Family health risks: Nursing

Family health risks are factors that can contribute to illness within a family, which is a group of people that depend on each other for physical, emotional, or economic support, and are bound together in relationships, either by blood, marriage, adoption, or choice. As the nurse, you’ll work with families to identify and reduce their health risks.

Alright, so, there are biological, behavioral, and environmental risk factors that can contribute to the development of unhealthy outcomes with families. Biological risk factors are related to genetics and life events. Starting with genetics, certain conditions can be inherited and passed down through families.

For example, a mutation in certain genes, like BRCA1 or BRCA2, increases the risk of developing certain cancers, like ovarian and breast cancer.

At other times, there’s a pattern of problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes disease traced through several generations that can contribute to cardiovascular disease in family members.

When assessing biological risk factors, keep in mind that these risks are influenced by both behavioral and environmental risk factors.

Biological risks can also be related to life events, which happen as families enter new stages of life. Life events can be normative, or expected, like aging, or they can be non-normative, or unexpected, like the death of a spouse. Each transition between stages can affect family health due to fluctuations in familial demands, behaviors, and responsibilities.

With normative events, the family has time to anticipate the required adaptations needed to cope with the change. For example, adopting a baby requires the family to learn about pediatric immunizations and normal developmental processes.

On the other hand, unexpected events like a major illness or sudden loss of a family member can cause family stress and even dysfunction as the family works to adapt to their new reality.

Now, behavioral risks, or lifestyle risks, are personal and shared health habits within a family that can influence health. Family culture plays an important role in health-related factors like dietary choices, physical activity, and sleep practices.

Other times, a family member’s behavior can affect others in the family, like when a younger sibling imitates an older sibling who’s using drugs or alcohol, or when smoking by one family member exposes others to secondhand smoke.

Lastly, family culture influences beliefs about health and wellness, decisions about when a family member is ill, when to seek medical care, and what types of treatment regimens are appropriate.