Collaborative Health Care

Within the medical professions the notion of the family as the basic unit of medical care has attracted a wide following especially from physicians committed to a psychosocial orientation. Collaborative family-oriented primary care rests on interaction between family physicians and family therapists or counselors. Fundamental to this view is the conviction that one cannot understand a patient''s illness without knowing the social emotional and biological context in which he or she lives. In addition the author provides a much-needed examination of the rationale for instituting this type of medical care organization and how such care can be cost effective satisfying to patients and a means to further understanding and research into health and illness.