A family perspective on population health: the case of child health and the family.
BACKGROUND
This paper makes the case for a family perspective on population health and specifically focuses on how children's health can impact family health and well-being.


OBJECTIVE
To review and synthesize the diverse set of papers that has examined the associations and linkages between children's health and family health.


RESULTS
Based on the synthesis of the existing literature, additional research is needed that focuses on (1) the longitudinal impact of childhood chronic illness on the family using national samples, (2) the application of interdisciplinary methodologies to studying childhood chronic illness in the family, and (3) understanding the psychobiology of caring for a child with a chronic illness and the concordance of such measures with self-reported stress and burden.


CONCLUSIONS
We propose a new integrated conceptual framework for better understanding the mechanisms that influence children's health and health care.
Witt
Whitney P
WP
Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 610 N Walnut St, Office 503, Madison, WI 53726, USA. wwitt@wisc.edu
DeLeire
Thomas
T
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002908:Chronic Disease; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005192:Family Health; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013315:Stress, Psychological