# Introduction

Our family relationships can have a strong influence – positive and negative – on our health, and on how we behave in relation to our health. This OpenLearn course explores how family life impacts on the health of individuals, and how the family is often the focus for health promotion initiatives, such as the national '5 A DAY' campaign. Many informal health care interventions are carried out in the family (in contrast to the formal care provided by hospitals and health centres). The course will examine the changing demands on families who care for one another during illness – for example, when a family member is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Finally the course considers 'young carers': those children who take on the major responsibility of caring for a family member.

Alongside studying issues of family health, this course will introduce you to interpreting information given in graphs or charts. Working with statistical information is a key skill and the course will guide you in this through two structured activities. Activity 3 asks you to explore a website for information about family health. Again, a step by step approach is taken to guide you through this process.

This OpenLearn course provides a sample of level 1 study in Health & Social Care

OpenLearn - Exploring family health
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