World Health Organization (WHO) defines family health as “a positive dynamic interaction between family members which enables each and every member of the family to experience optimal physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being whether disease or infirmity is present or not”. Robert Wood Foundation explains family, community, school, and place of employment create circumstances where health begins (2021, p 7)
The concept of family health is a very important part of maintaining and improving the health of the individual and community. As the family is the foundation of the health of the community, the improvement in one unit will reflect on the other. The concept may be defined as a state of positive interaction between family members that enables each member of the family to enjoy optimum physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.
Health promotion is the concept to improve the health of the people and it is based on the prevention of diseases, by improving community health, disease burdens can be minimized or eliminated.
The strategies used for health promotion include: Health Communication, Health Education, and Policy change
Health Communication: is the use of communication strategies to initiate and influence the decisions of the individual to enhance health. It includes verbal and written strategies and allows one to make healthier choices, it utilizes language and concepts based on culture, internet access, mass media, etc., to convey health-related information. It can influence community health in many ways like increasing risk perception, reinforcing positive behaviors, and empowering health conditions.
Health Education: is one of the most important strategies for developing and implementing health promotion and disease prevention policies and programs. Health education can provide learning experiences for a target population on specific health topics. The most common health education methods include lectures, seminars, and classes. For example primary prevention of diseases like HIV, Hepatitis C, and B, by educating drug users to avoid sharing needles, sexual education starting at the preparatory school level. Educating about healthy eating habits to help fight obesity and obesity-related diseases.
Policy Changes: are designed with sustainability in mind and are targeted at promoting healthy behaviors. Policy Change is made by organizations, agencies, and stakeholders to improve health. Examples are policies for smoke-free zones and public events and fat tax on junk foods.
The family is the oldest institution existing in society and it is the fundamental aspect of humanity. Strategies that can be used to change family towards good health practices is forming new methods of interacting and putting more emphasis on changing cognitive, affective, all behavioral domains of family functioning, as families’ view and approach towards each other change their behavior and health problems will change, actions taken to challenge family beliefs towards behavioral events having an impact on decreasing or eliminating physical, emotional symptoms and suffering (Watson, Bell & Wright,1992) In the family health promotion model, the healthcare interventions are planned based on the maximum potential of the family’s capacities and aimed at promoting the development, management, and sustainability. Nurses consider family as a system and each member as a distinct unit. Disruption in harmony can occur as a result of the change in the well-being of any member, while caring for patients, nurses should consider the entire family. The improvement in family health can eventually improve community health and eventually society.
Choosing strategies also needs effective planning and implementation. The selection of strategy will be based on the needs of the family, a nurse can interview the family members to determine what needs to be changed, and what have they tried before whether it worked or not.
Heidemann, I. T., & Almeida, M. C. (2011). Freire’s Dialogic Concept Enables Family Health Program Teams to Incorporate Health Promotion. Public health nursing (Boston, Mass.), 28(2), 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1446.2010.00898.x
Haugan, G., & Eriksson, M. (Eds.). (2021). Health Promotion in Health Care – Vital Theories and Research. Springer.
Falkner, A., Green, S. Z., & Whitney, S. (2022). Health Promotion: Health & Wellness Across the Continuum. (Second Edition). Grand Canyon University. https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/1000000000585/epub/Cover.html#page_35
Family Systems Therapy. Psychology Today,www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/family-systems-therapy. Accessed 21 Oct. 2022.