Family Stress

1372 Words3 Pages

The development of nursing theories has provided a perspective in which one can define the purpose of nursing, when nursing is required, and establish the parameters and goals of therapeutic nursing activities (Ahmed,2001). A nursing theory is defined "as concepts, definitions, relationships, and assumptions derived from nursing models or from other disciplines and project a purposive, systematic view of phenomena by designing specific inter-relationships among concepts for the purposes of describing, explaining and predicting the phenomena of nursing” (Boxer & Jones, 2010). In addition, nursing theories provide frameworks through which nurses can examine various situations. As nurses encounter new situations, these frameworks provide a structure for organization, analysis, decision making and communication (Ahmed, 2001). The following paper will discuss the middle range nursing theory of Family Stress and Adaptation by Geri LoBiondo-Wood, and how it relates to patient care and guides nursing practice.
During my clinical placement at the Renfrew Medical Group (RMG) last semester, I had the opportunity to meet a mother of a child who had recently been diagnosed with brainstem glioma. The reason for her visit to the RMG was for her 18 month old daughter to receive her scheduled immunizations. However, she was concerned that the DTaP-IPV-Hib vaccine was a live attenuated vaccine; the reason being that her 3 year old son was undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatments and had to be isolated from any persons who has had a live attenuated vaccine in the past 6 weeks. She explained that due to her son’s frequent rounds of chemotherapy and many doctor’s visits to CHEO, her and her husband had decided to rent a small apartment in Ottawa. ...

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... short-term/long-term plans for the family unit while incorporating the unique strengths and vulnerabilities of each family member (Smith & Liehr, 2008).
Nursing theories are essential to effective and efficient nursing practice. The use of nursing theories has, and continues, to contribute to the development of nursing knowledge and its practice (Ahmed, 2001). Integrating these theories into practice provides guidance in achieving the goals of health promotion and disease prevention (Ahmed, 2001). The middle range nursing theory of Family Stress and Adaptation by Geri LoBiondo-Wood, requires nurses to understand the various processes and stages of the illness and the illness experience. Nurses must also understand that a family’s experience of stress, crisis, adjustment and adaptation is an ongoing and dynamic process (Smith & Liehr, 2008).

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