Family nursing research for practice: the Finnish perspective.

This article summarizes the efforts of the Department of Nursing Science, University of Tampere, Finland, to advance knowledge about family nursing over the past 15 years. Definitions of family, family nursing, and family nursing science are offered. Programs of research include families' experiences of care received in health care settings, family violence and child maltreatment, and the psychometric development of instruments to assess family functioning and family health. Research is currently examining the effectiveness of family nursing interventions. Recommendations are offered to strengthen collaboration between family nursing researchers, educators, and practitioners at the local level and initiate greater collaboration between family researchers at the interdisciplinary and international levels.