Families and Health

This interdisciplinary text examines five different components of family health--biology, behavior, social-cultural circumstances, the environment, and health care--and the ways they affect the abilities of family members to perform well in their homes, workplaces, and communities.

Janet R. Grochowski is the Endowed Professor of Education and Department Chair at the College of St. Benedict-St. John’s University, Professor Emerita of Health Studies at the University of St. Thomas, and former Chair of Health and Human Development and Director of Family Studies at University of St. Thomas. Her professional interest in family health springs from a long career devoted to interdisciplinary study of complex communities, such as families, and the interactive impacts of complex health determinants on individuals and their families. She has taught numerous courses on health and well-being from a variety of perspectives--personal, family, consumer, environmental, national, and global–and is the co-author (with Meg Wilkes Karraker) of Families with Futures: A Survey of Family Studies for the Twenty-First Century (Routledge).

The "Families in the 21st Century" Series Editor is Susan Ferguson, Associate Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. Her own research interests include the never-married and women's health issues.