Commentary: Progress and Challenges in Evidence-based Family Assessment in Pediatric Psychology

It is widely accepted that families are integral to biopsychosocial, social ecological, and other systemic approaches for understanding families and pediatric health. Pediatric psychologists are among the strongest advocates for families. At the same time, families pose challenges that we (pediatric psychology as a field) struggle with in terms of theoretical conceptualizations, assessment and intervention approaches, and training. We primarily use individual frameworks in our practice and research. In this brief commentary, prompted by the report of accomplishments in evidence-based family assessment in pediatric psychology (Alderfer et al., 2007), I outline some of the background for an implicit ‘‘challenge’ ’ to our field to advance our family orientation and provide some concrete ideas about next steps. Why Families? Families are inherently complex in structure and function and dynamic at the individual, dyadic and family level. Pediatric conditions affect a broad range of families, from initial diagnosis/injury through varying intensities of treat-ments and with a range of potential outcomes. Children are embedded in social systems that include familie