What is Family Intervention Science?
In the broadest sense, our science focuses on understanding how family members and caregivers can contribute to the health and wellbeing of patients. The term “caregiver” refers to any appropriateperson that has primary responsibility for supporting and providing care for someone. Interventions with families and caregivers can focus on the caregiver-patient-provider relationship, the caregiver-patient relationship, and/or the wellbeing of the caregiver(s) themselves.
Our Mission
Our mission is to study and disseminate family centered care models that promote strengths, resources, and community engagement, particularly for vulnerable or marginalized families. We aim to improve the well-being of children and adults with medical, developmental or behavioral health conditions through interprofessional research, education, and practice.
Who We Are
Members of the Center consist of a diverse group of professionals, including research scientists, educators, and practitioners at Drexel University, as well as collaborating service providers and organizations from the City of Philadelphia and around the world. Drexel faculty represent a wide RANGE OF DISCIPLINES including: Counseling & Family Therapy, Health Systems & Sciences Research, Nursing, Nutrition Sciences, Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences and Psychology. Our interprofessional collaborations provide a rich and creative context for promoting family-centered care interventions across the life span. Funding for research, educational, and clinical programs has come from federal, state and private foundation sponsors.
What We Do
Our FAMILY INTERVENTION APPROACHES take many forms, including: Prevention and Health Promotion, Family and Community Engagement, Collaborative and Integrated Care, and Intervention Development, Implementation and Dissemination. We recognize that family development and growth takes place in the context of social and environmental determinants of health. These contexts might include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, accessibility, transportation, socioeconomic status, education, immigration status, and neighborhood and lived environment. Attention to these contexts becomes central to our theories, clinical work, and research design, implementation and interpretation.
Projects in the Center promote behavioral and physical health and wellness with an appreciation for the interplay between the two domains. Collectively, our PROGRAM AND RESEARCH INITIATIVES address: Suicide, Depression, Anxiety, Addiction, Neurodegenerative Conditions, Perinatal Stress, Chronic Diseases, Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, Physical Disabilities, Housing Distress, Cancer and Caregiver Stress.
Our programs aim to increase meaningful family involvement in daily life through OUTCOMES of: Wellness, Emotional Development, Resilience and Recovery, Secure Attachment, Balanced Nutrition, Family Functioning, Healthy Parenting, Supportive Caregiving, Capacity Building, Diversity and Health Equity. The Center is committed to working with diverse populations of families throughout the life span in both University and Community settings, including behavioral health clinics, primary care offices, hospitals, emergency rooms, pediatric rehabilitation clinics, schools, homes, and neighborhoods.