LESSON TITLE: FRAMEWORK FOR MATERNAL

AND CHILD HEALTH NURSING AND CONCEPTS

OF UNITIVE AND PROCREATIVE HEALTH
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of the lesson, the student nurse can:
1. Identify the Framework and Maternal and Child Health Goals and Standards
2. Describe the theories related to Maternal and Child Health
Nursing
3. Define the roles and responsibilities of a Maternal-Child nurse.
4. Explain the ethico-legal considerations of maternal and child practice.
5. Define “family” in its different contexts.
6. Identify the basic family types and structures
7. Enumerate the functions characteristics and tasks of the family

References
Pilliteri, Adele and Silbert-Flagg, JoAnne (2018) Maternal and Child Health Nursing, 8th Edition. USA:
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins

Sustainable Developmental Goals launch in 2016. (2015, December 30).

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/ 2015/12/sustainable-development-goals-kick-off-
with-start-of-new-year/

United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals. https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Please refer to Chapter 1: A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing p. 3 and Chapter 3: The Childbearing
and Childrearing Family p.58

A Framework for Maternal and Child Health

Nursing:
1. Primary Goal of Maternal and Child Health Nursing:
The promotion and maintenance of optimal family health to ensure cycles of optimal childbearing and
childrearing.

Maternal and Child Health Nursing Practice

Throughout the Childbearing‒Childrearing
Continuum
 Provision of preconception health care
 Provision of nursing care of women throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum period
 Provision of nursing care of children from birth through adolescence
  Provision of nursing care to families in all settings

2. Philosophy of Maternal and Child Health Nursing:

o Family-centered
o Community-centered
o Evidence-based

3. Theories Related to Maternal and Child Health

Nursing
Nursing theories that are related in promoting healthy pregnancies and keeping the children
well are designed to offer helpful ways to view patient so nursing activities can be created to
best meet patients ’ needs.
Examples:
a. Callista Roy’s Adaptation Theory- nurse’s role is to help patients adapt to change
caused by illnesses or other stressors
b. Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Theory- involves examining the patient’s ability for self-care
c. Patricia Benner’s Novice-Expert Model- describes nurse’s move from novice to expert

4. Roles and responsibilities of a Maternal-Child

nurse

6 Competencies Necessary for Quality Care:

 Patient-Centered Care
 Teamwork & Collaboration
 Evidence-Based Practice
 Quality Improvement
 Safety
 Informatics
 5. Legal Considerations of Maternal-Child
Practice
 Nurses are legally responsible for protecting the rights of their patients, including
confidentiality, and are accountable for the quality of their individual nursing care and
that of other healthcare team members
 Proper documentation is essential for justifying actions.
 Nurses need to be conscientious about obtaining informed consent about invasive
procedures in children and determining if pregnant women are aware of any risk to the
fetus associated with a procedure or test.
 Nurses are legally responsible to report inappropriate or insufficient care provided by another
practitioner.

6. Ethical Considerations of Practice

 Nurses should provide factual, complete information, supportive listening and helping
them in clarifying their values without imposing their own.

A. Definitions of Family: D. Family Theory

1. “A group of people related by blood,  a set of perspectives from the
marriage, or adoption living together.” family’s point of view
(US Census Bureau, 2009) ⚫ helps address important issues
of childbearing and childrearing
2. “Two or more people who live in the
families.
same household (usually), share a ⚫ Modern concept of MCN Nursing is based
common emotional bond, and perform on
certain interrelated social tasks. (Allender a family and community standpoint
& Spradley, 2008)
B. Influence of Family on Its Members E. Basic Family Types
1. Provides long-lasting emotional ties 1. Family of orientation: the family one is
2. Provides a depth of support born into (e.g., oneself, mother, father,
3. Determines how members relate to and siblings, if any)
people - refers to the family in which a
4. Influences what moral values members person is RAISED.
follow 2. Family of procreation: the family
5. Molds the members’ basic one establishes (e.g., oneself, a
perspectives on the present and spouse or
future significant other, and children, if any)

C. Family Nursing -the family that we CREATE by

- focus of modern nursing practice getting married and having
- it is nursing care that considers the children
family, not the individual
xXS
1. Childfree or childless family 8. Binuclear family
-2 people living together without children -A family that is created by divorce or separation
when the child is raised in two families
-Advantages: Companionship and shared resources 9. Communal Family
- group of people who choose to live together
2. Cohabitation family
as an extended family
-Couples perhaps with children who live
together but remain unmarried
-motivated by social or religious values rather than
3. Nuclear family kinship
-Composed of 2 parents and children.
-freedom & free choice rather than those of a
-Advantage: financial and emotional support, traditional family
genuine affection for each other.

4. Extended (multigenerational) family -prefer complementary or alternative therapies

-Nuclear family plus grandparents, uncles,
aunties, cousins and grandchildren. 10. Gay or Lesbian (LGBT) Families
- individuals of the same sex live together as
-Contains more people to serve as resources partners for companionship, financial security and
during crises and models for behavior and sexual fulfilment
values.
-some include children from previous heterosexual
5. Single-parent family
relationships, artificial insemination, adoption or
-PROS: family can offer the child a special surrogate motherhood
parent-child relationship & increased
opportunities for self-reliance & independence.
-Pros: advantages of a nuclear family
-CONS: discrimination
-CONS: limited resources

6. Blended family/Remarriage/Reconstituted Family 11.Foster Family

-a divorced or widowed person with children -foster parents may or may not have children of
marries someone who also has children; their own and receive remuneration for their care
of the foster child; theoretically temporary until the
-PROS: increased security and resources, kids can be returned to their own parents
exposure to different customs or culture;
-PROS: prevents kids from being raised in
-CONS: rivalry, each spouse may experience large orphanage settings
difficulty helping rear the other’s children,
financial problems -CONS: insecurity & inability to establish
meaningful relationships due to frequent
7. Dyad Family moves
-2 people living together, usually man &
woman (e.g. newly-married couple) 12.Adoptive Family
- type of family structure in which a
-single, young, same-sex adults who live person from the family assumes the
together as a dyad for companionship & parenting of a child from his/her
financial security biological parents through adoption
agencies, international adoption and
private adoption

13. Polygamous Family

-marriage with multiple spouses
-polygyny- (1 man with several wives)
-polyandry (1 woman with several husbands)
G. 5 Universal Characteristics of a Family H. Characteristics of A Healthy Family
1. Small social system- interrelated; actions
Members:
of 1 affect the other
⚫ interact with each other repeatedly in
2. Performs certain basic functions: provides for
many contexts.
the physical, spiritual, mental health,
⚫ encouraged to grow and develop as
socialization of members, provision of
economic well-being
 3. Has structure- who are the members? individuals and members of the family
4. Has its own cultural values and roles ⚫ enhanced and fulfilled by maintaining
5. Moves through stages in the life cycle contacts with a wide range of
community groups and
organizations
⚫ make efforts to master their lives by
becoming members of groups, finding
information and options, and
making decisions.
I. 8 Family Tasks: J. Family Life Cycles
a. PHYSICAL MAINTENANCE- food, clothing & shelter Stage 1: Marriage
Stage 2: The Early Child-bearing Family
b. SOCIALIZATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS Stage 3: The Family with a Pre-school Child
Stage 4: The Family with a School-age Child
c. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES Stage 5: The Family with an Adolescent
Stage 6: The Launching Stage Family
d. MAINTENANCE OF ORDER Stage7: The Family of Middle Years
Stage 8: The Family in Retirement or Old Age
e. DIVISION OF LABOR
*BOOMERANG GENERATION- young adults return
f. REPRODUCTION, RECRUITMENT AND RELEASE OF home to live with their family after college or a
FAMILY MEMBERS failed relationship until they can afford their own
apartment or form a new relationship
g. PLACEMENT OF MEMBERS INTO THE LARGER
SOCIETY * SANDWICH FAMILY- a family that is squeezed
into taking care of both aging parents and a
h. MAINTENANCE OF MOTIVATION AND MORALE returning young adult.

*EMPTY NEST SYNDROME- is a feeling of boredom

or grief and loneliness parents may feel when
their children leave home for the first time, such
as to live on their own
or to form families of their own