Family involvement in the care of healthy medical outpatients.

Background: Although the involvement of patients' family members in office visits has been examined extensively, less is known about the involvement of family members in supporting patients' medical care outside of office visits.

Objective: This study examines two questions: What types of family involvement do family members have in the medical care of relatively healthy older outpatients, and does self-rated health moderate patients' reactions to this family involvement?

Methods: Patients from a large sample of medical practice outpatients (N = 1572) were assessed to determine perceived emotional support, involvement of family members in their medical care, as well as the presence of depressive symptoms.

Results: Approximately 50% of patients had some family involvement in their medical care (e.