family history

family history

Exploring the Significance of Family History: Unraveling the Past, Understanding the Present, and Shaping the Future

1. Introduction to Family History

While evolving technology makes genome sequencing more accessible, our family stories should not be lost in the search for grand predictions of health based on genetics. Family history and genomics are two important threads in the health tapestry on which patients’ diseases are woven. In essence, a comprehensive and detailed family health history, along with other pertinent information, ensures more accurate risk assessment, optimizes choice and potential efficacy of prevention interventions, and may save lives. Such information is rooted through time and family and can be updated and digitized, breathing more meaning into information of the past and helping to guide actions of today. Information related to family history, if applicable, can provide meaningful clinical value to healthcare.

Having knowledge of family history is key to understanding the risk of chronic conditions. This is information that does not require sophisticated technology; it just takes a conversation. As a physician, having knowledge of family history is key to individualizing care; tailoring a treatment plan in light of this information will maximize the efficacy of this conversation, a shared decision-making process with patients and their families. Recognizing the importance of family history in health, both professionally and personally, inherently helps a family physician to better take care of those with whom they share their lives.

Family history, family medicine, and personal health intersect. The core concept is that knowledge of family history can be applied to understand risk for disease conditions and inform early interventions. Physicians serve as collectors, interpreters, and counselors of family history. Interpretation of family health history includes genetics and risk stratification, and risk counseling; this can help patients decide upon disease prevention and risk reduction began. Both patients and physicians can have impactful concerns about privacy triggered by collection and utilization of this data. The impact of this health information changes with time and technological growth; collection, understanding, and use are thus dynamic. The family health history process is fluid. This chapter connects and contextualizes these relationships and emphasizes that use of family history data is not fully realized until it becomes actionable.

2. The Impact of Family History on Identity and Belonging

Belonging is indeed an important social and emotional need affecting the well-being of children. Having a sense of identity and belonging contributes to a positive sense of self, which is essential for children’s social and emotional development and well-being. But to be able to connect their personal stories to the larger narrative of family history, children need family stories and are “hungry” for the stories about their parents’ experiences and those of other family members. Such stories can help children piece together puzzle parts of their identity, anchor their lives in a secure and coherent self-concept, and provide the reassurance that relying on these memories or aspects of the self may evoke. Such memories reassure children that they are part of a lasting historical continuum.

In a multicultural country such as Australia, there is growing recognition of the importance and role of family background on a child’s sense of self. Research has shown that family background can influence different facets of growing children’s identity such as their understanding of their heritage, their expectations about their educational outcomes, and others who are similar to them. At the same time, however, experts warn of the potentially damaging effects on children’s self-esteem and identity development if children do not have access to knowledge about their family history. One report speaks of the loss to children if they are unable to learn about where they are from, who they are, and where they belong.

3. Preserving and Documenting Family History Through Genealogy

To properly preserve your family history, you will need to gather data from home sources, religious records, vital records, cemetery records, town records, school records, occupational records, institutional records, military records, probate records, passenger lists, and secondary sources such as newspapers and compiled family histories. It is also necessary to document and organize the data and then to share it with others. Family trees are so valuable for both today and the future. Just as great-great-grandparents are meaningful to us today, so too they will be to our descendants one hundred years from now.

For centuries, people have preserved their personal history through the art of storytelling. Genealogy enables the family historian to structure this wealth of information and pass it on to future generations. Through genealogy, families can uncover and understand how their ancestors lived, worked, and thrived or overcame great odds in order to survive. Genealogy also offers a cross-curricular tool for any school teacher seeking to cover material related to the different subjects. For example, studying an immigrant ancestor allows the teacher to take on a variety of subjects like history, geography, economics, and government.

4. Utilizing Family History in Health and Wellness

Scientifically, medicine is now preventing, treating, and curing diseases by looking at an individual’s genetic make-up—where the fields of pharmacy and health are becoming personalized. Such research and initiatives directly impact cardiovascular diseases, cancer, psychiatric disorders, rheumatology diseases, and contraception and reproductive choice. Genomics, technology advancements, and genealogy have merged to give more detailed answers and view into ‘who we are’ and ‘how we evolved.’ It has created a bridge between sectors which seemed unrelated but now, in the context of understanding, have become essential components to both modern health and personalized medicine itself—combining genetics with genealogy.

On the individual and family level, creating awareness and increasing understanding about health conditions through a family history approach can positively influence both the current family unit and future generations. For individuals, understanding family history can improve physical, mental, nutritional, financial, and emotional health. It assists with life planning and guides health management. It can also contribute to having a sense of community and connecting with family members. It can contribute to personalized, preventive, and cost-effective health strategies for an individual as well as public health initiatives. A family history also can provide a better understanding of the status of current family members and the dynamics within the family. And it can motivate and connect people to take responsibility for their own general well-being and that of their family members.

5. Passing Down Family Stories and Traditions

It is during these reunions that people have the feeling of being part of an extended, closely-knit family that can offer reassurance and support in moments of crisis. In addition, these gatherings help people to associate themselves more closely with the intrinsic worth of being family and help them to assume a more direct role in the well-being of those with whom they share a common past. This is why young people should be encouraged to become more involved in these family gatherings. The presence of their generation will help the elderly to remain active and healthy and contribute to the promotion of closer relationships.

It is when we briefly escape from the noise and routine of urban weekdays that we can reflect and appreciate our family history. These convivial reunions give us the chance to pass down and remember family stories and traditions. However, these gatherings also offer other opportunities: to mend broken ties and rekindle relationships that have been set aside; to care for sick aunts and uncles and to persuade our grandparents to share more of the tales of their younger days.