Abstract
This paper describes the application of family psychology to the primary care setting—in service, education and training, and scholarship. Primary care family psychology integrates family systems with biopsychosocial theory, yielding an approach that is uniquely suited to the generalist demands of primary care. This approach attends especially to the effects of relationships on health and healthcare, using the family as a potential resource to the patient just as the healthcare team is a resource to the clinician. Training opportunities in primary care family psychology are growing. The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry fellowship is described as an example, with core primary care family psychology training in four different clinical sites: Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics/Gynecology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American College of Graduate Medical Education (2002). Core Competencies. Retrieved September 8, 2006, from http://www.acgme.org/outcome/compFull.asp.
Bakan, D. (1969). The dual reality of human existence. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Bray, J., & Rogers, J. (1995). Linking psychologists and family physicians for collaborative practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 26, 132–138.
Campbell, T. L. (2003). The effectiveness of family interventions for physical disorders. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 29, 263–281.
Coons, H., Morgenstern, D., Hoffman, D., Striepe, M., & Buch, C. (2004). Psychologists in women’s primary care and Obstetrics-Gynecology: Consultation and treatment issues. In R. Frank, S. H. McDaniel, J. Bray, & M. Heldring (Eds.), Primary care psychology (pp. 209–226). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Coyne, J. C., Rohrbaugh, M. J., Shoham, V., Sonnega, J. S., Nicklas, J. M., & Cranford, J. A. (2001). Prognostic importance of marital quality for survival of congestive heart failure. American Journal of Cardiology, 88, 526–529.
Dickinson, L., DeGruy, F., Dickinson, W., & Candib, L. (1999). Health-related quality of life and symptom profiles of female survivors of sexual abuse in primary care. Archives of Family Medicine, 8, 35–43.
Doherty, W. J., & Baird, M. (1983). Family therapy and family medicine. New York: Guilford.
Ellis, D. A., Naar-King, S., Frey, M., Templin, T., Rowland, M., & Cakan, N. (2005). Multisystemic treatment of poorly controlled Type I Diabetes: Effects on medical resource utilization. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 30, 656–666.
Engel, G. (1977). The need for a new medical model: A challenge for biomedicine. Science, 196, 129–136.
Fiese, B. (2005). Introduction to the special Issue: Time for family-based interventions in pediatric psychology? Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 30, 626–630.
Frank, R., McDaniel, S. H., Bray, J., & Heldring, M. (2004). Primary care psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Frankel, R., Quill, T., & McDaniel, S. H. (Eds.) (2003). The Biopsychosocial Approach: Past, Present, and Future. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Helgeson, V. S. (1994). Relation of agency and communion to well-being: Evidence and potential explanations. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 412–428.
House, J. S., Landis, K. R., & Umberson, D. (1988). Social relationships and health. Science, 241, 540–545.
Kahn, N. (2004). The future of family medicine: A collaborative project of the family medicine community. Annals of Family Medicine, 2, S3–32.
Katon, W. (1985). Somatization in primary care. Journal of Family Practice, 21, 257–258.
Kazak, A. E., Rourke, M. T., & Crump, T. A. (2003). Families and other systems in pediatric psychology. In M. C. Roberts (Ed.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (pp. 159–175). New York: Guilford.
King, D., & Wynne, L. C. (2004). The emergence of “family integrity” in later-life. Family Process, 43, 7–21.
Levine, C., & Zuckerman, C. (1999). The trouble with families: Toward an ethic of accommodation. Annals of Internal Medicine, 130, 148–152.
McDaniel, S. H. (2005). The psychotherapy of genetics. Family Process, 25–44.
McDaniel, S. H., Belar, C., Schroeder, C., Hargrove, D. S., & Freeman, E. L. (2002). A training curriculum for professional psychologists in primary care. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33, 65–72.
McDaniel, S. H., Hargrove, D. S., Belar, C., Schroeder, C., & Freeman, E. (2004). Recommendations for education and training in primary care psychology. In: R. Frank, S. H. McDaniel, J. Bray, & M. Heldring (Eds.), Primary care psychology (pp. 63–92). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McDaniel, S. H., & Campbell, T. L. (1997). Editorial: Training health professionals to collaborate. Families, Systems & Health, 15, 353–359.
McDaniel, S. H., & Campbell, T. L. (1996). Editorial: Training for collaborative family healthcare. Families, Systems & Health, 14, 147–150.
McDaniel, S. H., Campbell, T., Hepworth, J., & Lorenz, A. (2005). Family-oriented primary care (2nd ed.) New York: Springer-Verlag.
McDaniel, S. H., Campbell, T., & Seaburn, D. (1990). Family-oriented primary care. New York: Springer-Verlag.
McDaniel, S. H., & Cole-Kelly, K. (2003). Gender, couples, and illness: A feminist analysis of medical family therapy. In T. J. Goodrich & L. Silverstein (Eds.), Feminist family therapy (pp. 267–280). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McDaniel, S. H., & Hepworth, J. (2004). Family psychology in primary care: Managing issues of power and dependency through collaboration. In: R. Frank, S. H. McDaniel. J. Bray, & M. Heldring (Eds.), Primary care psychology (pp. 113–132). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McDaniel, S. H., Hepworth, J., & Doherty, W. J. (1992). Medical family therapy: A biopsychosocial approach to families with health problems. New York: Basic Books.
McDaniel, S. H., Hepworth, J., & Doherty, W. J. (1997). The shared experience of illness: Stories of patients, families, and their therapists. New York: Basic Books.
McDaniel, S. H., & Pisani, A. (in press). Family dynamics and caregiving for an individual with disabilities. In R. Talley, R. McCorkel, & B. Walter (Eds.), Caregiving and disability. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McDaniel, S. H., & Speice, J. (2001). What family psychology has to offer women’s health: The examples of conversion, somatization, infertility treatment, and genetic testing. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32, 44–51.
Matter, C. A., Speice, J., McCann, R., Mendelson, D., McCormick, K., Friedman, S., et al. (2003). Hospital to home: Improving internal medicine residents’ understanding of the needs of older persons after a hospital stay. Academic Medicine, 78, 793–797.
McDaniel, S. H., Beckman, H., Morse, D., Seaburn, D., Silberman, J., & Epstein, R. (under review). Enough about you, what about me? Physician self-disclosure in a primary care visit.
McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Schellenberger, S. (1999). Genograms: Assessment and intervention (2nd ed.). New York: Norton.
Medalie, J. (1978). Family medicine: Principles and applications. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.
Miller, S. M., McDaniel, S. H., Rolland, J., & Feetham, S. (2006). Individuals, families and the new genetics: A biopsychosocial approach. New York: Norton.
Morse, D. (1996). A family-oriented interview with George L. Engel, M.D. Families, Systems & Health, 14, 413–424.
Pediatric Resident Review Committee. (2003). Program Requirements for Residency Education in Pediatrics. Retrieved September 8, 2006, from http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/downloads/RRCprogReq/320pr701.pdf.
Piercy, F., McDaniel, S., & Sprenkle, D. (1996). Teaching professional writing to family therapists. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 22, 163–180.
Pisani, A., Berry, S., & Goldfarb, M. (2005). A predoctoral field placement in primary care: Keeping it simple. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36, 151–157.
Pisani, A., & McDaniel, S. H. (2005). An integrative approach to health and illness in family therapy. In J. Lebow (Ed.), Handbook of clinical family therapy (pp. 569–590). New York: Wiley.
Poleshuck, E. L. (2005). Women’s health and the role of primary care psychology. In L. James (Ed.), The primary care consultant: The next frontier for psychologists in hospitals and clinics (pp. 217–241). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Poleshuck, E. L., Giles, D. E., & Xin, T. (2006). Chronic pain and depressive symptoms among financially disadvantaged women’s health patients. Journal of Women’s Health, in press.
Poleshuck, E. L., & McDaniel, S. H. (2000). Postdoctoral training in primary care family psychology. Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers Newsletter, 25(2), 24–26.
Prochaska, J. (1991). Prescribing the stages and levels of change. Psychotherapy, 28, 462–468.
Rohrbaugh, M. J., Shoham, V., Coyne, J. C., Cranford, J. A., Sonnega, J. S., & Nicklas, J. M. (2004). Beyond the “self” in self-efficacy: Spouse confidence predicts patient survival following heart failure. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 184–193.
Rolland, J. (1994). Families, illness & disability. New York: Basic Books.
Ruddy, N. B., & McDaniel, S. H. (1995). Domestic violence in primary care: The psychologist’s role. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 2, 49–69.
Ruddy, N. B., & Schroeder, C. (2004). Making it in the real world: Diverse models of collaboration in primary care. In R. Frank, S. H. McDaniel, J. Bray, & M. Heldring (Eds.), Primary care psychology (pp. 149–168). American Psychological Association.
Satcher, D., Kaczorowski, J., & Topa, D. (2005). The expanding role of the pediatrician in improving child health in the 21st century. Pediatrics, 115, 1124–1128.
Schroeder, C. (1996). Psychologists and pediatricians in collaborative practice. In R. J. Resnick & R. H. Rosensky (Eds.), Health psychology through the life span (pp. 109–131). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Seaburn, D., Mauksch, L., Gunn, W., Lorenz, A., & Gawinski, B. (1996). Models of collaboration. New York: Basic Books.
Seaburn, D. B., McDaniel, S. H., Kim S., & Bassen, D. (2004). The role of the family in resolving bioethical dilemmas: Clinical insights from a family systems perspective. Journal of Clinical Ethics, 15, 123–134.
Seaburn, D., Morse, D., McDaniel, S., Beckman, H., & Epstein, R. (2005). Physicians’ response to ambiguous symptoms. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 20, 525–530.
Speice, J., Farley, A., & McDaniel, S. H. (2000). Relational Problems. In M. Smith & L. Shimp (Eds.), 20 Common problems in women’s health care (pp. 303–320). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Speice, J., McDaniel, S. H., Rowley, P., & Loader, S. (2002). A family-oriented psychoeducation group for women found to have a BRCA mutation. Clinical Genetics, 62, 121–127.
Stephens, G. G. (1982). The intellectual basis of family practice. Tucson: Winter Publishing.
Wynne, L. C. (2003). Systems theory and the biopsychosocial model. In R. Frankel, T. Quill & S. McDaniel (Eds.), The biopsychosocial approach: Past, present, and future (pp. 219–230). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Nancy Ruddy PhD and the members of the Family Medicine Professional Writing Seminar for their careful reviews of earlier drafts of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Susan H. McDaniel is Professor of Psychiatry & Family Medicine, Director of Family Programs & the Wynne Center for Family Research in Psychiatry, and Associate Chair of Family Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York. Dr McDaniel also directs the Primary Care Family Psychology Fellowship.
Picter LeRoux is Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics, and Director of the Family Therapy Training Program in Psychiatry, University of Rochester School Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York. Dr. LeRoux also heads the Pediatric Track of the Primary Care Family Psychology Fellowship.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McDaniel, S.H., LeRoux, P. An Overview of Primary Care Family Psychology. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 14, 23–32 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-006-9050-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-006-9050-7