Family Theory and Family Health Research: Understanding the family health and illness cycle.

Different family theories can be applied to different aspects of how families experience health and illness. The family health and illness cycle describes the phases of a family's experience, beginning with health promotion and risk reduction, then family vulnerability and disease onset or relapse, family illness appraisal, family acute response, and finally family adaptation to illness and recovery. For each phase, specific family theories that are most appropriate for guiding family and health research are discussed.