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CHAPTER
12
FAMILY
COMMUNICATION AND WELL-BEING
This concluding chapter examines two components of family well-being: 1) physical
health and 2) satisfaction with family relationships. To deal with these issues, the first
part of the chapter covers family communication and health, including a discussion of
health-influence behaviors, healthcare interactions, discussions about genetic risk and
family communication patterns regarding illness. The second part of the chapter
addresses family functioning from both therapeutic and theoretical perspectives.
Support/enrichment programs and therapeutic techniques for improving marital and
family dynamics are discussed.
KEY TERMS
Cyberbullying Digital immigrant
ASSIGNMENTS/EXERCISES
1. Functional Family Description
Have students develop their own descriptions of the functional or healthy family with
2. Health Communication Reflection
Ask students to discuss (either written or in class) the way their family talks about
health, considering questions such as: Is it an open topic? Are health-related topics
taboo? How comfortable do family members feel discussing their own health and/or
other family members’ health with each other? Then, have students compare their
3. Guest Speakers
a. Invite a guest speaker or couple from one of the local marriage/family enrichment
4. Relational Support Groups
Ask a leader or member of a campus or community support group to talk to the class
about how the group process operates and how the discussion experiences can aid
5. Cultural Analysis
Based on personal experience and/or readings on family life among various cultures
6. Analyzing Enrichment Presentation
Ask students to attend a speech or workshop on improving marital or family
relationships presented through a religious group, a local school district or a civic
group and to evaluate the experience. You may use questions similar to the following:
a. What credentials did the speaker have to make him or her an authority in the
area?
b. To what extent was the program based on research?
7. Health Information—The Disclosure Trail
Ask students to draw a flow chart of how people would be informed of illness in their
family. Starting with themselves, if they were diagnosed with a serious illness, whom
in their family would they tell? Whom would they rely upon to tell others? Whom
would be left out of the information completely? And, if this illness was genetic, would
the flow chart look any different? Why or why not?
8. Parent-Child Talk about Health
Ask students to think about conversations that their parents had with them about
unhealthy behaviors: diet, exercise, smoking, drinking, casual sex, etc. What strategies
did their parents use? How effective were the discussions in influencing their
behaviors? Why or why not? If they plan to have children, will they discuss the issues
differently? Why or why not?
9. Genetic Heritage and Family Risk
Ask students to think about how much they know about their genetic histories. Who
told them? Why? And, if they had a choice, what would they want to know? More or
less? And, in the spirit of a person’s “right to know” in terms of genetic risks, have
students read one of the listed articles:
10. Wrap-Up and Reflection
Go around the room and ask students to talk about one thing they learned from the
class that they think will stick with them long after the class ends. Why did this topic