Friedman family assessment on Latvian family

Friedman family assessment on Latvian family

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Identifying Data:

Latvian family consists of three members, Intars Dure and his wife Eva, together with Eva’s brother. The family members vary in their religious faith whereby Dure is catholic while Eva and her brother are Lutheran. All of them do not currently attend to their places of worship due to various reasons. Eva’s and her brother’s reason being that they do not know the location of their place of worship in their current location and lack of a car to take them to the place. They are illegal immigrants in the United States, who have specialized in working as full time house cleaners for money (Tina Maschi, Bradley, & Ward, 2009). During their leisure time, they involve themselves with watching movies, trail running and hiking, walking on the beach and playing tennis.

DEVELOPMENTAL STATE AND HISTORY OF THE FAMILY:

Intars Dure is thirty years old, his wife is twenty six years old and his brother in law is twenty four years old. Dure and Eve have been married for three years, where they have been able to sustain a stable family. Due to language barrier, Eve’s brother doesn’t have friends apart from his brother in law. Dure has only one sister while Eva has one sister and two brothers. Parents of Dure and Eve are still alive. Both of them are not aware of any sickness that might be affecting their parents at the moment. Dure’s paternal uncle had cancer which left him dead, while Eva’s maternal grandmother suffers from diabetes.

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA:

The family stays in a house that is split into a two story home that has three bedrooms, the first level having two bedrooms, a bathroom and a small living room. The house belongs to a friend of the family whom they rent the one bedroom and living room from. The whole house accommodates seven people. The couple sleeps in the bedroom while Eve’s brother sleeps in the living room. The family live in Aliso Viejo which is a lovely place with its population being approximately 48000 accorded to the census results of 2010 (Friedman, 2007). Most people inhabiting the area are whites. Their house is on a convenient location that allows them practice what they like most. For instance hiking as the area has picturesque mountains. It also has a good school, entertainment and shopping places. From the hose, the nearest hospital is just a five miles away.

FAMILY STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONS:

The family doesn’t speak in English language fluently but they are fluent speakers of Russian and Latvian. Of them all, Eve speaks better in English although she uses a lot of gestures in her communication. Her ability to speak in English better makes her interpret for the family most of the words they don’t understand. Eve and Dure seem to be much at ease when they communicate to each other as they maintain eye contact during their conversation. Eve’s brother is the only one who seems less confident as he sounds like mumbling when communicating. In this family Dure, the husband, is the head of the family while Eve is a house maker. This comes out when, if a question is posed to the whole family, eve waits for her husband’s respond or she first communicates with him in their native language before answering it. In Latvian family, authority of the husband is paramount. Another good observation is that the members of the family seem at ease with each other and are very close. According to Eva, the couple does not plan on having kids yet as it is not sure, for how long it will be in America. In Latvian family a wife cooks, Eve finds it hard to cook from the house as they share the kitchen with four other people. This makes the family to eat outside most of the time. They neither have medical nor dental insurance, making them pay much whenever they fall sick.

FAMILY STRESS AND COPING:

The two males in the family like drinking and smoking too much, Dure for instance, found himself in an emergency room and was diagnosed of gastritis and cholecystitis which caused him severe stomach pain and yet he continued to drink alcohol. To cope with that he says that he cut down big time on his drinking (Friedman, 2007). Eve’s brother breaks up with his girlfriends and he sees leaving his family in and going far away as the best way to cope up with his stress. The family, especially Eve misses their family and friends. To cope up with this, they chat with them on Skype. The two male also go to the gym wile Eve runs twice in a week.

PRIORITY FAMILY NURSING DIAGNOSIS:

The family had Ineffective coping due to inadequate support system and language barrier. The family was powerless secondary to situational change.

NURSING INTERVENTIONS

To counter ineffective coping, they should establish trust and good working relationship. Convey feeling of acceptance and understanding, to promote support and communication. They should be encouraged to identify their own strengths, their coping strategies and better ways of coping with stress. For instance encourage them to always talk out their stress. There should also be alternative support systems through referrals which will help the family identify the location of the church and means of transportation to the place. To counter powerlessness secondary to situational change, they should be assessed on readiness to learn and assist them in identifying resources that are available in their community.

The family should also be assisted in identifying the significance of culture and religion in adjustment process and provide information or referral to support groups like the church. They should be encouraged to take part in religious activities and social groups, whereby they can meet people in the same situation who can advise them on how to cope well with the situation (Tina Maschi, Bradley, & Ward, 2009). This may make them move to the next level of independence and control. Their feeling of hopelessness and depression should be assessed and they should be encouraged to air out their concerns, fears and expectations. They should be listened to attentively and a feeling of understanding be conveyed to them. They should be given a positive feedback which puts confidence and gives them a since of control.

References:

Friedman, T, L (2007) The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Edition3, New York, Douglas & McIntyre.

Tina Maschi, T, Bradley, C, & Ward, K (2009) Forensic Social Work: Psychosocial and Legal Issues in Diverse Practice Settings, Springer Series, New York, Springer Publishing Company.