Family science and family-based research in integrated and health care contexts: Future considerations for Families, Systems, & Health.

The focus on families and application to health sets apart from other sister journals. Family science is a thriving field of study experiencing rapid advances in the discovery, verification, and application of knowledge about families (Burr, Day, & Bahr, 1993; Doherty, Boss, LaRossa, Schumm, & Steinmetz, 1993; National Council on Family Relations [NCFR] Task Force on the Development of a Family Discipline, 1988). It is essential that these advances in family science are transferable to research focused on families in integrated health care contexts, and it is our hope that with be at the forefront in disseminating this work. While there is an abundance of research focused on families and health outcomes, there is much less focused on the dissemination and implementation of family-based interventions in health care and integrated health care contexts. In order to advance our understanding how family members are included in family-based interventions, it is essential to operationalize how family-based interventions involve and assess families. In this editorial, we describe the foundations of family science and health, how these foundations inform family-based research, and the translational bridge of family-based research in health care. We conclude by describing a tiered approach for family involvement and assessment in family-based interventions taking place in health care, with specific attention on dissemination and implementation research in integrated care settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).