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How Families Affect Illness

Research on the Family’s Impact on Health

  • Chapter
Family-Oriented Primary Care

Abstract

A basic premise of the biopsychosocial model is that various subsystems (biological, individual, family, community, etc.) impact each other in ways that affect both health and illness. Clinical experience supports the premise that families influence and are influenced by the health of their members and that family-oriented primary care can lead to better care and improved health for both the individual and the family as a whole. However, assumptions and experiences that point toward a new approach to medical care should be scientifically validated through empirical research. This chapter will examine some important lines of research on the family’s impact on health. While much of the family and health research suffers from conceptual and methodological problems (1), there is now a body of well-designed studies and randomized controlled trials (see Table 2.1) which demonstrate that the family has a powerful influence on health. The clinical implications of this research are presented in the Protocol section of the chapter. This research lends support to the contention of family-oriented medical care that a partnership among physician, patient, and family may provide the most effective and efficient form of health care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine and Highland Hospital, Jacob B. Holler Family Medicine Center, University of Rochester, 14620, Rochester, NY, USA

    Susan H. McDaniel, Thomas L. Campbell & David B. Seaburn

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  1. Susan H. McDaniel
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  2. Thomas L. Campbell
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  3. David B. Seaburn
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McDaniel, S.H., Campbell, T.L., Seaburn, D.B. (1990). How Families Affect Illness. In: Family-Oriented Primary Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2096-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2096-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-97056-1

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