many factors including culture , structure , and values can be effective on family health , quality of life , and well - being of the family members .
family function is what family performs on the behalf of its members in a larger society .
a family which has an appropriate health and skill level has a better resistance to physical and psychological problems such as divorce , death , and so on . on the other hand , the families with little experience and capabilities lack the ability to solve the problems and to help their members meet their needs . with regard to the function
various studies have been already conducted concerning family function indicating its association with psychological health of the family members .
subscales of family ideal , cohesion , and expressiveness are appropriate predictors for psychological health .
family function not only affects the well - being in healthy individuals , but also is associated with some psychological disorders .
earlier studies show that family function of depressed patients is weaker than of people without psychiatric disorder in cohesion , family ideal , and sociability subscales .
there is a significant difference between poor family function and children with physical symptoms , anxiety , sleep disorders , and depression .
every society needs to have a comprehensive profile of its smallest social unit , the family , and on the other hand , well - being is a relatively new indicator of health dimensions .
the importance of family function and its effect on health is so clear and noticeable . in many countries ,
family nursing consists of nurses and families working together to ensure the success of the family and its members in adapting to response to health and illness .
nurses must be knowledgeable about family function to help the family cope up with health problems .
nurses play a key role in enhancement of family function . as no studies on the association of family function and well - being
have been already conducted in iran , the researchers decided to investigate the association between family function and women 's well - being .
this study is a cross - sectional , descriptive , and analytical study carried out on 300 subjects in isfahan in 2011 .
the inclusion criteria were the families residing in isfahan for more than 1 year and the women who were willing to cooperate with the project .
fifty samples were chosen systematically on the basis of the sample volume ( 300 samples ) .
the selection of the first sample was based on random numbers table and the next samples on the basis of k ( number of famileis / k , k = 50 ) .
the respondent units in every family were women . in the case of no access to a sample ,
well - being was considered as dependent variable and family function components as independent variables in this study .
the tools used included a family function questionnaire , bloom family functioning scale ( 1985 ) , and well - being questionnaire ( w - bq12 ) ( prof .
family function questionnaire included 75 questions proposed in the form of 15 subscales such that each item included five questions and each question had four choices .
the scores of 157 - 174 were assigned to unfavorable functioning , 175 - 191 to moderate functioning , and scores 192 - 210 were assigned to favorable functioning .
the first four questions and questions six and seven are reversed which are added up with other questions to obtain the score of well - being . the validity and reliability of persian version of bloom family function questionnaire has been previously confirmed .
w - bq12 was translated after obtaining the permission from its designer in the form of backward and forward .
the face and content validity approval was performed after it was translated by three associated experts .
the pilot was conducted with 10 individuals to determine its reliability with cronbach alpha of 72% .
data were analyzed by descriptive statistical tests , analysis of variance ( anova ) , and pearson cohesion test through spss software version 14 .
the goal of the study was explained to the respondents and the questionnaires were filled by questioners after obtaining the respondents oral consent .
mean age of the samples was 45 ( 4.3 ) years . mean scores and standard deviations of the components of family function are shown in table 1 .
also , the relationship between family functioning components and well - being was investigated and is shown in table 2 .
mean scores and sd of family function subscales pearson correlation between the 15 components of family function and well - being mean score of well - being dependent variable was 23.6 ( 6.14 ) , which ranged from 5 to 36 .
also , mean of family function variable was 183.6 ( 11.9 ) with a range of 157 - 210 .
the family function was classified to three groups : unfavorable , moderate , and favorable , whose frequency distribution is shown in figure 1 .
frequency distribution of family function mean and standard deviation of well - being in families with bad , moderate , and good function were 21.6 ( 6.8 ) , 23.9 ( 6.2 ) , and 24.3 ( 4.9 ) , respectively .
well - being was better in families with higher function compared to unfavorable and middle functioning groups , but no significant differences was observed ( f = 2.47 ; p = 0.08 ; 95% ci = 165.8 - 168.7 ) .
the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between family function and women 's well - being in isfahan .
the results showed that although well - being in families with higher function was better than two other groups ( moderate and weak function ) , no significant difference was observed .
the study findings showed that there was a significant and direct relationship between some family function subscales and the variable of well - being .
indeed , subscale of cohesion addresses union , integrity , and cooperation between family members and their assistance .
based on the findings of the present study , existence of more union and cooperation in a family leads to higher well - being of the members of that family .
another subscale of family function which has a positive and direct relationship with well - being is expressiveness or assertiveness .
this subscale addresses feelings , expression , and emotions , as well as freely expressing feelings and beliefs of family members better so that when family people act more freely and comfortably , their well - being will is higher .
these two conclusions are highly consistent with janani 's research indicating the cohesion and expressiveness subscales as predictors of psychological health , as well as the study of zargar and ashouri which concluded that the family function of depressed patients was weaker than of those without depression . in addition
, the subscale of external locus of control has a positive and direct relationship with the variable of well - being .
this subscale addresses more supernatural powers and fate , as well as the factors out of individuals control .
this finding can be reasoned by the fact that families that believe in supernatural powers and fate confront with the problems more easily .
for example , based on julespecht 's study , people who believe in external locus of control ( chance and fate ) have been more convenient in confronting with problems such as the death of their loved ones , and in the year after losing their beloved , their satisfaction of life has been higher .
another subscale which has had a positive and direct , but not so strong relationship with well - being is the subscale of active - recreational orientation . this subscale addresses more of recreational activities including cinema , exercise , traveling , and recreational activities .
based on the findings of the present study , it can be said that when more members of a family do exercise and recreational activities , the well - being of the family members will be higher .
goodwin 's study reveals that there is a reverse relationship between regular physical activities and suffering from depression and anxiety .
some subscales of family function like conflict , disenga gement , sociability , laissez - faire , and organization have a reverse and negative relationship with well - being , of which the strongest relationship is for the subscale of conflict .
this subscale addresses more of disagreements , nervousness , and conflict among the family members .
based on the findings of the present study , people have lower well - being in families that have so much disagreement , quarreling , and conflicts . according to vandewater and lansford , in families
in which there is increased quarreling and disagreement , the children 's well - being is lower , which is consistent with our study .
laissez - faire is another subscale which has a reverse and negative relationship with well - being , although observed to be not strong in our study
. this subscale addresses more the lack of laws and regulations in the family and not paying attention to a family member 's fault . in families
in which there are no certain laws and regulations so that in the case of making a mistake or fault by one of the family members , other members do not care , well - being is lower .
the study results of galbraith and schvanveldt reveal that there is a significant difference in the well - being between the members of laissez - faire style leadership and active - transformational leadership families .
another subscale which has a not so much strong , reverse , and negative relationship with well - being is disengagement or dissociation .
this subscale is more about unawareness of the family members of the affairs and decisions of other family members .
more disengagement between family members leads to lower well - being of those family members .
in fact , in this type of families , because of being indifferent to other family members concerning their decisions and affairs , the members can not benefit from other family members support and guidance , leading to frustration and low well - being of that family member . in this study ,
the subscale of organization had a relatively weak , reverse , and negative relationship with well - being .
this subscale addresses more the existence of discipline in family , house clean up , and home equipments tidiness .
based on the present study , weaker this subscale is in the family , the higher is the individual 's well - being .
this conclusion is possibly due to the fact that the families who spend much time on cleaning the house and making equipments neat have little time for recreation , travel , exercise , and family members talk , which leads to lower well - being of that family 's members .
no study was found concerning the association between organization and well - being . besides , the subscale of sociability had a weak , reverse , and negative relationship with well - being in our study .
in fact , the families who have less communication with friends or others benefit from more well - being . based on the studies of diener and emmous
hobey et al . also concluded that an increase in sociability and family relationship with neighbors can enhance individuals well - being level at their higher ages .
this latter finding is not consistent with that of the present study , possibly due to cultural differences in various societies . with regard to the cultural condition of iranian society , families who have less socialization with friends and other families have higher well - being , since they are less aware of their weaknesses and problems .
human beings can notice their weaknesses or shortcomings when compared with other people and families . besides , if something unfavorable occurs in a family and others are less aware of that , they will have less anxiety and discomfort .
one of the limitations in our study was to evaluate women 's well - being in the family .
some questions may have not been answered correctly and properly due to existence and importance of ethical issues for individuals , especially women , in the iranian society .
in addition , the questionnaires may have been completed by the respondents who have not correctly replied to some questions .
one of the major roles of family nursing is the promotion of family cohesion and elimination of family conflict . according to our results , the more cohesion and less conflict ,
the more is the well - being of family members ; therefore , the family nurses play a crucial role in enhancing the family well - being and function through promoting the family integrity and cohesion as well as decreasing the conflicts .
no significant relationship was found between well - being and three groups of family function in the present study . in high function families
whose members freely express their emotions and feelings and have more union and cohesion with less conflict and disagreement between the individuals of that family , well - being is higher , compared to the other two groups .
the findings of the present study showed that most of the families face problems in their function which can , in addition to other factors affecting health , influence quality of life and well - being .
since there is no structured program to amend family function and , on the other hand , primary health care providers who are not professional give health services in the first level of health system , highlighting the role of nurses in supporting families is crucial .
 background : health measurement is one of the major challenges in today 's researches . various indicators including well - being are used to evaluate health . many factors including culture , structures , and values can be effective on family health , quality of life , and well - being of family members that these elements themselves are effective on the whole society 's health . 
 one of other effective factors on these indicators is family function.materials and methods : the data collecting tools included bloom 's family function questionnaire and well - being questionnaire , whose validity and reliability have been already confirmed . 
 this study is a cross - sectional , descriptive , and analytical study carried out on 300 subjects in isfahan in 2011 . 
 the inclusion criteria were the families residing in isfahan for more than 1 year and the women who were willing to cooperate with the project . 
 sampling method was in the form of cluster . 
 isfahan has 13 clusters of which 50% ( 6 clusters ) were randomly chosen . 
 fifty samples were chosen systematically on the basis of the sample volume ( 300 samples ) . 
 the selection of the first sample was based on random numbers table and the next samples on the basis of k ( the families lies numbers / k = 50).results : the sample 's mean age was 45 ( 4.3 ) years , well - being dependent variable mean was 23.6 , and family function variable mean was obtained as 183.6 by anova . well - being was better in families with higher function , compared to the other groups , but no significant difference was observed.conclusions:family function has direct and indirect effect on quality of life and well - being . 
 it should be considered as a social determinant of health to improve well - being in family as a part of community . 
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