The Banks Family

Introduction

Vivian Age 45 Philip Age 50 The Banks family is an African American family that lives in the high income are of Bel air in Los Angeles California. Phil and Vivian banks are married and have been for 25+ years. They have 4 biological children, Hilary, Carlton, Ashley, and Nicky. Also part of the family unit is Will the nephew sent to live with them from Philadelphia by his single mother to avoid him falling to local violence. Uncle Phil works as a local Judge. The banks family experiences a myriad of obstacles navigating as a mixed family, including health issues.

Introduction: The kids

Hilary Age: 255

Carlton age: 200 Will age: 20

Ashley age: 13 Nicky age: 5

Family Dynamics:

● Nicky: Nicky, the youngest child. A source of innocence in the family. ● Ashley: the second to the youngest in discovering herself and the world around her, starting to rebel against the strict rules of her parent with influence from her cousin Will. ● Carlton: one of the middle children and the first male, intelligent and looking to mirror and impress his father.

He is often the first to want to play by the rules. ● Will: The adopted cousin, brought into the family from the inner city due to violence. Was raised by a single mother prior to moving to Bel-Air. Will a a major source of humor in the household with a laid back attitude. Is often the cause of conflict in the house due to difference his upbringing and his new surrounding as well as his various antics. ● Hilary: The oldest child, often the most spoiled and self centered, having grown up getting everything that she ever wanted. She is easily able to manipulate her father for things. ● Vivian: The highly educated mother of the household and seen as the less strict parent and and emotional outlet for the family. ● Phillip (Uncle Phil): The primary Income source for the family, work as a judge in Bel-Air. Has chronic health conditions such as obesity. Is the stricter of the parents and often has a short temper.

Duvall Developmental stages Communication:

The banks family has three different developmental stage that they are in due to the wide range of children. The banks family consists of an extended family due to will being adopted in. ● Families with school aged-children

○ Nicky, the youngest child, is in kindergarten and is just beginning to work out authority and socialization with other school aged children as well as focusing on education development. ● Families with teenagers

○ Will, Carlton, and Ashley are all adolescents who are just beginning to balance freedom and responsibility as well as developing their own interests separate from the adults in their lives ● Families Launching young adults:

○ Hilary the oldest child, is just starting up her new career as a TV host and is getting adjusted to life being less dependent on her parents. The family often has a very open and direct communication style. The children in the family are able to be more direct about their feelings and how they feel about family issues with one another. The parents are very direct in their communication with the children often explicitly stating what they expect of them and how they expect them to behave. One the area of communication that can be lacking some time is between the children and the parent. The children often feel as though they can’t express themselves properly to the parents due to the high expectation often put upon then. Communication from the children to the parents is often shut down when Uncle Phil disagrees with someone making it hard to communicate all of their feeling and points of view. Non verbal communication with the family is limited but can be shown in time of hardship through actions such as hugs

Cultural, Religion, Strengths & Challenges

Family strengths

● Highly educated parents and children. ● High & stable socioeconomic status ● Strong family ties and genuine love for one another

Religion: The Banks Family is a Christian american family. Uncle Phil was raised a a Baptist in the south. The rest of the family doesn't identify with any specific religion but the family does practices traditional Christian holidays such as christmas. Culture: The Banks family is an African American family. Vivian and Phil were in their younger years heavily involved in the US civil rights movement. Vivan even being a professor in african american studies. Will comes from a predominantly black and low socioeconomic class area in the inner city. The Family lives in a predominantly caucasion and high socioeconomic area which is the cause for a lot of issues and cultural conflict.

Family challenges

● Helicopter parenting style ● Family often disagrees on cultural aspects ● Uncle Phil has a short temper ● Jealousy/ competing between siblings ● High family expectations

Condition: Myocardial Infarction

Philip banks the father and patriarch of the house hold works a high stress and long hour job as a high ranking city judge. Over they years since the Will movies into the house he suffered from chronic obesity as a result of high sugar and high fat diet. As a result of his obesity and unhealthy eating habits he developed high cholesterol. After many attempts by his family at helping him improve is diet and exercise habits he suffers from a sudden myocardial infarction that put him in the hospital. A myocardial Infarction, also commonly known as a heart attack, is a cardiac condition that is typically cause by an occlusion of a coronary vessel that supplies the muscles of by a thrombus. The blocking of the coronary artery causes ischemia due to the lack of oxygen being supplied to the muscles. The thrombus is typically cause by fatty build up in the circulatory system that can cause plaques that suddenly when broken off occluded an artery down the line. (Saleh & Ambrose, 2018)

Family Systems Theory

The family systems theory is based around the idea that all matters and functions in a family are interrelated and affect one another. Some of the core tenants that the Banks family portrays are: ● All part of the system are interconnected

○ Phils myocardial infarct was caused by his families poor choices in food and high stress that they put on him. Him being ill put more stress back on the family. ● The whole is greater than the sum of its parts ○ The banks have a heavy focus on family image wanting each member of the family to be high achieving to bring up one another. ● All family systems have boundaries that vary in permeability, some opn, some closed

○ Phil and vivian have maintained boundaries as the heads of the household. The children have their boundaries and duties that they do. The boundary of who they considered close family changed and grew when Will moved into the house

Problems

● Uncle phil is the primary income for the household, his recovery may strain the family household income and over all family stress ● Carlton is having a hard time accepting the father diagnosis and that his father is not as invincible as he Carlton thought he was and refuses to talk about the illness ● The family must learn overall diet and exercise changes that can be implemented long term Interventions

1. Bring the family together to talk about their experiences, beliefs and expectation surrounding care.: Rationale: Fostering open communication can help provide insight and comfort to families (Denham et . al., 2015, p.283)

a. Outcome: The family will all have an understanding of what happened and what is expected of them and of the care team. 2. Identify and provide information on family support groups to attend or participate in to help the family gain understanding of why they may feel particular ways.

a. The family will have a better understanding of their own emotion surrounding the event. 3. Collaborate the family and members of interdisciplinary team such as physical therapy and dietitian to establish an at home plan of care.Rationale: Family participation in planning with interdisciplinary team offers times for open communication and clarification of information (Denham et . al., 2015, p.282)

a. Outcome: The family will have an overall plan of how to provide and maintain healthy habit with in the house for Phil and he rest of the family.

Works Cited

Saleh, M., & Ambrose, J. A. (2018). Understanding myocardial infarction. F1000Research, 7, F1000 Faculty Rev-1378. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.15096.1 Denham, S., Eggenberger, S., Young, P. & Krumwiede, N. (2015) Family-Focused nursing care. F.A. Davis: Philadelphia. ISBN-13: 9780803629103 Kaakinen, J., Duff-Gedaly, V., Hanson, S. & Coelho, D. (2015) Family health Care nursing: Theory, practice and research (5th ed.). F.A. Davis: Philadelphia. ISBN-13: 9780803639218 Wright, L. & Leahey, M. (2012). Nurses and Families: A guide to family assessment and intervention (6th ed.). F.A. Davis: Philadelphia. ISBN-13 978-0803627390 NBC. (n.d.). Ashley Banks. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-1-pictured-tatyana-ali-asashley-banks-photo-by-news-photo/141317669?adppopup=true.

NBC. (n.d.). Carlton Banks. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-1-pictured-alfonso-ribeiroas-carlton-banks-photo-by-news-photo/141317633?adppopup=true.

NBC. (n.d.). Nicky Banks. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-5-pictured-ross-bagley-asnicky-banks-photo-by-nbcu-news-photo/141012308?adppopup=true.

NBC. (n.d.). Hilary Banks. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-1-pictured-karyn-parsons-ashilary-banks-news-photo/141321925?adppopup=true.

NBC. (n.d.). Uncle Phil hospital. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/home-is-where-theheart-attack-is-episode-10-air-date-news-photo/138428322?adppopup=true.

Uncle Phil. (n.d.). https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-1-pictured-james-avery-asphilip-banks-photo-by-news-photo/141317657?adppopup=true.

Vivan Banks. (n.d.). https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-1-pictured-janet-hubert-asvivian-banks-photo-by-news-photo/141321931?adppopup=true.

Will Smith. (n.d.). https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/season-1-pictured-will-smith-aswilliam-will-smith-photo-by-news-photo/141317653?adppopup=true.