Psychosocial Wellbeing of Patient - Coursework Example

Psychosocial Assessment Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Psychosocial Assessment Undertaking a holistic approach while doing a psychosocial nursing assessment is key to collecting sufficient information that will facilitate planning and delivery of nursing care. It enables the health care provider (HCP) to engage and collaborate with the patient, allows dialogue between the HCP and the patient, can give deeper insights into the patient's experience of his illness and health, and gives a well-constructed picture of the patient's mental, emotional and behavioral states (Roberts, 2013; Videbeck, 2014). This paper documents the psychosocial assessment findings using the SNAPEO tool and possible health promoting measures applicable to Felix, a 43-year-old black client chosen for this assessment. Psychosocial Assessment Findings Smoking Felix admits that he smokes regularly, a habit that begun when he was 15 years old. He says he may have no possible reason to explain why he is on the habit as he once opined when young that he will never smoke. His childhood no-smoking thoughts had been invoked by several arguments he had heard with his dad, a chronic chain smoker, over the same. He hated his dad’s smoking as he got disgusted especially when the ashes flicked out would be blown his way in the car. He smokes an average of nine to 13 cigarettes a day. Smoking is something he does not enjoy but it is just part of his daily life. He has unsuccessfully tried quitting smoking before. He says that two years ago he once stayed off the cigar for a whole day only to succumb to the habit again on the following day after visiting his friends in their local pub enjoying alcoholic drinks. He blames the relapse on alcohol that he claims aroused his desperation to smoke again. The biggest bottleneck to terminating the habit is that he keeps procrastinating the initiative to quit, but there never comes an appropriate moment for him to act on it. He plans to switch to using chewing gums as a beginning to weaning himself off cigarettes. Felix feels the time is nigh to quit the habit as his wife and daughter both hate it and his love for them can push him to quit for their happiness. In addition, he says the health risks he has heard and read about smoking are driving him to act on his willingness to quit. Moreover, he admits to feeling guilty when smoking in other people’s houses especially if no member of that house shares his habit. He cites his long, routine, noon walk from his house to the bus as a smoking opportunity he has never let go. Felix's chronic smoking habit highly predisposes him to respiratory diseases such as COPD, and lung cancer among many other complications (Brashier & Kodgule, 2012; Samara, Margaritopoulos, Wells, Siafakas, & Antoniou, 2011). Furthermore, individuals in constant environment with the smoker such as the wife and daughter to Felix are at risk of smoking associated diseases as secondhand smokers (Brashier & Kodgule, 2012). Felix was educated on the negative effects of smoking some of which he knew. He was also informed of the negative health impact it has on his family in addition to the fact that his family find it uncomfortable. Felix had contemplated quitting before. Therefore, he needs to be assisted to act on his intention to quit since he has high relapse risks when doing it on his own. Relapse possess a significant setback to quitting addictive behavior that Felix should overcome (Handershot, Witkiewitz, George & Marlatt, 2011). Consequently, he was referred to the Northern Territory quitline after filling the quitline referral forms where he shall be taken through the rehabilitation process and enhance ways of preventing relapse (Northern Territory Government Department of Health [NTGDH], 2014). Felix was advised to avoid places that would compel him to smoke again such as when hanging out in pubs with his friends and stocking cigarettes around his working and social environment (Hendershot et al., 2011). Nutrition Felix does not have a consistent meal schedule but usually has his breakfast at around nine in the morning as he works till late and reports to work early in the afternoon. Breakfast usually consists of milk tea with brown bread and some nuts after which he watches TV while snacking on cakes and soft drinks. He does not take lunch as he says he usually feels satiated during normal lunch hours, but he carries packed food that ranges from broccoli, liver, salmon, legumes, corn, sunflower seeds, fresh meat, unprocessed grains and citrus fruit. He attributes his choice of diet to his brain involving software development work. In between work he snacks on burgers. He eats dinner at home prepared by the wife. Dinner has a wide range including roasted chicken breast, small baked potato, steamed asparagus and 100-percent whole grain. Felix, however, laments that he has added weight unexpectedly. Felix’s diet is full of caloric and carbohydrate rich foods that may predispose him to diseases such as diabetes, dyslipidemia and hypertension (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). His weight is also a threat to his health as it increases the risks to cardiovascular diseases (AHA, 2010). He was advised to cut down on burgers and snacking on cakes to reduce sugar and calorie intake, and increase the intake of water, vegetables and fruits in order to improve his quality of life (McNaughton, Crawford, Ball & Salmon, 2012). Felix was encouraged to document the time and type of food consumed on a normal one-week period and present the list to a dietician for further nutritional help and counselling (Desroches et al., 2011). Alcohol Felix consumes alcohol frequently but especially after leaving his work place at the end of the day and during weekends. He began drinking at the age of 25. He drinks beer consuming a maximum of five bottles on alternate days of the week. Felix enjoys his alcohol with friends and does not go out drinking when not in their company. He does not take hard liquor and has never staggered home drunk. His wife and daughter have not raised any complaints about his drinking. He insists that he is in control of his alcohol and knows when to stop and leave the pub. He does not stock alcohol at home saying that it is not good for his daughter as she might be tempted to sneak around and taste the alcohol. However, he admits that drinking may not be good for his health as sometimes he thinks the five bottles he consumes is more than the recommended amount. He understands the health hazards associated with excessive chronic alcohol consumption. Even though Felix is not an alcoholic, he drinks more than the recommended daily bottles of beer, but not so much to be classified in ‘risky drinking’ (National Health and Medical Research Council [NHMRC], 2014; Pereira, Wood, Foster & Haggar, 2013). He has been drinking for a about 18 years putting him at risk of the cumulative negative effects of alcohol especially diseases that may curtail his quality of life such as liver diseases, mental health conditions, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, overweight and obesity, nutritional-related conditions such as Vitamin A depletion and folate deficiency, and the risk of getting dependent on it (NHMRC, 2014). Moreover, alcohol has socioeconomic consequences that result from its cognitive inhibition such as reckless driving and offensive behavior (NHMRC, 2014). Felix was educated on the health and socioeconomic effects of alcohol. The earlier he cuts down on his drinking, the better will be his quality of life (Pereira et al., 2013). He was also given his State’s quitline numbers in case he found it difficult quitting alcohol consumption. Physical Exercise Felix does not exercise much. He walks daily from his home to the bus station that is a distance of about half a kilometer. He claims the noon walks to the bus station to be the only time he has to walk for a long distance. He has not enrolled in any gym or physical fitness centers. He occasional does weeding and pruning of the family’s small flower garden and usually addresses minor in-house and outdoor repairs. He cleans the outside of the house and the garage but does not engage in any other physical activities. He says that most of his friends gather and engage in morning walks as early as six in the morning, a time that he admits he is incapable of rising and joining his friends as he sleeps very late. Physical inactivity and highly sedentary lifestyle are both jointly and independently associated with increased BMI, waist circumference and body fat (Du et al., 2013). These elements are a risk factor to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and cardiac diseases. Physical activity enhances brain cognitive functions, decreases levels of stress hormones and enhances immune functions of the body (Bherer, Erickson & Ambrose, 2013; Du et al., 2013). Felix was advised to begin routine exercise be it in the gym or a local sports club to cut down on his weight and benefit from the attributes of physical fitness while improving his quality of life (Huang & Acevedo, 2011). Emotional and Mental Health Felix's emotions have a direct impact on his ability to perform various physical and mental activities both at home and his work place. He admits to feeling lethargic in addition to a deterioration in his physical health when experiencing "emotional misbalance". During such times, he usually feels sad and "totally hopeless". These negative emotions, he adds, shadows his work, skills, ideas and his behavior making him to occasionally become harsh to his family members. Positive emotions widen his cognitive capacity making him more accommodative and embrace novel possibilities, new suggestions and ideas. Examples of positive emotions he cites include hope, contentment and joy. He says that he is more open minded, creative, and has better problem-solving emotional and intellectual potential when experiencing happiness and satisfaction in his life. However, he is concerned that his daughter is getting deeper into adolescence, and she is becoming careless and occasionally rude. Her school performance had been dropping in the past six months, and he feels he is probably not doing enough to contain and streamline her daughter's life and academics. Felix admits to frequently having sleep disturbances especially insomnia. Felix understands the benefits of positive emotions in his social and family life. Engaging in positive events and rumination improves individuals’ wellbeing including life satisfaction and positive affect while focusing on negative aspects of life and thoughts diminishes life satisfaction (Quoidbach, Berry, Hansenne & Mikolajczak, 2010). Therefore, Felix was encouraged to limit his negative emotions and embrace acts of kindness, appreciate himself for his progress in life and being optimistic over his future and that of his family. (Quoidbach et al., 2010). His sleep disturbances are probably linked to his late evening beer consumption (Pereira et al., 2013). He was advised to curb his late night alcohol consumption to ameliorate his sleep. Felix was advised not to blame himself for her daughter’s change in behavior as adolescence is often accompanied by such alterations in attitude and manners that are, fortunately reversible. A counselor's contacts were given to Felix to assist him improve on his coping skills and better his emotional and mental wellbeing (Quoidback et al., 2010). Occupational History Felix is a software engineer who works for a company that has specialized in software development. He loves his jobs despite the late night shifts. He starts his working shift at half past one in the afternoon and completes at half past ten at night. His work entails a lot of programming that gets him sited throughout his working hours He arrives home at late midnight when his wife and daughter are both asleep. Her wife is a college lecturer and works in the course of the day. Since he sleeps and arises late, he has limited time to bond with his family and even share meals with the wife and daughter. However, he spares a few hours over the weekend to take his family on excursions. Felix’s working hours deny him sufficient time to interact with his family that has made him feel that he has underperformed in his role as a dad and husband. His shift hours can be a setback to his social, conjugal, psychosocial and family life (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010). Felix may need to request his employer to facilitate a change in working hours to alternate day and late night shift to enable him spend more time with his family and prevent an imminent work-family conflict. It shall also be good to his health as he shall be able to eat at normal hours with his family members and reduce his erratic eating habits (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010). Conclusion Psychosocial assessment gives an overall perspective of a patient’s psychosocial wellbeing by allowing the patient to dialogue with a HCW. 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