High-Risk Family Assessment and Health Promotion - Homelessness Although the numbers of homeless people have decreased overall, homelessness remains a persistent problem in the United States. In 2013, over 600,000 Americans were without a home. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 36 percent of the homeless are made up of families and “58 percent of all homeless people in families were under the age of 18” (2014, p. 22). Both the parents and children of these families are at risk for short and long-term effects on mental and physical health. The reasons for family homelessness vary, and there is no single demographic of a homeless family. Some are two-parent families that have lost a home as a result of
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Parenting relationships may be strained, and young children may not attend school regularly. The average homeless parent is a young, single mother, living in a large city. She may be a high school dropout herself and now have the stress of trying to support herself and one or more children on wages from unskilled labor or public assistance. Her personal relationships suffer, and she may become caught in a cycle of violence and addiction. DHHS has also identified objectives for the safety families designed to decrease children’s exposure to violence and reduce injuries for all family members due to accident and violence.
Nursing assessment and intervention for a homeless family can be challenging. Sister Callista Roy’s Adaptation Model can be used as a framework for family assessment and intervention. Roy’s model asserts that an individual, and also a family unit, experiences interactions with their environment through four mechanisms. These mechanisms include “physiological, self-concept, role function, and interdependence” (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003, p. 66). Each of these areas addresses a different need of, in this case the family
Parenting relationships may be strained, and young children may not attend school regularly. The average homeless parent is a young, single mother, living in a large city. She may be a high school dropout herself and now have the stress of trying to support herself and one or more children on wages from unskilled labor or public assistance. Her personal relationships suffer, and she may become caught in a cycle of violence and addiction. DHHS has also identified objectives for the safety families designed to decrease children’s exposure to violence and reduce injuries for all family members due to accident and violence.
Nursing assessment and intervention for a homeless family can be challenging. Sister Callista Roy’s Adaptation Model can be used as a framework for family assessment and intervention. Roy’s model asserts that an individual, and also a family unit, experiences interactions with their environment through four mechanisms. These mechanisms include “physiological, self-concept, role function, and interdependence” (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003, p. 66). Each of these areas addresses a different need of, in this case the family