Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay Definition: "A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government" (Wickipedia). I am a registered nurse and a psychologist. My greatest desire is to move family nursing forward and change health care (assessment and intervention) to…
First International Family Nursing Conference Participants with Dr. Lorraine Wright and Dr. Maureen Leahey (1988) The First International Family Nursing Conference was hosted in May 1988 by the University of Calgary, Faculty of Nursing and chaired by Dr. Lorraine M. Wright (450 participants from 15 countries attended this first conference). In 2021 the 15th International…
I'm currently doing some writing about the importance of family interventions in illness. I would like to offer some new integrative reviews and my favorite references (the oldies but goodies) that provide a convincing argument for family-level relational interventions that involve the whole family unit or part of the family unit experiencing illness (as opposed…
I've been thinking a lot about the struggle we have to make ideas "stick". In my work of creating and disseminating family nursing knowledge, I invite nurses to change their beliefs and behavior about families and "get" the benefits that exist for families and nurses when families are included in health care. Chip Heath and…
Photos compliments of the International Family Nursing Association: https://internationalfamilynursing.org/2015/04/12/family-nursing-in-action-request-for-photos/ I was invited to offer a keynote at the British Columbia Quality and Safety Council's preconference forum on Patient and Family Centered Care. Yesterday's group wasn't my usual tribe of family nursing scholars and practitioners. Instead it was an interesting group of health care providers, legislators,…
“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted” ~Albert Einstein Measuring how families function in health and illness has been explored in several scholarly books and journal articles. I would like to highlight the important work that several of my family nursing colleagues are doing to develop…
I'm calling on all my family nursing colleagues around the world to harness the power of social media in order to spread the word about the incredible work YOU are doing to ADVANCE family nursing and advocate for family-focused health care. It is now possible to share your ideas and your products with like-minded health…
Honoring the outstanding contributions of my family nursing colleagues around the world who have helped to develop and advance family nursing has been a joyful privilege for me as Editor of the Journal of Family Nursing. I had the pleasure of first recognizing and offering Family Nursing Awards to outstanding family nursing scholars in 2005 at…
I was recently invited to develop a list of 30 Foundational Leaders in Family Nursing. What an honor to be given an opportunity to reflect on the relatively short history of the family nursing movement (which began in the late 1970's) and identify the early "shakers and movers"--individuals in family nursing who helped lay the early…
I have a burning desire as a family nurse to increase the capacity of nurses to practice with families. How can we help new and experienced health care professionals learn how to address illness suffering and family healing? Photo compliments of the International Family Nursing Association My dream for our community of family nursing is that we…