Relational Practice: Engaging with Families
Curriculum guideline
It is the intent of faculty to facilitate student learning, and promote critical inquiry, reflection and analytical reasoning through a variety of learning processes such as group discussion, role-play and interaction analysis, client care studies, and reflexive exercises.
In this course, engaging with families, promoting partnership, and reflecting on relational practice is the focus of discussion. Concepts and essential content that will be addressed relative to these topics are listed below. In addition, the core curriculum concepts are integrated in this course.
Family
- Definition
- Forms
- Social trends and issues affecting families
- Health and health promotion
- Common, predictable and emerging health challenges and transitions
Theoretical foundations and tools
- Family systems theory
- Family developmental theory
- Structural-functional theory
- Family assessment and intervention models
- Genogram and ecomap
Family nursing
- Definition
- Family-centered care
- Family (systems) nursing
- Family as context
- Barriers/issues/trends
Socio-cultural
- Diversity
- Models of cultural assessment
- Cultural competence
- Cultural safety
- Cultural humility
Vulnerability
- Social determinants of health
- Oppression
- Stigma and shame
- Abuse
Emotional intelligence
- Emotional labour
Relational capacities
- Authenticity
- Intentionality
- Mutuality
- reciprocity
Relational inquiry
- Shared meaning
Relational power
- Family power hierarchy and decision-making
- Affective family functioning (conflict, stress)
- Health care system
- Nursing’s position
Partnership
- Agency and action of client and nurse
- Advocacy
- Mindful leadership
Communication
- Family communication patterns and processes
- Respect
- Nonviolent communication (e.g. promoting civility)
At the end of this course, successful students will be able to:
- Demonstrate awareness of issues and trends relevant to family nursing and consider implications for their practice with families.
- Demonstrate an awareness of how historical, social, economic, political, cultural and other personal and contextual factors shape families’ experiences of health and health care.
- Critically examine barriers or challenges to enacting relational nursing practice with families/family members.
- Demonstrate an understanding of how various family theories inform the provision of safe, competent and compassionate nursing care with families/family members.
- Apply knowledge, skills and attitudes to facilitate the development of nurse-family partnerships for promoting health and preventing illness/injury using a relational perspective.
- Employ critical reflection to examine own development of relational practice with clients and families.
The course evaluation is consistent with Douglas College Evaluation Policy. A course evaluation schedule and other course evaluation information are provided on the Instructor’s Course Outline which is available to students at the beginning of each semester. This is a graded course.
Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:
A list of recommended textbooks and materials is provided on the Instructor’s Course Outline which is available to students at the beginning of each semester.