Introduction

How a family behaves and manages its daily affairs is an important aspect as it is outlined in the Beavers model. Different families have different ways of nurturing and performing their daily activities. Some families are more organized than others and this gives an explanation to the different ways by which families perform differently. Different families have different levels of competencies which are assessed on six competencies areas that include family structure, mythology, autonomy, goal-directed negotiations, and family effect. Due to these differences in structure and family behavior, it is vital to carry out intensive family assessment practices. The information from such family assessment practices has been of great importance to psychologists, medicine practitioners and many more (Schwab, Gray-Ice, & Prentice, 2000). In this paper, we will have an in-depth family assessment of a particular (Houston, 2006). The process will be of paramount importance as we will be able to understand different family aspects such as family relationships, communication patterns, identity influences as well as impact of functional patterns and structure of the family just to mention a few. For easier analysis, we will use a blended family to enable a comprehensive family analysis.

Family description

As aforementioned, the family used in this analysis is a blended family. It involves a stepfather, by the name Bruce and is aged 54 years, a mother, Ross aged 49 and their three children Reid, Janet and Christine whose ages are 26, 21 and 18 in that order. The mother, Ross, is the biological mother to the three children which she got with her previous husband. She is a victim of divorce that resulted from too much alcoholism and domestic violence (Wright & Leahey, 2009). It is prudent to point out that the spouse and the biological father, Steve, had distant relationship and was also the case with the children since he did not stay close to them. Bruce, the stepfather, also had a child from his previous marriage with his wife, Claudia (Yingling, Miller, McDonald, & Galewaler, 2013). Nevertheless, Bruce is still in shock after losing his son and wife through a tragic road accident. After the death and divorce by their spouses, Bruce and Ross have been together for the last eight years after they met through an online dating site.

The step father Bruce is a business person who deals with import of automobile spare parts. He has been a successfully business person and consequently has been the primary family breadwinner. Ross, on the other hand was forced to retire from her teaching job after getting physical disabilities after escaping a fatal road accident.  However, Ross is very supportive to the husband as they run their family business. She is moistly involved in customer service and staying in their retail shop when the husband is away.

The family’s three children are separated by four years between them. However, their age differences have only lead to existence of loose bonds amongst the three children. For instance, their eldest child no longer lives at home and works in a local bank (Schwab, Gray-Ice, & Prentice, 2000). Also, the youngest is not at home after having indifferences with the step father. The relationship with other family members is somewhat strained and she doesn’t seem to be in good terms with any of the family members. The middle daughter, Janet has just returned home after sometimes away. She has just given birth to her first son Ryan. All the other children are not married and neither do they have any child. The birth of a son by the second born to the family has been received with joy by the two parents (Crain, 2011).  It is however essential to note that the father to Ryan is Peter. He only supports the child but does not live with his spouse Janet.  In essence, most of the family members are more focused on their individual lives, their careers at the expense of family activities.

Socio cultural Data

Family analysis must also include important elements of race, ethnicity, and social class among others. This information is important and helps in having a better understanding of the family. For instance, in this case, the family is a middle class family. From the earlier analysis, it is evident that they are middle class family considering that they only do small scale business. Also, the family confesses Christian faith where the mother is a catholic while the stepfather is a protestant.  It is imperative to point out that the family does attend church regularly but they do once in a while (Houston, 2006). Nevertheless, all the three children in the family have been baptized and confirmed in accordance with the Christians beliefs. The children have also attended Christian schools both in the primary school and in their secondary education.

It is important to note that the family members are native to the United States. Culturally, most traditions include those of the typical American Christian such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter celebrations. All over the years, the family has ensured that they observe Christian and the cultural standards maintained in the American culture (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003). The family often celebrates holidays with both the stepfather’s family and the mother’s family on two separate days. The families have only united for a few occasions such as marriages, graduations, and the birth of the grandchild, Ryan. When they do have events together with both sides of the family present, everyone gets along great.

Genogram and Ecomap

The genogram, provides a visual model of the family and the relationships to each other on a multi-generational spectrum (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003). Dates of death are noted above the individual for those whom are deceased. The family unit of this assessment is contained within the green dotted boundary line.

Figure 1: Family genogram  (Note, the genogram has used initials instead of actual names of the family members)

Figure 2. Family ecomap

Environment and physical setting

As aforementioned, the step father, the mother and their middle daughter live together. The other family members have since left the homestead in search of greener pastures. As aforementioned, the middle daughter also has a six months old son whose biological father is Peter. The two however do not stay together but Peter always sends financial support for the upkeep of his son.  The last born to the family has distanced herself from other family members and maintains low contact with the family. It is supposedly said that she was objecting her mother’s marriage to Bruce (Yingling, Miller, McDonald, & Galewaler, 2013). Besides, the family lives with their two dogs and a cat. The dogs are large outdoor dogs which require little care and attention but consume large amounts of food on a monthly basis. It can at times be difficult to afford large quantities of food for them which is often afforded by the mother’s part-time earnings. The cat lives indoors and is approaching eleven years of age (Crain, 2011). There is a strong emotional attachment to the animals and they are considered family members in the household.

Communication

Communication is another important aspect in family assessment and analysis. The way family communicates plays a significant role in the levels of success achieved while   addressing family issues (Crain, 2011). For instance, in this case, it is evident that the family lacks open communication between couples, between parents and their children as well as between the children themselves.  Lack of communication between the family members has only increased the gap between the children and their parents. For example, the last born to the family is said to have maintained little or no contact with the rest of the family (Schwab, Gray-Ice, & Prentice, 2000). Although the first born contributes to the family, he also is not communicative and as a result implementation of several family issues has been a great challenge.  Due to the physical distance that separates the different family members, they have resulted to phone calls and texting as their means of communication.

Power structure

Power structure is another important aspect in family analysis. In this case, Bruce is the centre of authority in the management of the family business. Nevertheless, the wife is also involved in making major decisions affecting the family. She also strives to be a role model to the children. Also, the first born son has some reasonable power over his younger siblings.

Roles

Roles within the family are well defined. The primary financial decision maker is Ross, even though Bruce is the primary source for income in the family (Houston, 2006). She generally makes the decisions related to projects and major purchases that the family makes, where as Bruce makes the decisions for his automotive business. There are also definite roles assigned to their three children thus making it easy for the family to avoid conflicts.

Socialization, adaptation and healthcare

It is important to point out that the socialization amongst the family members is not all that good. Nevertheless, the family gets an opportunity to interact with one another during holidays and important family occasions. On the maters of health, the family has strived to maintain acceptable levels of health (Yingling, Miller, McDonald, & Galewaler, 2013). For example, the second daughter did not have any complications during pregnancy and birth of her first son. It is also worth noting that the parents have been proactive in advising their children on importance of healthy diets (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003). The step father is a smoker but none of the parents takes alcohol. They have also been proactive in preventing their children from alcoholism.

Conclusion and recommendations

In conclusion, the assessment has involved a middle class blended family. It is a family involving a step father, a mother and their three children. There is too much discord between the family members and this can be explained by lack of communication between the family members. It is recommendable for the family to improve their communications to ensure that they maintain strong bonds. The family also has great concern for the family health which is an important part of a successful family. Individuals effectively perform their roles within the family boundaries and the family continues to thrive (Wright & Leahey, 2009). Also decision making within the family has also been effective and hence the family has been able to move from one level to another. In essence, the family is a typical one that enables understands different family issues such as relationships and family structures.

References

Crain, W. (2011). Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Friedman, M. R., Bowden, V. R., & Jones, E. (2003). Family Nursing: Research, Theory, and Practice (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Houston, R. (2006). Individuals’ hope and family functions. Ann Arbor, Mich.: ProQuest.

Schwab, J., Gray-Ice, H., & Prentice, F. (2000). Family functioning. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Wright, L. M., & Leahey, M. (2009). Nurse and Families: A Guide to Family Assessment and Intervention (5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company.

Yingling, L., Miller, W., McDonald, A., & Galewaler, S. (2013). GARF Assessment Sourcebook. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

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