Assessment of Family Levels of Functioning Among Civil Servants in Federal Capital Territory Abuja

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The family is a social institution responsible for child upbringing, emotional and economic support for its members. Industrialization has however gone a long way in undermining the traditional structure of the family bringing about lack of role identity of men, changing role in women, peer group and mass media influence on children. All these according to Adebayo and Ogunleye (2010) have resulted in serious family conflicts and dysfunction. A dimension of the dysfunction of the family brought about by industrialization has reduced family cohesion, flexibility, communication patterns and satisfaction within the family, Adebayo and Ogunleye (2010). This study assessed levels of family functioning among civil servants in Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in terms of level of cohesion, flexibility, styles of communication and family satisfaction.

METHODS

The study is a descriptive cross sectional survey. The calculated sample size was 164, 15% of this was added for attrition and non- response rate hence total sample was 189. Multistage sampling technique was used in the selection of civil servants in Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), four stage process was used:

Stage 1- Purposive selection of Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS) from the seven secretariats in FCTA. HHSS was selected by the researcher because it is one of the two biggest secretariats out of seven. Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS) consists of:

i.              HHSS headquarters which is the policy and programme formulation arm of HHSS

ii.             Hospital Management Board (HMB) which is responsible for service implementation, programme and services at secondary health facilities

iii.            Primary health care development Board (PHCDB) which is responsible for service implementation and delivery at primary health care facilities

Stage 2: Random selection of three departments each from HHSS headquarters (Nursing services, pharmaceutical and public health departments), HMB (Medical services, Medical diagnostics and pharmaceutical services department) and PHCDB (Departments of School Health Services, National programme on immunization and Health Education)

Stage 3: From each of the selected department 21 civil servants was randomly selected for the study using their nominal roll as a sample frame

Stage 4: Systematic random sampling was used to determine the selection of the unit of study

Sample interval was determined by the formula:  n =  Population size in the nine departments  

                                                                                                                                Estimated sample size

                                                                                                                                =    1703/ 189 = 9.03

Numbers were assigned to every individual on the nominal roll then random number four was the starting point after which every 9th person on the list was selected till a total of 189 civil servants were selected. Procedure for data collection

After obtaining Ethical approval from the Federal Capital Territory Health Research Committee. Permission was sought from Directors and Heads of department of different unit, self- introduction and detailed explanation of the study was done by the researcher to individual participants.  With the assistance of two trained research assistants, questionnaires were administered to the selected participants from nominal roll in their various offices.  The questionnaire were retrieved back within two to three days. The process of data collection lasted for eight weeks.

 ( One hundred and sixty-six civil servants working in Federal capital territory administration were assessed using questionnaire adapted from standardized Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES IV). Data was processed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Pearson correlation test was used in testing for significant relationships between family communication and satisfaction at 5% level of significance.

RESULTS

Respondents consist of seventy-two males (43.4%) and ninety-four females (56.6%), categorized into four age groups: 21years to 30years; 31years to 40years; 41years to 50years; and 51years to 60 years. Mean age=34 SD= 9.123. Minimum age was 21 years and maximum age 59years. Income level of participants per month was also categorized into five groups. Sixty-one (36.7%) are single; eighty-five (51.2%) are in their first marriage; five (3.0%) are married but not in their first marriage; seven (4.2%) are living together or cohabiting; four (2.4%) claim to be in “live in partnership”; two (1.2%) are widowed and two (1.2%) are separated. Eighty-four (50.6%) of the participants responded to scales based on their Family of Origin, that is they provided information about the family they originated from. The remaining eighty-two (49.4%) of the participants provided information about their Family of Procreation, that is, the family they formed. Of the one hundred and sixty-six participants surveyed, forty-one (24.7%) are living alone; seventy-two (43.4%) are living with partners and children; twenty (12%) are living with parents; twelve (7.2%) are living with others; twelve (7.2%) are living with partner while nine (5.4%) are living with children. Findings showed that 103 (62.1%) families are “connected”, 133 (80.1%) families are “Flexible” 85% of respondents reported very high levels of family communication and over 56.02% of respondents reported high levels of family satisfaction. There was significant positive strong correlation between family communication and family satisfaction(r= .676, p<.01) .

Implication of findings to Community Health and Family Health Nursing practice.

Families in the capital city perceived to be stressful has demonstrated high level of family cohesion and flexibility, positive relationship between communications and overall family satisfaction, the community health nurse is required to use her knowledge and competencies to take the lead role in assessing assets and needs of communities and populations and to propose solutions in partnership with other stakeholders. Community- or population-focused solutions can have widespread influence on health and illness patterns of multiple levels of clients including individuals, families, groups, neighborhoods, communities, and the broader population.

The work of the Family Health Nurse is an interactive activity, in which nurse and family are partners.  It is important for the nurse to put the knowledge that family is a crucial aspect in the quality of life for individuals as families are neither all good nor all bad; therefore nurses need to view family behavior on a continuum of need for intervention when the family comes in contact with the health care system. That is the nurse assess the family system as a whole, as part of the whole society, and as an interaction system.

Assessment of family functioning help the community health Nurse to understand the nature of relationships within the family, that is family, cohesion, adaptability, communication and satisfaction. Family problem areas are identified and family strengths are emphasized as the building blocks for interventions. This will enable the nurse to offer guidance, provide information, and assist in the planning process for understanding family members’ behavior

Recommendations

1.As the findings of this study has shown high level of family functioning, it is recommended that the family health nurse will continue to help families to modify their level of functioning to deal effectively with situational stress and  developmental changes across the family life cycle.

2.Family health nursing a branch of community health Nursing has received attention only in aspect of structure of family and family planning, it is necessary for a comprehensive discourse of the family and family health needs to occur in all core content within nursing curricula in Nigeria.

 

CONCLUSION

The family is the basic unit of the society one of whose major role is the inculcation of positive values  Healthy families promote the emotional, physical and social welfare of individual family members’ .A family system works when its members feel good about the family, their needs are being met, and the development of relationships flows smoothly (Olson, 2000). A healthy, happy family also benefits the whole society. Among the children of strong families there is less crime, less divorce and less emotional problems (Ilongo 2009), They tend to go on and have strong, healthy families of their own, having learned from their folk's example. A happy marriage seems to set the tone in the house. It spills over from the family to the community and a healthy family will be reaching out to help others. Based on the findings of this study recommendations were made. There is need for further research studies that will involve more population addressing family functions in a different Nigerian society.

The families studied have demonstrated high level of cohesion, flexibility  and positive relationship between family satisfaction and family communication in a stressful capital city.