Family Life Cycle Theory Paper

Words: 493
Pages: 2

The purpose of this post is to choose one task from the family development and life cycle theory and apply it to a family in my nursing practice. The family development and life cycle theory is a helpful guide for family health nurses, because it explains how parents typically adapt to parenthood (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015). The Arranging Space for a Child task is a common issue in my practice. We work with pregnant mothers with many social issues. This task focuses on preparing for the arrival of a child by determining where the baby will sleep, bedroom options, and possibly moving due to a small residence.
Neonatal mortality is a problem worldwide, therefore nursing interventions prior to the birth can decrease
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The father was involved and they lived with the patient’s sister in a two bedroom apartment. The patient and her significant other (SO) did not have their own space in this living situation. They were sleeping on the couch. How were they going to deal with this once the baby arrived? As their nurse my responsibility was to provide information to these future parents, to offer explanations of the emotional and body experiences the patient will go through, to educate them so they have an understanding of their feelings and thoughts (Dewarrat, 2013). Then, my main focus needed to be on their social situation. A family nursing intervention was to refer them to social services, which can provide them resources for housing options. Ensuring the safety of the home for the newborn was also discussed. After delivery of the baby the patient came in for counseling prior to her routine six week checkup. The home environment was small, but safe for the patient and her newborn. She expressed frustration with her SO due to lack of involvement in the care of the newborn. At this point I gave her the emotional support she needed to hear. We discussed how hard it is for every woman bringing home a newborn and that she was not alone. Her SO was working full time hours, which explained some of the lack of help she was getting from him. When counseling was over the patient did state she felt much better and