How does communication impact a healthy family?

Reflect on how your understanding of family has changed and what you may have thought was functional before this class. What is a healthy family to you? How does communication impact a healthy family? How does health, as discussed in Chapter 12, fit with your current family? What was something in this chapter that surprised you? In this discussion, feel free to expand beyond the chapter to share your experiences over the semester.

This chapter examines two components of family well-being:

1) physical health and

2) satisfaction with family relationships.

To deal with these issues, the first part of the chapter covers family communication and health, including a discussion of health-influence behaviors, health care interactions, discussions about genetic risk, and family communication patterns regarding illness. The second part of the chapter addresses family functioning from both therapeutic and theoretical perspectives. Support/enrichment programs and therapeutic techniques for improving marital and family dynamics are discussed.