health and lifestyle behaviors. In addition, HBM has explained the core elements influencing health behaviors, including perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers to action, cues to action, and self-efficacy (Bechard et al., 2021). These elements emphasize individuals’ beliefs about health and diseases, influencing health behaviors. HBM is the ideal health model for Family Y since it can help predict the health behaviors among the family members. Furthermore, the model can give insight into how the members’ beliefs about disease and health impact their lifestyle practices (Bechard et al., 2021). For example, Mrs.Y and the children recognize they are susceptible to developing lifestyle diseases since Mr. Y had diabetes and hypertension. Consequently, they have adopted healthy lifestyle practices like regular physical exercise and healthy dietary habits, which they perceive to be beneficial in lowering the risk of diseases.
Steps for a Family-Centered Health Promotion
The HBM can be applied to family health promotion by first performing a needs assessment to identify the family’s health needs. Besides, the assessment is essential in determining the health risks prevalent among the family members. The next step in health promotion using the HBM is to assess whether the family members believe that they are at risk of any diseases based on the health risks and how they regard them as being severe enough to affect their health (Bechard et al., 2021). The third step is to inquire about the interventions taken by the family to mitigate the health risks, their view on how they will benefit their health, and the barriers limiting them from effectively implementing the interventions. Additional interventions that can help mitigate the health risks should also be provided at this step.
The family should be assisted in identifying approaches to eliminate these barriers to achieve the desired outcome. Communication strategies during the health promotion include involving all the family members by allowing each member to participate in the discussion (Barnes et al., 2020). Furthermore, the provider should acknowledge the family’s rights and privacy and its need for independence in performing their responsibilities.
Conclusion
The SDOH that impacts Family Y’s health status includes high education levels, income, health insurance, healthcare facilities, a safe neighborhood, and access to safe water and healthy foods. The recommended screenings include blood pressure, blood sugar cholesterol, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, mammography, self-breast exam, and dental check-ups. The HBM is applied in health promotion and disease prevention programs since it helps better understand individuals’ health behaviors.
Family Assessment Part II References
Barnes, M. D., Hanson, C. L., Novilla, L. B., Magnusson, B. M., Crandall, A. C., & Bradford, G. (2020). Family-Centered Health Promotion: Perspectives for Engaging Families and Achieving Better Health Outcomes. Inquiry: a journal of medical care organization, provision, and financing, 57, 46958020923537. https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958020923537
Bechard, L. E., Bergelt, M., Neudorf, B., DeSouza, T. C., & Middleton, L. E. (2021). Using the Health Belief Model to understand age differences in perceptions and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 1216. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.609893
Clements, D. S. (2018). Social determinants of health in family medicine residency education. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2211
United States Preventive Services Taskforce. (n.d.). A and B recommendations | United States preventive services Taskforce. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation-topics/uspstf-and-b-recommendations
Zajacova, A., & Lawrence, E. M. (2018). The Relationship Between Education and Health: Reducing Disparities Through a Contextual Approach. Annual review of public health, 39, 273–289. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044628
