The mission of the Journal of Family Nursing (JFN) is to extend knowledge about family response to health and illness and improve healthcare offered to families. JFN is a peer-reviewed journal publishing scholarly work on nursing research, practice, education, and policy issues related to families in health and illness. Appropriate articles of empirical and theoretical analysis on the subject of family health will also be considered for publication. Both family-as-context and family-as-unit are represented. The journal recognizes a strong mandate to represent cultural diversity and families across the life cycle and encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative perspectives as well as international contributions. Papers will be selected for their scientific merit and creative treatment of significant issues in the field. One of the objectives of the journal is to establish a forum in which practitioners, educators, and researchers in various clinical specialties and settings can extend the lively debate and begin a more critical dialogue about the family in health and illness.