The Millerton Case Study

The Millerton’s appear to be an average, relatively successful, happy family. Just like most families, though, they have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Upon reading their story, I learned some important information about all of them.
The Millerton family seems to be doing a good job of meeting their affective function (Friedman, 2003). They make a point of setting aside plenty of family time, despite their busy careers and social lives. They attend church together one or two times per month, go to the children’s sports and school activities together, take day trips on the weekends, and vacation as a family twice a year. Oscar’s parents are also very involved and available, visiting their children and grandchildren 1-2 times per week. Oscar and Sandy tend their vegetable garden and cook together. Oscar’s sister and her family live nearby. They see each other every weekend, and speak throughout the week. The children even go to school together. Conversely, Sandy has not remained close to her family. There seems to be a reason that her family did not approve of her marriage to Oscar, and there is now some type of rift between them.
This family has done a good job in socialization of the children thus far. The parents have attempted to instill in the children the importance of family, working for a successful career, morals, and volunteering in the community. However, the children are now at an age where their friends have a great amount of influence on their continued socialization. Jimmy has likely begun drinking with his friends and slacking off at school. Jill has been spending time with her boyfriend, who is pressuring her to have sex, and may be using her to do his homework for him. At this point in their lives, both Jimmy and Jill are more likely to seek guidance from and imitate the behavior of their peers than they are to imitate the behaviors of their parents.
The Millerton family has effectively met its reproductive function, having produced two children. As for the family’s health care function, the Millerton’s have provided much of the necessary components. Food, clothing, shelter, and health care are readily available to all of its members (Friedman, 2003). Oscar and Sandy both have decent jobs and have provided a substantial income to cover the cost of all of these things. They live in a large house that is in good condition, with a yard for the children and Oscar and Sandy’s garden. The parents cook at home for the family, using vegetables from their garden. Both Oscar and Sandy are slightly overweight, but they have committed themselves to walking together most evenings. Oscar does suffer from chronic heartburn, but has so far refused to seek medical attention for it. Jimmy plays sports and stays active, though his recent decision to drink alcohol with his friends is not conducive to his maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Jill appears to be under substantial amounts of stress, attempting to keep up with her school work as well as her boyfriend’s. Her boyfriend is also pressuring her to have sex.
The Millerton’s would be considered to be in Stage V, a family with teenagers. Developmental tasks associated with this stage include balancing freedom with responsibility, keeping open communication between parents and children, and refocusing the marital relationship (Friedman, 2003). Oscar and Sandy seem to be open to allowing their children the freedom that they need to be their own people. The allow Jimmy and Jill to have their own time with friends and enjoy their own activities, such as sports and plays. However, Jimmy has chosen to be somewhat abusive of his newfound freedom. He has chosen to participate in delinquent behaviors and to let his grades slip at school. Jill is struggling to make good decisions in regard to her boyfriend, and may not be ready to make the right decisions on her own. Better communication between the parents and children may be necessary in order to help the children make better decisions with their new levels of freedom. Sandy has found the beer receipts in Jimmy’s laundry, and even shown them to Oscar, but neither of them have discussed the issue with Jimmy. Likewise, Jill has failed to communicate with her parents about the difficulties she is facing with her boyfriend. If she was able to talk to her mother about the situation, perhaps she would be able to find some clarity and empowerment. Sandy and Oscar have done a good job of acknowledging that their children may not appreciate extended vacations at their ages, and have also called for a meeting to discuss their summer vacation plans. Sandy and Oscar seem to have done a good job of refocusing their marital relationship. They enjoy gardening and cooking together, while also pursuing individual careers and personal interests. The Millerton’s are experiencing a few short term stressors. Primarily, they are facing the natural stress of adolescents trying to find their own identities to mature into adults. They are doing an overall decent job of coping with this, allowing their children to have freedom, but still supporting them in their schooling and extracurricular activities. Their strength of relying on each other as a family for support is counterbalancing this stressor. Another stressor is Jill’s difficulty with her boyfriend, though the rest of her family is unaware of the problem. Jill is currently coping with problem by opening up to her best friend and cousin, seeking social support from them. Jimmy is also experiencing the stress of wanting to hang out with friends and drink rather than studying for school. His mother is also feeling this stressor, as she has found the receipts and was concerned enough to bring it Oscar’s attention. The family members appear to be coping with problem by being in denial (a dysfunctional coping strategy), and refusing to acknowledge that there is a problem (Friedman, 2003). Sharing of feelings and thoughts amongst the family member seems to be a key coping strategy that this family is lacking. For this reason, the NANDA nursing diagnosis I would choose for this family would be “compromised family coping.”
Additional information that may help better asses the Millerton’s family dynamic would include more information about the children. I would like to hear more about what Jill feels in regard to the situation with her boyfriend, as well as why Jimmy feels he needs to drink beer with his friends. I would like to find out why Sandy and Oscar have not spoken to Jimmy about it. Are they afraid of confrontation, or the unrest that it may cause in the household? Do they think that it is just a passing phase, and that Jimmy will grow out of it? It would be helpful to know more about the relationship between Oscar and Sandy to better assess how well they are refocusing their marriage. I would also be interested to know what happened between Sandy and the rest of her family when she married Oscar. Did they disapprove of Oscar, or just that she moved away? I think that answers to these questions would help to better analyze the Millerton’s situation in order to be of better help to them.

Resources
Friedman, M. M., Bowden, V. R., & Jones, E. G. (2003). Family nursing: Research, theory, and practice (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.