Based on 35 nursing research articles, this article reports a methodological and substantive review of nursing research done between 1984 and 1993 regarding the impact of illness on families with a member experiencing ischemic heart disease. Limitations identified include lack of explicit conceptualization of family; implicit definitions of family restricted to the marital dyad; sampling procedures limited by convenience selection, gender, and elite bias; and data generated by individuals not interacting with other family members. Suggestions for future nursing research include integration of the growing body of family research methods, study of family strengths and coping over the process of disease progression, inclusion of the perspectives of children, and the impact on the family developmental life cycle.
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