Book Review and its Application to Nursing
Amanda Jette Knox’s Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family
Introduction
Amanda Jette Knox’s Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family is an inspiring story of frustration, transition, acceptance, love, and support. The plot of this story is mainly characterized and developed by Jette Knox and her family members. As a young girl, Amanda Jette Knox wished for a stable and happy life. She grew up a chaotic background without her biological father and she hoped for a better life in future. At the age of 20, she weds the love of her life and they are blessed with three children. Their second child struggles with depression that affects his school performance. Knox is short when her beloved son turns out to be transgender at the age of 11.
Besides this transition, Jette Knox has also struggled with her spouse’s moodiness for years. It turns out after their third child that Knox’s partner is also transgender. Knox tries as much as she can to make things work for her family despite the transition. She does not find any role models for her predicament and she decides to make her family a role model. She manages to make all her family members happy through love and support despite the frustrations. This paper explains how one’s background can influence patient care by accepting the past and struggling to make a better future. The paper also examines ethical issues related to respect, acceptance, cultural competence, and non-judgmental attitudes among health caregivers. Additionally, this paper describes issues related to access to health care, including insurance cover for gender reassignment surgery in the LGBTQ+ community.
Foundations of Care
Provision of health care services is defined by one’s personal behaviors, their genetic make-up, their past history of accessing quality health care, and the general background environment. These socio-cultural determinants are conceptualized to have tremendous influence on health care service provision in multi-levels throughout one’s lifetime. Some people grow up with a lot of struggles that lead to poor health care services. There are those who lose hope and develop detest for health care in general. Others draw encouragement and motivation to pursue course in health care services and offer solution for their communities. Jette Knox grows up in a chaotic environment that makes her desire for a better future. Things do not turn out to be as desirable as she had thought that she exercises zeal and determination to ensure her family life is successful.
In Amanda Jette Knox’s Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family, the author is confronted with serious and unique transitions when her son turns out to be transgender. Despite the problems with her husband’s moodiness, Knox is determined to show love and support her family. When her husband also turns out to be transgender, Knox tries to seek for a role model but she does not find any. She resolves to do everything to make her family happy and make it a role model for others.
Personal Values/ Ethical Dilemmas
Nurses and other health care service providers must understand their personal values so as to provide services ethically. These personal values include acceptance, respect, cultural competence, and non-judgmental attitudes. Health caregivers should demonstrate compassion, care, love and support towards patients. A health service provider encounters ethical dilemmas such as patient privacy and confidentiality, relationships, end-of-life issues, and transmission of diseases in some cases. Patient caregivers must demonstrate strong personal values and overcome hindrances of ethical dilemmas to deliver quality services to their patients.
Amanda Jette Knox’s Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family, the author demonstrates strong love and attachment to her family. She meets her spouse as a teenager and remains true to him despite the marital abuse and moodiness from the husband. The situation is compounded when the son turns to be transgender. She understands that their child needs protection and love from the family to avoid stigma. She devotes much effort to ensure that their child is happy but her husband also turns out to be transgender. She does not expose them to the public for stigma. She looks for a solution that makes all her family members happy. Nursing caregivers to transgender patients should adhere to the principles of autonomy, benefice, non-maleficence, and justice.
Legal Issues/Patient Advocacy
LGBTQ+ and other transgender people often face some degree of anxiety and bias in the provision of healthcare services. A study conducted by Lambda Legal revealed that more than 70% of transgender people had faced discrimination in health care services in 2011. Another survey established that out of 6000 transgender people in America, 20 percent reported having been denied access to healthcare. Therefore, patient caregivers need to demonstrate cultural competence to end disparities experienced in healthcare services.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family is a book that seeks to emphasize the possibility of rising above frustrations and transitions to achieve a happy life. The message conveyed is that people should not let life’s challenges and frustrations to pin them down and kill their dreams. From this book, one learns that love and determination are two critical values required in the provision of health care services for transgender people. As a nurse, this book provides information on how to be culturally competent when caring for the transgender and avoid being judgmental or biased.
References:
Wichinski, K. A. (2015). Providing culturally proficient care for transgender patients. Nursing, 45(2), 58–63. doi: 10.1097/01.nurse.0000456370.79660.f8