: • Canadian Family Physician • Le Médecin de famille canadien olleg ollèg Researchers ’ Pag

Combining the biologic with the psychosocial Why family physicians conducting research should be interested Vania Jimenez, MD The term biopsychosocial has been used for sev-eral years to refer to a holistic view that per-ceives how systemic characteristics in a given society interact to aff ect the health of the population. ese systemic characteristics act on biologic and psycho-social factors simultaneously. Patients ’ biologic resis-tance (determined by genetic background, age, and sex), lifestyle, mental and cognitive makeup, and resources all infl uence this fi eld of positive and nega-tive forces (which include social support, microbes and other pathogens, eating habits, the health care system, and stress)