This paper examines the family as a context of human development and privileged space of the health-illness process. At the same time, it highlights some implications of assuming the family as an object of investigation. From the family context it is possible to observe a series of mechanisms (processes) of risk-protection to health. The analysis of culturally-structured health-seeking practices in the domestic environment reveals expressions of subjectivity in the health-illness process, and, in a bi-directional perspective, the way people respond to the context and modify it.
Family; Health; Human Development