The International Family Nursing Association embraces a compassionate family focus on health, social justice, human dignity and respect for all.
Association Information
Our Guiding Principles:
- Serve as a unifying force and voice for family nursing globally;
- Share knowledge, practices, and skills to enhance and nurture family nursing practice; and,
- Provide family nursing leadership through education, research, scholarship, socialization and collegial exchange on all aspects of family nursing.
Nurses transforming health for families worldwide.
Aims of the International Family Nursing Association
- Promote the care of families in health and illness;
- Facilitate networking among family nurse researchers, educators and practitioners;
- Provide mechanisms for dissemination of information regarding family nursing research, education and practice;
- Advance family nursing research and foster the utilization of nursing research findings;
- Encourage socialization and preparation of students for the roles of family nurse researcher, family nurse advanced practice and family nurse educator;
- Promote the allocation of resources available for family nursing development; and
- Comprise a professional source of evidence, information and advocacy in health policy, and health legislation to improve the care of families.
Leadership
Leadership
IFNA Standing Committees
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Identify a mechanism for recognizing those who have made outstanding contributions to transform health for families worldwide.
ii. Establish and follow policies and procedures for honoring outstanding colleagues in the family nursing community.
iii. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding on-going work of the committee.
Co-Chair: Lisa Whitehead
Co-Chair: Henrietta Trip
Board Liaison: Karyn Roberts
IFNA Awards Committee (2022-2023): Norma Krumwiede (USA) co-chair; Lisa Whitehead (Australia) co-chair; Janice M. Bell (Canada); Catherine Laing (Canada); Maria Marcheti Angelica (Brazil); Nancy Moules (Canada); Fernanda Lise (Brazil); Veronica Swallow (UK) IFNA BOD liaison.
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Initiates a call for proposed bylaws amendments. Receives or initiates proposed IFNA bylaws amendments.
ii. Prepares proposed bylaws revisions for review by the Board of Directors and the membership.
iii. Reports its recommendations to the Board of Directors and the membership.
iv. Presents revised bylaws to the membership for vote in accordance with required procedure as outlined in these bylaws.
v. Shall be in frequent contact with the Board of Directors, or Board liaison, regarding the on-going work of the committee.
Chair: Lindsay Smith
C0-Chair: VACANT
Board Liaisons: Lindsay Smith and Elisabeth Coyne
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Responsible for developing the infrastructure and use of social media channels to promote effective communication among members, timely dissemination of information, advances in family nursing knowledge, and the IFNA mission.
ii. Oversee and update the various IFNA communication and social media channels.
iii. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding ongoing work of the committee.
Co-Chair: Janice M. Bell
Co-Chair: Joel Anderson
Member: IFNA Research Committee liaison, Paula Nersesian
Web Manager: Peter Vigilante (Vigilante Marketing)
IFNA Office: Debbie Zaparoni
Board Liaison: Junko Honda
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. In consultation with the Board of Directors, the Conference Planning Committee will plan all aspects of the Conference program including call for proposals, review of submissions, organizing the program and speakers.
ii. In consultation with the Local Planning Committee, the Conference Planning Committee will plan all social activities associated with the conference including banquets, special events, and tours.
iii. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors or its Board liaison regarding the on-going work of the committee.
iv. Communicate with the Resource Advancement Committee to ensure coordination of conference sponsorship efforts.
v. Communicate with the IFN Foundation, as needed, related to conference support.
IFNC17 (2025)
Co-chair: Sarah Neill
Co-chair: Cindy Danford
IFNA Board Liaison: Petra Brysiewicz
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Identify, create, and disseminate the best educational practices for IFNA members and family nursing worldwide
ii. Shall have the authority to create subcommittees to maximize committee impact
iii. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding on-going work of the committee.
Co-Chair: Jill Bally
Co-Chair: Shelley Spurr
Board Liaison: Teresa Gutiérrez-Aleman
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Focus on the growth, retention, and recruitment of members to the Association.
ii. Ensure the global integrity, impact, and reach of the organization through diversity, equity, and inclusion of members around the world.
iii. Establish and follow policies and procedures outlining the review and analysis of current members, lapsed members, and identify plans to recruit new members and family-related organizations.
iv. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding on-going work of the committee.
Co-Chair: Jia Guo
Co-Chair: Cheryl Corbett
Board Liaisons: Kristen Abbott-Anderson
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. The Nominating Committee shall prepare and submit to each voting member a ballot with at least one nominee for each elected office in IFNA.
ii. Validation of current membership and confidentiality of voting shall be components of the ballot protocol.
iii. Unless stated otherwise in these bylaws, all rules and procedures for the conduct of the nominations and elections shall be recommended by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board of Directors.
iv. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes for each elected office shall be declared elected.
v. Tie votes shall be broken by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.
vi. The Nominating Committee shall oversee the election procedures.
Chair: Mandie Foster
Co-Chair: Beth Cosgrove
Board Liaison: Elisabeth Coyne
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Identify, create and disseminate the best practice family nursing models used internationally.
ii. Shall have the authority to create subcommittees to maximize committee impact.
iii. Develop standardized resources covering practice scope, competencies, guidelines, position statements and similar materials that advance family nursing practice at generalist and advanced levels.
iv. Identify family nursing practice issues that emerge across the world and work with the Board of Directors to determine an appropriate response.
v. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding on-going work of the committee.
Co-Chair: Donna Marvicsin
Co-Chair: Virginia Jones
Board Liaison: Petra Brysiewicz and Teresa Gutiérrez-Aleman
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Advocates for the conduct, dissemination, and use of family nursing research worldwide.
ii. Shall have the authority to create subcommittees to maximize committee impact
iii. Shall enhance the research resources available to IFNA members through various Association communication tools
iv. Shall promote international research collaborations on projects of interest to members.
v. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding on-going work of the committee.
Co-chair: Kim Mooney-Doyle
Co-chair: Cynthia Danford
Board Liaisons: Suja Somanadhan and Karyn Roberts
Duties and Responsibilities:
i. Focus on identifying sponsorship income and other income campaigns related to the biennial conferences.
ii. Establish and follow policies and procedures. Develop promotional materials, and track sources of funding.
iii. Shall be in frequent communication with the Board of Directors, or its Board liaison, regarding on-going work of the committee.
Chair: Linda Young
Co-Chair: Barbara Giambra
Board Liaison: Debbie Sheppard-LeMoine