Health promotion in the family: current findings and directives for nursing research*

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Abstract
This paper reviews the current nursing research findings on health promotion within the family and provides directives for future research. The concept of health promotion—the overall enhancement of well being—is contrasted with primary or disease prevention, the specific protection from a health threat. The conceptual parameters of health promotion were used to search the nursing research journals for studies of health promotion in the family. The four major nursing research journals were reviewed and yielded five articles in 105 issues which addressed this phenomenon. The findings from these studies as well as other research literature are used to develop future directives. The directives are presented for both the internal environment of the family and its external environment. Areas for study related to the internal environment include definitions of health and health promotion, descriptions of current health promotion behaviours and those practised over time, decision making, fathering, and methods of intervention. Research ofthe external environment includes the societal norms, societal interventions, and the effects of societal institutions. This discussion of health promotion in the family describes an agenda for nursing research which is necessary to support nursing practice with families if ‘health for all’ is to be reached by the year 2000.