Family Interview Essay

Although sometimes overlooked, family stories are often responsible for powerfully impacting family functioning. Family stories impact health and illness due to individuals’ and families’ frequent, and often subconscious, action of calling upon their personal history as well as their elders’ past experiences, wisdom, guidance and counsel. As providers, it is critical to be mindful of the significance of storytelling, as family stories often have profound effects on the health and wellness of patients and their families
Family stories are not only beneficial when gathering patients’ health history in regards to physical health, but also in allowing providers to obtain valuable information regarding family functioning and responses to health
This was an excellent experience that benefited each of us, as I was able to gain valuable information regarding my history and family function while she was able to revisit and discuss events and behaviors from her past. Throughout our conversations it became apparent that she developed resilience in the face of the adversity she experienced during the wars and great depression. Despite the challenges and tragedies that she experienced, she only focused on the positives and accepted a reality which did not contain negativity. During our conversations, she also recalled valuable information regarding the function of many of my ancestors, the reality they chose to accept, as well as their responses to health and illness and it became clear that many of my great grandmother’s, grandfather’s, and mother’s behaviors are the result of previous family function.
Inversely, family stories also have the ability to negatively affect health and recovery. For instance, harmful disease beliefs may be passed on from generation to generation, resulting in a poor understanding of evidenced-based prevention measures and treatments. Furthermore, family stories may play a large role in individuals’ and family members’ current functions in the face of illness. Therefore, practitioners must fully examine current and past family functions as well as beliefs in an aim to assist families throughout their wellness and illness journeys in order to achieve optimal health and