A family is a unit where individuals closely communicate with each other and influence the health of each other. It is important to provide families with information concerning their health and the ways they can improve it, as families form the society. Collective health begins at home, and a nurse can become a medium between the family and the society, explaining the importance of different health strategies to the family members.
There are different principle-based approaches that are able to improve family health. According to the first perspective, a larger context should be considered when planning health promotion programming. It means that a family should be regarded as an entry point for collective health. Second, the importance of family health for policy and funding decisions should be considered. Third, it is important to explain to the members of the families that they can influence collective health greatly (Barnes et al., 2020). Thus, some approaches are aimed at promoting the family members’ awareness about the importance of their health, as family health influences the overall society.
The ways of improving family health also should include not only informing people about the importance of their health, but also some measures that the family members should follow. According to the Australian Government Department of Health (n.d.), health promotion strategies should include such activities as breastfeeding, promoting physical activity, and preventing injuries. Besides, the list of such activities includes smoking cessation programs, preventing SIDS, and promoting early literacy. A nurse can also play an important role in the process, explaining the importance of the abovementioned activities. As Hanson et al. (2019) put it, the visits of the nurses in the framework of the Nurse-Family Partnership program help to improve maternal and child health. A nurse can analyze the gaps in the lifestyle of the family members and based on the knowledge about their diseases recommend certain strategies that could improve the situation.
References
Australian Government Department of Health (n.d.). Health Promotion. Web.
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, 57
Hanson C.L., Crandall A., Barnes M.D., Magnusson B., Lelinneth M., Novilla B., King J. (2019). Family-Focused public health: Supporting homes and families in policy and practice. Front Public Health, 7(59). Web.