The Family Impact Lens: A Family‐Focused, Evidence‐Informed Approach to Policy and Practice

Abstract

Families have long been recognized for the contributions they make to their members and to society. Yet families are seldom substantively incorporated into the normal course of policy and program development, implementation, and evaluation. We propose the family impact lens as one way to shift the rhetoric from appreciating families to prioritizing them as worthy of study, investment, partnership, and political action. This paper provides the theoretical and empirical rationale for the family impact lens and introduces a toolkit for professionals who conduct or manage programs, teach about families, communicate with policymakers and program administrators, or evaluate programs and policies. Five guiding principles comprise the core of the family impact lens—family responsibility, family stability, family relationships, family diversity, and family engagement. To operationalize these principles, three methodologies are proposed—Family Impact Discussion Starters, the Family Impact Checklist, and Family Impact Analysis. Next steps are proposed for implementation and evaluation.

A Historical and Empirical Review of Pornography and Romantic Relationships: Implications for Family Researchers

“…From the perspective of ecological family systems theory, Bogenschneider et al () have formulated five core principles of the family impact approach: (a) family responsibility, (b) family relationships, (c) family diversity, (d) family engagement, and (e) family stability. This article focuses on the last of these principles, family stability.…”

“…These arguments have been primarily concerned with whether pornography can cause consumers to perpetrate violence and rape (Malamuth, Addison, & Koss, ), although other effects—including those of consumption on families and relationships—have received relatively little attention. The purpose of this article is twofold: to examine the history of the academic study of pornography, discussing why studies relevant to family impact have been late to arrive on the scene, and to provide a broad overview of the effects of pornography consumption through the lens of family impact (Bogenschneider et al, ). I argue that attempts to censor pornography have focused attention away from effects on families and relationships, and that the current literature provides strong evidence regarding pornography's negative influence on family stability.…”

Children’s Contact with Incarcerated Parents

“…Instead, a broader family impact framework was recommended that included a range of tools and educational strategies to help policymakers analyze whether viewing issues through the lens of family impact would result in more effective and effi cient policy responses and what the consequences of any program or policy might be for family well-being. This broader vision of promoting the family impact lens in policymaking has been kept alive by the Policy Institute for Family Impact Seminars, recently renamed the Family Impact Institute (Bogenschneider et al, 2012 ). A new theoretical and empirical rationale is available as well as a handbook with pragmatic processes and procedures for applying the family impact lens at the time policies are enacted, when programs are established, and when practices are implemented (see the family impact section of the website at www.familyimpactseminars.org ).…”

The Drivers of the Life Satisfaction of Pro-environment and Non-pro-environment People

“…Families are important to society and to the individuals of course that make up these families, and the importance of the family as an economic unit and in terms of enhancing the individual's development and well-being has also been well established (Alesina & Giuliano, 2010;Bogenschneider et al, 2012). It is essential then that families provide the necessary support for the members' happiness (Adams et al, 1996;North et al, 2008), and families that function well are vital in ensuring the person's best performance and productivity, and this in turn will improve their well-being.…”