Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Family Today (original) (raw)

A Healthy Family - the Foundation for a Healthy Society

2016

The healthy family, as the prerequisite for the authentic humanity of human beings, and a secure foundation for building a more humane society, should be priority of the Church as well as social programs and projects. Family, as the natural union of man and woman, has its foundation in the Creator, God, and therefore, cannot be left to the arbitrary will of individuals or society.

Characteristics of a Healthy Family and Family Strengths: A Cross-Cultural Study

This study explored how American and Taiwanese students viewed the ideal model of a healthy family in the 1980s and showed that contemporary families are changing and coping, not breaking up and dying. The subjects were 649 students from six universities in Indiana and Taiwan. The questionnaire was composed of 127 items that focused on five issues: (1) attitudes toward different family lifestyles; (2) opinions of family problems and family life in America and Taiwan; (3) family strength measurement; (4) characteristics of a healthy family; and (5) appraisal of childhood, parental marriage, religiosity, and other general demographic information. Although there were significant differences in their views on the characteristics of a healthy family, 16 characteristics were identified by over 85 percent of the college students studied as being related to a healthy family. Twenty-one social demographic variables were found to have significant correlations with either the family life evalu...

Characteristics of a Healthy Family

1994

The reason for studying the characteristics of a healthy family is to encourage and strengthen the family and to move toward an enriched family life by using the characteristics as bench marks. Six characteristics are discussed as the essence of a healthy family: (1) commitment; (2) togetherness; (3) appreciation; (4) good communication; (5) spiritual well-being; and (6) coping with crisis and stress. The commitment section focuses on the survival of the family through the different roles in the family coordinating, working together, and being supportive of each other. The togetherness section presents the importance of families arranging family time together. The appreciation section examines the need of individuals to be appreciated and admired by others. The next section describes how good communication creates a sense of belonging, reduces frustration, and enhances marital relations. The spiritual well-being section indicates that healthy families stress spirituality and work toward a common mission. The final section on coping with crisis and stress delineates 10 common coping strategies utilized by healthy families and suggests the ;mportance of a family's willingness to change and make changes. Contains 18 references. (CK)

The health-promoting family: a conceptual framework for future research

Social Science & Medicine

There has so far only been little research attention given to how families actively engage in promoting their health in everyday life. In this paper a theoretical framework is proposed for studies of the 'health-promoting family' with particular focus on children's health and well-being. This paper sets out a conceptual model for understanding how the family can play a part in promoting both the health of children and children's capacities as health-promoting actors. It draws on contemporary social science approaches to health, the family and children, suggesting a new emphasis on the family's ecocultural pathway, family practices and the child as a health-promoting actor.

Strong Families Around the World

Marriage & Family Review, 2007

The family is one of society's oldest and most resilient institutions. Although the structure of the family may vary around the world, the value of family endures. Most of the research on families, historically speaking, has focused primarily on the problems or weaknesses of families. Over the past three decades, researchers have studied families from a strengths-based perspective. Around the world researchers have found that families are amazingly similar. The similarities point to a set of qualities that describe the characteristics of strong families. These qualities are showing appreciation and affection, commitment, positive communication, enjoyable times together, spiritual well-being, and the ability to manage stress and crisis effectively. Twenty-two propositions have also been suggested that have relevance in how we look at families in general. The information has relevance and purpose and should serve to inform and expand our thinking about families. The information may have significance to some specific areas and particular fields, especially to the areas of family services, family education, marital and family therapy, and social policy.

The Healthy and the Unhealthy Family: Research in Family Interaction

The Individual and the Group, 1982

The clinical method is a form of brief focal family therapy whose theory integrates objective description with subjective reports and historical details, and builds in a way of evaluating outcome. This paper integrates and summarises a programme of research which has been developed within the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. The work was instigated and maintained by clinicians who constituted them-* The work described in this paper has been carried out by the Family Studies Group in the

Family in contemporary society

Independent Journal of Management & Production

Family as a concept is flexible, thus prone to changes concerning the needs of the modern industrial society. Roles within the family are structured following the contemporary conditions, following the emancipation of women, reduction in the male workforce due to mechanization, and increased presence of grandparents as caregivers, due to increased life expectancy. The main objective of this scientific work is to analyse relevant standpoints regarding the function and sustainability of family, while taking into account external influences such as economic status, political situation, as well as societal norms and values. The identification of these challenges helps us determine the extent to which family structure and function is able to adopt to rapid globalisation that is taking place. Globalization is opening many doors, giving us freedom of choice in terms of family structure and roles, while simultaneously forcing us to find our identity through labeling ourselves as “this”, “th...