Gordon’s 11 functional health patterns is an analytic framework based on types of functional health patterns. Although not linked to any of the nursing theoretical model, this serves as a framework adaptable to all models that can be used as a tool for nursing diagnosis for individuals, families, or communities, and it is based on the assumption that health and wellness is the result of harmony between the body and the environment.
There are eleven patterns, and the nursing diagnosis is based on the principle that for each of these patterns, the nurse assesses the patient and the family by organizing the patterns of behaviour and physiological responses that relate to a particular functional health category. In this framework, these assessment data are then compared with the family’s baseline physiologic findings and with cultural, social, and religious practices, dietary guidelines, and healthcare practices.
The assessment of each of these 11 patterns actually represents the interaction of the patient or the family with the environment, and it has been termed as biophysical integration in the sense that no health patterns can be understood in a singular fashion without knowledge of the other associated patterns. Therefore, in this framework, description and evaluation of the family health patterns will assist the nurse in identifying functional and dysfunctional patterns, and these would help development of the nursing care plan for the family (Carpenito-Moyet, LJ. , 2005a).
This is essentially a framework of data collection focusing on the following 11 functional health patterns. These are Health Perception and/or Health Management Pattern, Nutritional and/or metabolic pattern, Elimination Pattern, Activity/Exercise Pattern, Cognitive/Perceptual Pattern, Sleep/Rest Pattern, Self-Perception and Self-Concept Pattern, Role/Relationship Pattern, Sexuality/Reproductive Pattern, Coping/Stress Tolerance Pattern, and Value/Belief Pattern.
Naturally, information clustered from these patterns would divulge information about the client’s habitual pattern and any recent changes in those patterns to determine the physiologic or pathologic significance of such changes (Allender, JN. , Spradley, BW. , 2004). Framework: Family Profile: Family consists of my mother, who is a 56-year-old female and myself, a 25-year-old female with average normal health. Development of Open-ended Questionnaire: 1. Health Perception/Health Management Pattern: How would you rate your present health in a scale 1 to 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best?
How would you rate your health 5 years ago in the same scale? Do you use tobacco, drugs, or alcohol? Do you understand about your health condition? Do you undergo health checkups, comply with medication regimen? Do you have daily exercises? 2. Nutritional/Metabolic Pattern: How would you rate your family’s dietary habits? What is the pattern of food and fluid consumption according to need? How would you rate your appetite? Have you noted any recent changes in body weight, or skin, hair, and nail textures? What are your height and weight?
Are you aware of the ideal body weight? 3. Elimination: What are your frequencies of bowel movements, voiding patterns, whether there are any recent changes in them? What are the appearances of urine or stool? Is there any pain on urination? 4. Activity/Exercise: What are the patterns of exercise, activity levels, leisure and recreation? 5. Cognitive/Perceptual: What is the status of vision, hearing, touch, smell, pain perception and response to pain? What are the language function, memory, and decision making? 6.
Sleep/Rest: How do you rate your quality and quantity of sleep, energy, sleep aids, and what are the routines that you use? 7. Self-perception/Self-concept: Rate your body comfort, body image, feelings, attitudes about self, perceptions about your abilities, and any recent changes in them in the same scale. 8. Role/Relationship: How would you rate your current major roles in the family, satisfaction with the family, work, or social relationships? 9. Sexuality/Reproductive: What are numbers of your pregnancies and child births? Do you have any difficulty in sexual functioning?
Rate your satisfaction with sexual relationships? 10. Coping/Stress Tolerance: How do you handle stress? What are your support systems? How would you rate your abilities to control or manage stressful situations? 11. Value/Belief: What are your religious affiliations? What do you perceive as most important in life? Do you have any special religious practices? Do you have any value-belief conflict about your health? (Carpenito-Moyet, LJ. , 2005b) Summary of Findings: Present health status is good with no obvious illness with regular health maintenance checkups.
The family is health conscious and follows primary care advice and medication regimens religiously. From 5 years ago, this has changed, but that may be due to age. They have daily exercises and they do not use tobacco, drugs, or alcohol. Diet consists of adequate fibers and fruits and less fatty foods with ample fluid intake with no apparent manifestations of nutritional imbalance. Elimination is normal except for last 2 days both of the family members are having frequent semisolid motions. Leisure and recreation are through television.
All the perceptual parameters are normal in the family, and mother takes all the major decisions. Sleep is normal, rest is adequate, but for over last one week, the mother’s sleep is inadequate, but she did not seek any help for this. The relationship in the family and society is self-contained, and both the family members are satisfied in the family. The older lady had only one pregnancy and one childbirth, the daughter, myself. None of the family members have any current sexual relationships, and they do not complain about that.
Stress tolerance happens between the mother and the daughter through discussion between them and the family members, and they cope well. They go to the county church every Sunday, but they do not have any special religious practices (Springhouse, 2002). Family Nursing Diagnosis and Wellness Diagnosis (Stolte, KM. , 1996):
- Situational change in bowel pattern for both the members indicating a common cause that needs to be addressed.
- Situational disturbed sleep pattern with risk of deprived sleep and associated disorders.
- Readiness of enhanced sexual function for the younger member of the family.
- Readiness for enhanced family coping due to loneliness of the mother due to daughter’s profession (Cole, S. , Comerford, KC. , Goldberg, K. , 2007).
Promotional Strategies: Family health promotion, family health prevention, and family symptom removal. Resources: Wellness programs, periodic health screenings and other promotional activities, health education topics, stress management courses, senior health fares. There is a list of web-based resources that may be helpful for the family at http://www. wellnessproposals. com/wellness_proposals_free_wellness_library. htm. with the heading, wellness proposal (Wellness Proposal). Conclusion: It is evident that Gordon’s framework can be a helpful and essential tool for making a family diagnosis, and this diagnosis can be used to make a care plan for the family as applicable to be the community, and the health promotional measures and resources can serve as positive tools for better health, may it be individual, family, or community.
Reference
- List Carpenito-Moyet, LJ. , (2005). Nursing diagnosis: Application to Clinical Practice. 12 th Ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia
- Carpenito-Moyet, LJ. , (2005). Understanding the Nursing Process: Concept Mapping and Care Planning for Students. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia
- Cole, S. , Comerford, KC. , Goldberg, K. , (2007). Nursing Care Planning Made Incredibly Easy! Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia.
- Springhouse, (2002). Illustrated manual of nursing practice.NLippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia.
- Stolte, KM. , (1996). Wellness Nursing Diagnosis for Health Promotion: Nursing Diagnosis for Health Promotion. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia.
- Allender, JN. , Spradley, BW. , (2004). Community Health Nursing: Promoting and Protecting the Public’s Health. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Philadelphia.
- Wellness Proposal. Accessed from http://www. wellnessproposals. com/wellness_proposals_free_wellness_library. htm. on July 8, 2008