This paper discusses primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention interventions for a particular family. Family-based interventions have become an effective method of medical treatment recently (Jiménez et al., 2019). The social unit identified for this paper is a nuclear family of three: the mother, the father, and a 3-year-old child. The father suffers from tobacco addiction and currently is at high risk of obtaining chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this case, the appropriate nursing intervention on the primary level is health promotion in order to prevent the disease from occurring (Friedman et al., 2003). At this stage, the nurse’s main goal is to explain the family’s responsibilities to its adult members, emphasizing their child’s health to attain proper health goals and encourage the father to quit smoking. Then, the intervention required on the secondary level of prevention is conducting screening assessments (Friedman et al., 2003). The father is at risk but has not obtained COPD yet, meaning that an evaluation of his current condition is required to identify the measures for dealing with the consequences of tobacco consumption.
As the second adult in the family, the mother should be involved in all the prevention stages, helping the father accept the necessity to stop smoking and providing general support. The final intervention on the tertiary level refers to supporting the family during the rehabilitation process (Friedman et al., 2003). Recovering from an addiction is often challenging, which is why combined efforts of the nurse and family members (the mother, in this case) are required for the prevention to succeed. The most appropriate theory for this family would be Nightingale’s environmental model, which emphasizes the significance of environmental factors in health (Friedman et al., 2003). The nurse who follows this theory during the intervention should care for the whole family unit within the home environment. In other words, the nurse aims to help the father deal with the addiction issues and takes measures to ensure the entire family’s safety.
References
Friedman, M. M., Bowden, V. R., & Jones, E. G. (2003). Family nursing: Research, theory, and practice (5th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Jiménez, L., Hidalgo, V., Baena, S., León, A., & Lorence, B. (2019). Effectiveness of structural-strategic family therapy in the treatment of adolescents with mental health problems and their families. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(7), 1255. Web.