Assessing family strengths to guide plan of care using Hymovich's framework

Including the family as active collaborators in planning and managing care is an integral part of a diabetes education program. A comprehensive family assessment is necessary prior to initiating education. This article reports a family of a child with diabetes; the family had multiple problems and was assessed using Hymovich's framework for assessment of the chronically ill child and family. By using this framework, which focuses on family strengths, it was ascertained that this family's strengths far outweighed their weaknesses and that they were quite capable of actively participating in their child's care.