Over the past four decades, nurses have been changing their usual patterns of clinical practice as they shift from caring for only the “individual patient” to thinking about the “family as the patient” and increasingly welcoming, including, and involving families in nursing practice. Family nursing theories, practice models, and intervention research are contributing to the…
"Arthritis, The Silent Family Member", my personal illness narrative, was first published in 1996 in a co-authored book: Beliefs: The Heart of Healing in Families and Illness by Lorraine M. Wright, Wendy L. Watson, and Janice M. Bell. New York, NY: Basic Books. "Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while but their hearts forever.” ~ Unknown…
Landspitali University Hospital Some of the members of the Family Nursing Implementation Project Iceland is a small country with a population of just over 300,000 and my Icelandic friends are among the most patriotic people I have ever met. They share a strong belief about the collective responsibility of Icelandic citizens to help their country…
Text chosen by Janice M. Bell - Design by Bryce Mee What's in a name? I've been doing a lot thinking lately about what to call practice with families that addresses experiences of health and illness. Some call it family focused practice, family friendly practice, family centered practice, family health and healing, relational practice, family nursing,…
IFSYNC 2012 Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada IFSYNC Meeting: 2012, Montreal, Quebec, Canada From 2011-2015, I have had the privilege to work with Principal Investigator, Dr. Fabie Duhamel, professor at University of Montreal and Director of the Center for Excellence in Family Nursing, to coordinate an International Family Systems Nursing Collaboration (IFSYNC) research group focused on…
Dear Family Nursing colleagues: As 2014 draws to a close, I want to say THANK YOU for all of the hard work and expertise you are contributing to ADVANCE FAMILY NURSING in your practice, in your teaching, and through your research. Here is some of the Family Health & Healing News that I would like to highlight: JOURNAL OF…
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…
“Advanced nursing practice is an umbrella term describing an advanced level of clinical nursing practice that maximizes the use of graduate educational preparation, in-depth nursing knowledge and expertise in meeting the health needs of individuals, families, groups, communities and populations” (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008, p. 9). Advanced practice competencies of Family Systems Nursing related to…
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…
Competencies for Family Nursing Practice <---> CORE BELIEFS "There are numerous beliefs operating and emerging within every person every day, about every situation, and every person encountered. But not all beliefs matter in daily life; not all beliefs invite an emotional or physiological response. But the beliefs that do matter are our core beliefs... Core beliefs…