The Family

Department of Primary Care Medicine

University of Malaya

Madam Chan

• 60-year-old

• Left hemiparetic stroke

• Chronic diabetes on glibenclamide tablets

• Bilateral cataracts with poor vision

• Going to be discharged

What problems do you foresee?

Widow

Lives with son who has three children aged 12,15 and 17.

Son is an engineer.

Daughter-in-law is a teacher.

What is a family?

• The Family is a group of people who live together and are related through marriage, birth or adoption.

Family

• Basic unit of the society

• Primary unit of the society

• Biological unit of the society

• Cultural unit of the society

• Epidemiological unit of the society

FAMILY STRUCTURE

Consists of both parent’s and their children.

Nuclear Family

Children may be cared for by one parent for a number of reasons.- separation of parents, divorce, death of one parent , unmarried mothers, work commitments which means one parent may need to live away from home.

Lone/single Parent Families

Children are related through birth or adoption to one parent only.

Stepparent Families

In some cultures families may include grandparents and other close relatives.

Extended Families

The Stages in the Family Life cycle

FAMILY CYCLE

FAMILY IN HEALTH AND DISEASE

• Child rearing – Care and training of children

• Socialization– Regulation of sexual behaviour and

reproduction– Provides needs eg Economic, Recreation,

Protective, Religious, Education

• Personality formation– Shapes health beliefs and habits

ROLE OF FAMILY IN HEALTH AND ILLNESS

• Care of dependents/sick person- – to take over the role of the ill person when

he/she is no longer capable of performing– the family will offer remedies and advice– Regulates access to care– Grants or withholds the sick role– Provides needs of health care and

treatment– it will provide care until recovery and long

term support

Symbols

Male Female Sex Unknown Index Person Deceased

Married Living Together Conflict

Connector Divorced Separated Institutionalized Foster Child Adopted Twins

Draw this family’s genogram

• Encik Hanif, a 57-year-old man, comes to see you for treatment of hypertension. He is married and has 4 children. Of this, three are from his first marriage and they are Abdul, Bob and Che Tom. His fourth child, Dollah, is from his second marriage when he married Aminah following his first wife’s death 20 years ago.

• Abdul is married to Arina and they have one child, Amran. Bob is still single while Dollah was recently divorced from his wife. Che Tom has two children, Faiz and Fara. Her husband passed away in a road traffic accident.

Hanif, 57Aminah

Abdul Arina Bob Che Tom Dollah

Amran Faiz Fara

d. 1996