NUR2204 - Working with families across the lifespan

This unit introduces the concept of working with families from a strengths-based framework. The concept of family strengths has been studied for several decades and describes a family that functions optimally in support of the individual members. When nurses and other professionals use a family strengths theoretical framework in their daily practice, they contribute to providing health care that focuses on the whole rather than only the individual and begin to support families when accessing health care. A healthy family may be stronger in one area than another, and strengths may overlap with each other. It is well known that the family environment may have a positive or a negative effect on individuals in the family, depending on the family's values, beliefs, and ability to manage change. The composition and structure of contemporary families are wide-ranging, and include families from varying cultures, with composition including single and extended families, and families at differing socioeconomic levels. This unit aims to bridge the gap in theoretical content related to family care across the lifespan so that nurses and other professionals can explore the factors that shape their capacity to develop caring relationships with individuals, families, groups, populations, and communities.