Family health meaning

Family health is a state in which the family is a resource for the day-to-day living and health of its members. A family provides its individual members with key resources for healthful living, including food, clothing, shelter, a sense of self-worth, and access to medical care. Further, family health is a socioeconomic process whereby the health of family members is mentioned.

As the basic socioeconomic unit of most societies, the family is the interface between societal and individual health, and the economic interface between the family and society determines what resources are available for a family's health. For example, in some families the father is the primary income earner, yet his skills are marketable only in remote, resource-based communities.

In such families, members may have adequate financial resources for healthful living because of the father's stable employment, though their shared geographic location has the potential to negatively impact access to fresh foods, recreation facilities, and quality health care. Here, the community plays a primary role in mitigating the effects of geographic location.

In healthy communities, many families will benefit from resources available in the community and, in turn, will produce members who contribute in kind, with family dynamics mediating this reciprocal process.

Advantages of family health

While a family may have adequate resources to support its members' health-related decisions, family dynamics influence if, how, when, and by whom resources are accessed. For example, while the family may have adequate financial resources to support the regular physical activity of all members, female family members may be less apt to participate in such activities because of family expectations regarding traditional feminine behavior, such as caregiving and household management.

Further, it is in families that individuals learn about, and are exposed to, behaviors and patterns of living that may be key to their own health.