N480 The Pritchett Family

The Pritchett Family Modern Family

Roxanna Koosha CSUSM School of Nursing N480 ISSUU Visual Report Dr. Sprague

Meet the Pritchett’s!

Jay Pritchett (63) Jay might seem like a businessman first and then a family man, but he does both simultaneously. He raised his two kids, Claire and Mitchell, as a single father while starting and running his successful closet business in Los Angeles, CA. He divorced his first wife and mother of his children, DeDe, remarried years later, and now has a step-son. When he’s not working or spending time with family, he loves playing golf at the country club, fishing with friends, or even spending time with his beloved pug, Stella.

Claire Dunphy (39) Claire is the older child and now has 3 children of her own with her husband, Phil Dunphy.

She was once a wild and irresponsible teenager herself, but is now a strict and protective stay-at-home mother who is incredibly organized. She likes being involved her kids’ lives by supporting their school work and extracurricular activities, all while staying healthy by running daily and cooking meals for her family.

Mitchell Pritchett (38) Mitchell is the younger child and is now in a committed partnership with Cameron Tucker as they raise their adopted daughter, Lily, together. Mitchell is an uptight lawyer at an environmental law firm who gets stressed out and overwhelmed a little too easily. He embodies a stereotypical type-A personality, where everything needs to be in its place and everything must happen in a certain way. He likes spending time with family, travelling, vacationing, and enjoys art shows and galleries with friends.

Delia “DeDe” Pritchett (63) DeDe is the mother of Mitchell and Claire, and Jay’s first wife. Although Jay originally planned on divorcing DeDe early on in their marriage, he decided to stick it out and be a family man until his kids were grown. DeDe did not have the same mentality. She left her husband and young children to run away and “find herself” because she and Jay were constantly fighting. DeDe claims she wanted to try to make herself happy by leaving the unfortunate and unhappy situation she created in hopes of finding a better one. She travels, dates occasionally, and shows up every now and then, only to cause chaos in her former family members’ lives.

DeDe’s Diagnosis: Narcissism DeDe suffers from narcissism, a psychological disorder in which an individual lacks empathy, believes they are superior to others, and think very highly of themselves (Day et al., 2020). DeDe’s persona is typically manipulative, aggressive, and she bends any situation to portray herself as a hero or victim, despite being the clear source of tension and often the one at fault.

She constantly attempts to be the center of attention, even when inappropriate, and behaves as if she must prove something to her family when she is around them; narcissistic traits tied to low relationship satisfaction (Sened et al., 2020). DeDe visited Claire’s family for dinner once and brought Claire’s ex-boyfriend from high school as a date. DeDe spoke condescendingly to Claire throughout dinner regarding her home, cooking, and life choices in general. When Claire became understandably and visibly upset, DeDe claimed Claire was simply jealous. This displays DeDe’s tendency to not only be incredibly critical of others, but her self-absorbed demeanor. DeDe was completely unable to grasp Claire’s reasonable frustration in this situation because of her inability to express compassion or empathy.

Duvall Developmental Stages Duvall is a family theorist who created the Family Developmental and Life Cycle theory, which utilizes the eldest child in the family to determine which of eight developmental stages the family is experiencing (Kaakinen et al, 2015). A family progresses through their life cycle when they encounter a disturbance to their homeostatic state. Family adaptations and eventual triumph to accommodate the challenge allows movement into the next developmental stage. The Pritchett family is in the “middle-age” stage because Claire has her own family and the parents are now empty-nesters. Claire and Mitchell are both in their late 30’s and their primary focus is to support their own marriages, secure their eventual retirement, and maintain a relationship with their original nuclear family. Within their respective families, Claire is in the “family with adolescents” stage as her eldest daughter is 16 and she is concerned with her daughter’s education and future.

Mitchell is in the “family with preschool children” stage because Lily is now 3 years old and he’s learning about her growth and development, but striving to maintain intimacy with Cameron. DeDe and Jay are in the “aging” stage of family development since they are grandparents and in retirement. However, DeDe lives alone and Jay lives with his second wife and step-son.

Family Culture & Religion The Pritchett family is an upper middle-class family. Jay’s successful closet business permitted him to buy a modern home in an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood, and was still able to provide the down payment for both of his children’s homes. Jay is incredibly close with his kids and lives within minutes of either one. He created a tight-knit extended family bond between his own blended family and Claire and Mitchell’s families.

These 3 families spend a great deal of time together. Unfortunately, since DeDe left Jay and her kids, she constantly moves and is rarely around. She became quite estranged and is not an involved mother nor grandmother since she only occasionally visits. Jay, Claire, and Mitchel do not really consider DeDe as part of their family, excluding her from family photos, vacations, and other gatherings. The Pritchett’s would not be considered a religious family as they do not attend church nor express any religious beliefs.

Communication Pritchett’s obtain a wide range of communication methods. Jay and Mitchell’s primary verbal method comes off as blunt, terse, and sometimes a little offensive with their level of honesty.

DeDe’s communication method is dramatic with gestures and over-bearing because she only talks about herself, showing little to no interest in others’ lives. Claire is abrupt, loud, and occasionally seen as bossy, especially when her arms are crossed or she puts a hand on her hip, but she means well. Every Pritchett has an advanced degree in sarcasm, as they are seen quipping at each other with witty comebacks or comical side-comments. The whites of their eyes are seen too often as they roll back into their heads when a Pritchett becomes argumentative or annoyed.

Despite their tongue-in-cheek nature, the family is capable of sharing heartfelt moments when necessary, including warm hugs and kisses.

Strengths:

Challenges:

● ●

●

● ● ●

Tight-knit, loving nuclear and extended family Members express clear and honest emotions and struggles with other family members Jay is always supportive of his children’s endeavours DeDe tries her best to stay in touch with her family via postcards or christmas cards Mitchell and Claire maintained a close sibling bond throughout childhood and into adulthood

● ● ● ●

Dede’s continuous absence in the family’s life cycle and constant ridicule of Claire Jay’s discomfort with Mitchell and his partner’s lifestyle Every Pritchett is strongly opinionated, leading to confrontational arguments and grudges DeDe favoring Mitchell while Jay favors Claire, causing heightened tension in the family DeDe’s blatant jealousy of Jay’s wife, life outcome, and bond with the children

Family Assessment & Intervention Model The Family Assessment and Intervention Model believes families are dynamic systems interacting with their environment and it reviews how families react to external stressors (Kaakinen et al., 2015). The model describes family structure and strength as the core, which is buffered by familial defense mechanisms to protect the family’s base level functioning and processing. These lines of defense include the ability to adapt to and manage challenges. The outermost layer portrays the environment, which are stressors such as illness, attempting to penetrate the protective barrier and dismantle the core. This model utilizes family strengths to develop appropriate and effective prevention and intervention tools.

The Pritchett family’s environmental stressor is DeDe’s narcissism. Since she expressed no intention of resolving her issues nor any desire to remain physically near them, she becomes the stressor. The family core is then comprised of the tight-knit connections and interactions between Jay, Mitchell, and Claire; this is their greatest strength. When DeDe visits, often unannounced, her inability to control her narcissistic tendencies shakes the core. The trio’s defense incorporates an instinct to protect each other when threatened by forces outside their close bond, even if it is another loosely tied family member. DeDe’s relationship with Claire and Mitchell does not hold a candle to their attachment to Jay, especially with her sporadic visits.

Although DeDe’s narcissism can be managed, she stated she cannot put aside her ego for the opportunity of reuniting with her family. Despite their love and concern for DeDe, her narcissism prevents the family from building a strong and lasting relationship with her. Therefore, the most realistic interventions are to focus on Claire, Michell, and Jay’s as a core family unit. Monitoring their own feelings and utilizing resources can help ensure DeDe’s presence does not breach their defense line. Speaking out about how DeDe impacts their lives is another important intervention the Pritchett trio should practice to keep their core resilient, united, and closely tied.

Outcomes & Interventions Diagnosis: The Pritchett’s suffer from interrupted family processes related to a shift in family roles and situational crises as evidenced by the remaining Pritchett’s altered communication style and decreased available emotional support for each other because they become irritable and stressed with DeDe’s absence and her infrequent visits.

Intervention #1: Pritchett’s will acknowledge the range of emotions and feelings that

Outcome #1: The Pritchett’s will

may be experienced when DeDe’s presence disrupts their regular day-to-day.

Rationale: Jay, Claire, and Mitchell are affected by DeDe’s lack of physical and emotional presence throughout their lives, and sudden reappearances can trigger an upheaval of feelings that may not be expressed in a controlled manner. Acceptance of each other’s emotions and expression of emotions is important for their adjustments as a family unit (Ackley et. al, 2020).

identify ways to cope effectively and try to use appropriate support systems, such as each other or their respective nuclear families, when DeDe visits.

Intervention #2: Motivate family members to speak openly

Outcome #2: The

about DeDe’s illness and keep in mind the importance of establishing informal roles for decision making.

Rationale: Encouraging Pritchett’s to establish informal roles amongst themselves supports open communication and can improve the quality of life by helping each other derive solutions and face challenges together (Ackley et. al, 2020).

Pritchett’s will participate in family meetings to discuss how DeDe’s narcissism affects them and roles each person can assume to help decide how to manage DeDe’s presence.

Intervention #3: Provide family-centered care to explore and use all

Outcome #3: The Pritchett’s will

available resources appropriate for the situation including counseling, social services and self-help groups.

Rationale: Family centered-care involves multiple members of the healthcare team interacting with multiple members of the family. This yields the most successful outcome for Jay, Mitchell, and Claire when they learn how to cope together regarding their absent and ill family member, DeDe.

demonstrate knowledge of potential risks when DeDe’s presence is anticipated to, or does, cause disturbances and determine appropriate measures to minimize the risk of breaches to their core.

References Ackley, B. J., Ladwig, G. B., Flynn, M. M., Martinez-Kratz, M. R., & Zanotti, M. (2020). Nursing diagnosis handbook: An evidence-based guide to planning care (12th ed.). Elsevier.

Day, N. J. S., Bourke, M. E., Townsend, M. L., & Grenyer, B. F. S. (2020). Pathological Narcissism: A Study of Burden on Partners and Family. Journal of Personality Disorders, 34(6), 799–813. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csusm.edu/10.1521/pedi_2019_33_413 Kaakinen, J., Duff-Gedaly, V., Hanson, S. & Coelho, D. (2015) Family health care nursing: Theory, practice and research (5th ed). F.A. Davis: Philadelphia.

Sened, H., Bar-Kalifa, E., Pshedetzky-Shochat, R., Gleason, M., & Rafaeli, E. (2020). Mom-and-Pop Narcissism: The Impact of Attention Seeking and Grandiosity on Couples’ Experience of the Transition to Parenthood. Journal of Personality Disorders, 34(4), 499–518. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csusm.edu/10.1521/pedi_2019_33_442

Image References ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

https://modernfamily.fandom.com/wiki/DeDe_Pritchett https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Jay_Pritchett https://modernfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Claire_Dunphy https://modernfamily.fandom.com/wiki/Mitchell_Pritchett https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1627449/ https://modernfamily.fandom.com/wiki/The_Incident https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a822608/modern-family-relationships-ranked/ https://screenrant.com/modern-family-similarities-differences-jay-claire-mitchell-pritchett/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1900348/ https://tvgag.com/gag/remember-how-wild-we-were/ https://screenrant.com/modern-family-dede-pritchett-treated-unfairly-worst-character/ https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/modern-family-season-312-egg-drop-recap/ https://www.hallofseries.com/modern-family/modern-family-jay-pritchett-evoluzione/