P. Astedt-kurki et al., Family health in everyday life: a qualitative study on well-being in families with children, J ADV NURS, 29(3), 1999, pp. 704-711
This article describes the subjective health views of young Finnish familie
s with children. The data were collected in unstructured focused interviews
with 19 families, most of whom were interviewed twice. Set within a phenom
enological-hermeneutic framework, the study applies a qualitative method in
order to uncover the meanings attached by the families to different facets
of their everyday life. Health is an integral part of the everyday life of
families with children, comprising various dimensions of experienced well-
being and unwell-being, security and different life-habits. Social networks
are crucial to family health: they can either strengthen or undermine expe
rienced health. Professionals working with families in the health care syst
em need to have at least a basic knowledge of the different dimensions of f
amily health: this helps to identify and understand the individual ways in
which families work to promote their health and well-being. This knowledge
of family health is also important for research purposes. Health care profe
ssionals also need to know more about how families cope with their everyday
problems and about how client families can be supported. More research is
needed on the concepts of family health and on how those concepts are appli
ed to practice in different health care sectors and in education.