Abstract

Family Health Care Nursing

Author(s): Luke Wolter

The family belief systems hypothesis put forth by Hohashi can be used to facilitate culturally appropriate family health care nursing. The theory of family belief systems, which was developed through family ethnographic studies and questionnaire surveys carried out in the United States, Japan, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, explains (a) structurization of a system, based on the family members' beliefs as cognition criteria, in which family members' emotions, decisions/acts, and physical responses (including health problems) occur; and (b) the process by which family beliefs are formed from family members' beliefs. The nursing professional can entirely alter the purposeful choices or actions made by the family by identifying the mechanism of family belief systems and supporting the family's or family members' beliefs.