Friedman Family Assessment of the Matthew Family

Community nurses can effectively assist and care for specific families within a community by identifying the issues of the family. Identifying the issues of a family will assist the nurse in developing effective interventions that will maintain quality care and promote standard of care. The Friedman family assessment model helps the nurse to identify these issues. According to Callahan (2003), “…a family assess model…assess key areas of family life in a structured manner” (p. 2). The following data is the assessment data of the family I will be observing for this class. The Friedman family assessment model was used as a guide to identify key areas. To preserve the identity of the family I chose to assess the names will be changed.

Identifying Data
John and Renee Matthew are the parents of a 15-year old son Mike Matthew. John, Renee, and Mike all live in New Tampa. John and Renee are divorced and share custody of Mike. Although divorced Renee chose to keep her marital name for the sake of Mike. Mike stays with John during the week and with Renee on the weekends. John is a 34-year old Hispanic mechanic who owns a mechanic shop. Renee is a 39-year old Jamaican who is a data entry clerk and is attending school to obtain her BS in accounting. Mike is a high school student. John’s mechanic business is doing well and Renee has a sufficient income. John likes to take Mike on camp trips and skating parks. Mike likes to work with John on cars in the mechanics shop and at home. Renee and Mike do not do much together, but when they do Renee and Mike like to go to a movie and a dinner once a month.