HRVATSKA OBITELJ: DEMOGRAFSKE, EPIDEMIOLOŠKE I ZDRAVSTVENE TRANZICIJE I NOVI SUSTAV ZDRAVSTVENE ZAŠTITE
THE CROATIAN FAMILY: DEMOGRAPHIC, EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND HEALTH TRANSITION AND THE NEW SYSTEM OF HEALTH CARE

Summary/Abstract: A healthy family is one of the key pre-requisites of the biological, spiritual and material reproduction of a nation. It is the family that in the form of a traditional extended family assumes by far the greatest burden of illness and social support to the weak and ill. What role, engulfed by such changes, does the nuclear family itself play, and what on the other hand, the newly formed "families"? The dynamics of health and sickness of the Croatian family has been observed through mutual influences of different forms of health behavior: the clinical model, the role-realization model, the adaptational model and eudemonistic model of health/sickness behavior in the family. On the level of institutionally led reforms, the democratic transformation of Croatian society reaffirmed the free choice of doctors, defined the rights and duties of the population in health care adapting them to economic possibilities, stressed the need of licencing and relicencing health workers etc. ln contrast to usual notions and expectations which are the result of theoretical models dealing with the roles of the nuclear family itself in health care, our analysis has shown that the contemporary Croatian family within the process of demographic, epidemiological and health transition takes upon itself the great burden of illness. Improving primary health care and clearly defining the role of the family doctor represents the possible answer of the health policy to the newly developed situation.

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