Theoretical Concerns William K. Cody, Contributing Editor Nursing Frameworks to Guide Practice and Research With Families: Introductory Remarks

Nurses have laid claim to the notion that families are cen-tral to nursing practice for decades, yet it is clear from perus-ing the literature that family-centered nursing scholarship lags behind nursing’s claims and purported practices. Family science, psychology, psychiatry, counseling, and other disci-plines have filled row upon row of library shelves with books on families, many of which are excellent sources for expand-ing general knowledge, but they do not and cannot address the unique concerns of nursing practice and nursing science. Sadly, one 3-foot shelf would easily accommodate all the sub-stantive books on family-centered nursing per se published i