Chapter 7
BROADER ASPECTS OF THE FAMILY’S EMBEDDED CONTEXTUAL SYSTEM
Chapter Outline
THE CHRONOSYSTEM AND ITS PERVASIVE EFFECTS
Chronosystem Characteristics
The Chronosystem as A Life Course
ASPECTS OF THE MESOSYSTEM
Peer Relationships
Preschool, School and Child Care
Work, Employment, and Underemployment
Play: Adult and Child
Health Care Systems
Social Support Systems
EXOSYSTEM
Peer Relationships
Educational Systems
Work and Play
Health Care Systems
Social Support Systems
MACROSYSTEM
Social Policy
Denham 1E Chapter 7-2
Health and Public Policy
Larger Environments
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to:
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Identify aspects of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem relevant to health.
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Differentiate potential interactions between individuals, family sub-systems, and families and the broad contextual systems where they are embedded.
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Describe potential relationships between the embedded context, development, health, and well-being. THE CHRONOSYSTEM AND ITS PERVASIVE EFFECTS
Although understandings about the family microsystem are important, nurses desiring to provide family-focused care must also possess knowledge and skills pertaining to the larger contextual systems affecting individual and family lives. This chapter provides a more complete description of the dimensions that influence lives of individuals, family sub-systems, and families: the exosystem, mesosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. The complex processes that transpire among embedded systems are not insulated events, but initiate, sustain, mediate, and terminate dynamic processes pertaining to development, health, and well-being.
In 1988, the Institute of Medicine provided a wake-up call to the nation when it declared the public health system was in disarray and characterized by poor organization, inadequate capacities to fulfill public’s