Happy New Year 2015: Family Health & Healing
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Happy New Year 2015: Family Health & Healing

Posted on02 January, 2015 by Janice M. Bell
Happy New Year 2015: Family Health & Healing

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 FAMILY NURSING

This year in the Journal of Family Nursing (JFN), Dr. Ulrika Ostlund and Dr. Carina Persson, family nursing colleagues in Sweden, published an integrative review of Family Systems Nursing research in which they examined families’ responses to Family Systems Nursing interventions. 

My November 2014 JFN Editorial focused on “Creating a Culture of Feedback in Family Nursing”.  I offered the idea that routinely asking for feedback can improve your practice with families. I included the ideas of Dr. Scott Miller, International Center of Clinical Excellence, who has developed some useful rating scales. A  new article in Family Process that I wish I could have cited in my Editorial also addresses this issue of feedback-informed treatment.
Stay tuned for the JFN February 2015 Guest Editorial written by Dr. Kathleen Knafl, USA, in which she offers her hot tips for conducting Family Synthesis Research.  Also watch for the JFN Special Issue on the Illness Beliefs Model which includes articles from Canada, Japan, Sweden, and Thailand. Dr. Lorraine Wright has offered her ground-breaking ideas that link beliefs and brain science and which have implications for practice with families.
 

GENERALIST COMPETENCIES FOR FAMILY NURSING PRACTICE

The International Family Nursing Association (IFNA) was established in 2009 and appointed a structure of Standing Committees in early 2010. The IFNA Family Nursing Practice Committee is currently co-chaired by Dr. Kathryn Anderson, USA, and Dr. France Dupuis, Canada, and has been diligently working for the past year to develop a IFNA Position Statement on Generalist Competencies for Family Nursing Practice.  

 NEW FAMILY NURSING TEXTBOOKS
Congratulations to my family nursing colleagues who have produced two new family nursing textbooks this year:
 
Dr. Shirley Hanson, USA, published her first edited textbook in 1996 (F.A. Davis) called Family Care Health Nursing: Theory, Practice, and Research. The 5th edition of this textbook was released July 4, 2014 and is edited by Joanna Rowe Kaakinen, Deborah Padgett Coehlo, Rose Steele, Aaron Tobacco, and Shirley May Harmon Hanson.
 
Dr. Sharon Denham, USA, collaborated with faculty from Minnesota State University, Mankato, to publish a new edited textbook (F.A. Davis) that will be released in February 2015 called Family-Focused Nursing Care.  Joining Sharon as co-editors are Dr. Sandra Eggenberger, USA, Dr. Patricia Young, USA, and Dr. Norma Krumwiede, USA:
 

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION: USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ADVANCE THE NURSING OF FAMILIES

I’ve been cheerleading the use of the social media to advance family nursing for several years. With each passing year, I’ve been delighted to observe more and more family nursing colleagues and family scholars starting to blog, develop a website, and participate in ResearchGate,Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.  Perhaps your New Year’s resolution will include becoming more active on at least one of these social media sites to spread the good news about the healing potential of involving families in health care. Here are links to my social media channels: Janice M. Bell website, and  Twitter.

Let’s embrace 2015 with bold enthusiasm as we look forward to meeting at the 12th International Family Nursing Conference in Odense, Denmark, August 18-21, 2015.  The 1st International Family Nursing Conference took place in Calgary, Alberta Canada in May 1988, chaired by Dr. Lorraine Wright. The 12th International Family Nursing Conference will be the second official meeting of the International Family Nursing Association.  I am looking forward to seeing you in beautiful Odense this summer thanks to the excellent work of the IFNA Conference Committee led by Dr. Kathleen Knafl, USA, and Dr. Janet Deatrick, USA, and the IFNA Local Organizing Committee led by Dr. Birte Østergaard, Denmark.

Happy New Year 2015!