Family Organization in the Care of Pediatric Heart Transplant Patients: The Genogram as an Investigative Tool

Abstract

This study aimed to describe structure, functionality and development of pediatric heart transplant families, from the understanding of the experienced chronic condition. A descriptive, exploratory study using a qualitative approach was developed in a hospital situated in a city of Northeast Brazil, in 2012. The study was conducted with three families, using the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM). In addition to the genogram, an analysis of the children's/adolescents' family members was conducted at the time of interview. Two families were binuclear families and one was mononuclear. From the evaluation, it was possible to determine the care and support network of children and adolescents with heart transplants, as well as some difficulties faced by the investigated families. Nurses are important in this family context since the visualization of the family genogram can generate a change in the nursing care to each family.

Appliance of medical genogram and social network theory in cardiovascular health promotion intervention and non-laboratory-based risk monitoring

“…The seven risk factors (Life's Simple 7) that people can improve through LS changes, included four health behaviors (stop smoking, eat better, get active, and lose weight) and three health factors (manage blood pressure, control cholesterol, and reduce blood sugar). [58][59][60][61] At present, plenty of relevant studies shown that LS interventions is one of the most important aspects of primary and secondary prevention of CVD's. Elimination of mentioned modifiable risk factors including unhealthy lifestyle allows for prevention of 80% of CVD cases and individuals with desirable lifestyle factors (not smoking, physically active, healthy diet, BMI < 25) are expected to have a 67-72% lower risk of developing heart failure.…”

Putting graphic elicitation into practice: tools and typologies for the use of participant-led diagrams in qualitative research interviews

“…In combination, ecomaps and genograms can offer a holistic overview of relationship dynamics and social support. This makes them suited to investigations of family patterns which cascade through generations – for example, chronic health conditions (Ribeiro et al, 2015), domestic violence (Watts and Shrader, 1998) and property inheritance (Helling and Stovers, 2005). They have also been used to visualise social support in family caregiving (Ray and Street, 2006; 2007; Rempel et al, 2007; Washington, 2009), and to investigate health promotion within social networks (Zanchetta et al, 2007; Rocha et al, 2009; de Oliveira et al, 2010; Correa et al, 2011).…”