Family Definitions
Families are viewed as systems with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Whenever the term family is used many assume that everyone has similar assumptions and meanings. However, failure to make meanings explicit often means that the family is interpreted as white, middle class, heterosexual, two parents, and Euro-American ancestry. Myths about families often come from white middle-class projections of experience. Dominant cultures have ways of swaying what characterizes a traditional family as universally desirable and the standard. Failure to define family explicitly means that unintended ideas become standards for judgments, comparisons, and biases and powerful groups distinguish others as "they" or "them."
In single published works, speeches or conversations, authors, policy makers, educators, and health care providers often slide from one definition to another without noting differences. What does it mean when religious activists speak of family values? When legislators speak about family health? When physicians speak of family practice? When nurses talk about family care? Ideas are too often oblique and unclear!
In single published works, speeches or conversations, authors, policy makers, educators, and health care providers often slide from one definition to another without noting differences. What does it mean when religious activists speak of family values? When legislators speak about family health? When physicians speak of family practice? When nurses talk about family care? Ideas are too often oblique and unclear!
Family attributes to consider:
- Family is a system or a unit.
- Members may or may not be related or live together.
- Family may or may not have children.
- Members have commitments and attachments to one another that imply present and future obligation.
- Family protect, nourish, and socialize its members.
Focusing on member ages and family life stage (e.g., engagement, marriage, parenthood, families with various aged children, retirement), subgroups (e.g., single parents, adolescent parents, families with chronically ill children, step-families), context (e.g., cultural, social, political, historical, and temporal settings), and diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, homosexual, inter-racial) are important issues when considering family definitions. Families vary over the lifespan and across developmental stages of all members.
In fact, we could say that a family is who they say they are! In other words, the families describe themselves in terms of their own beliefs and experience. This definition can expand far beyond the household and traditional thinking about the family of origin or the family of procreation. Families are often bound by a sense of belonging that extends beyond biology, law, religious, or social implications.
In the region of Appalachia, many families live near and share their lives closely with extended members. Some Appalachian families have lived in the same county or area most or all of their lives. Family members are often deeply engaged with one another as they share regular communication and have strong expected responsibilities that remain throughout their life. While this may be true for others in the nation, family expectations and reliance may be greater for many of these families than what mainstream American families experience. Thus, it becomes very important to understand the meaning to family those in the region and to consider roles they play in the health and illness of their members.
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Diabetes: A Family Matter
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