LEVELS OF CLIENTELE

● Client
- a person who is a recipient of professional service
- a recipient of healthcare regardless of the state of health
- a patient

● Patient
- comes from the greek work “pathos” which means “passion” or “suffering” and
from the stem “pathein” which means “to suffer”
- most commonly known as a person waiting for or undergoing medical treatment

● Levels of Clientele
- Individual
+ both seen as clients and patients during homevisits, school clinic,
consultation, and workplace clinic visits
+ consult in a healthcare facility and receive healthcare services in different
forms
- Family
+ Definition:
- a group of people related by blood, marriage, or adoption living
together (US Census Bureau, 2002)
- 2 or more people living in the same household (usually), share a
common emotional bond, and perform certain interrelated social
tasks (Spradley & Alexander, 2000)
+ As a Client:
- family is first and individuals are second
+ As a System:
- focus is on the family as client, and the family is viewed as an
interacting system in which the whole is more than the sum of its
parts
- simultaneously focuses on individual members and the family as a
whole
+ 2 major functions: Reproduction and Socialization
+ Considered as: the basic unit of care
+ 2 basic family structures: Orientation and Procreation
+ Family Types:
- Dyad:
● a married man and woman
- Nuclear:
● a married man and woman with a child/children
● advantages: ability to provide support to family members;
genuine affection
● disadvantages: few family members to offer support and
share burden with
- Binuclear:
● post-divorced family in which biological children are
members of two nuclear households, both that of the
mother and of the father
● children alternate between two homes
● parents have equal responsibilities and legal rights
- Cohabitation:
● heterosexual couple who live together as a family but
remain unmarried
● may be temporary, long-lasting and as meaningful as more
traditional alliance
● offers as much psychological comfort and financial security
as a marriage
- Extended:
● Multigenerational Family
● advantages: contains more people to serve as resources
during crisis; provides more role models for behavior or
values
● disadvantages: family resources both financial and
psychological must be stretched to; accommodate all
members
- Single-parent:
● advantages: close relationship between parent and child;
child independence and self-reliance
● disadvantages: no back-up person; no support person;
decreased financial stability; difficulty in role modeling
● “Identifying the custodial parent is important in signing
consent forms.”
- Blended:
● remarriage and reconstituted
● a divorce or widowed person with a child/children marries
someone who also has children
● advantages: increased security and resources; children
are exposed to different ways of life thus becoming more
adaptive to new situations
● disadvantages: rivalry may arise among children; children
may not welcome the step parent; children may become
distressed at seeing their biological parent
- Communal:
● comprise of groups of people who have chosen to live
together as an extended family
● relationship to each other is motivated by social or religious
values rather than kinship
- Gay/Lesbian:
 ● a homosexual union
● individuals of the same sex live together as partners
● may include children
● offers support in times of crisis
- Foster:
● adopted children with a legal paper (orphans)
● disadvantages: children may experience almost constant
insecurity and may have some emotional difficulties
- Adoptive:
● adopted children even without a legal paper
+ Functions:
- Socialization of children
- Economic
- Care, supervision, monitoring, and interaction
- Reproduction
- Legitimizing sexual relations
- Affection, emotional support, and companionship
+ Roles:
- Wage Earner
- Financial Manager
- Problem-Solver
- Decision Maker
- Nurturer
- Health Manager
- Gatekeeper
+ Tasks:
- Physical Maintenance
- Socialization of Family Members
- Allocation of Resources
- Maintenance of Order
- Division of Labor
- Reproduction, Recruitment, and Existence of Family Members
(Acceptance)
- Placement of Members into the Larger Society
- Maintenance of Motivation and Morale (help, defend, support, and
sense of pride)
+ Stages and Tasks:
- Stage I: Marriage and the Family
● 3 tasks: establish a mutually satisfying relationship; learn
to relate; if applicable, engage in a reproductive life
planning
- Stage II: The Early Child Bearing Family
● birth or adoption of the 1st baby
- Stage III: The Family with Preschool Children
 ● demands a great deal of time related to their growth and
developmental needs and safety considerations
- Stage IV: The Family with School-Age Children
- Stage V: The Family with Adolescent Children
● loosening family ties is the major task
● major health concern is safety
● major causes of adolescent deaths: violence/accidents,
suicide, homicide
- Stage VI: The Launching Center Family
● the children leave to establish their osn households
- Stage VII: The Family of the Middle Aged Parents
● a family returns to a two-partner nuclear unit
● The Prime of Time (opportunity to travel, economic
independence)
● “Empty Nest Syndrome”
- Stage VIII: The Family in Retirement or Older Age
● the individuals are more apt to suffer from chronic and
disabling conditions than younger people
● can take care of their grandchildren
- Community
+ group of people sharing common geographic boundaries and/or common
values and interests within a specific social system
- Population Group
+ share common characteristics, developmental stage, or common
exposure to particular environmental factors like common health
problems, issues, and concerns