Family Response to Chronic Illness and Disability - Essay Sample

Chronic disease and disability are on the rise around the world and even in the United States of America. Evidence indicates that approximately seven to more than fifteen percent of children in the United States are suffering from a chronic illness or are disabled (Van Cleave, Gortmaker, & Perrin, 2010). These conditions have adverse effects on the child especially on how he/she develops. They also affect the family system to a given extent psychologically or physically. Parents and family members need to go through the news of their childs diagnosis, all the risks associated with the condition or the probability of a shortened life expectancy for the child. In some instances, there will be families who will remain resilient during such a time the various stressors including the demanding responsibilities and resources, the different treatment regimens and the different roles they have to play eventually have their toll on them physically and emotionally.

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Such instances cause stress on the parents and stressors related to the functions of a caregiver are essential in understanding the dynamics within that family and any psychopathology that may exist. Stress originating from the parents and which is as a result of chronic illness or disability affect the whole family. Various studies indicate that there are associations between stress in parents and various psychological disorders in other family members (Cousino & Hazen, 2013). For example, an adolescent who is going through a chronic illness like diabetes may develop depression as a result of parental stress or the presence of a disability or a chronic illness in the family. Parental stress may interfere with the management of the condition the child is experiencing.

There are instances where the parents are fully engaged in taking care of the sick or disabled child in the family that they do not focus on other issues of members of the family. Their minds are always preoccupied with finding better treatment options, getting another opinion concerning the issue from another doctor or even wondering if there is more they can do. It such instances the rest of the family gets affected due to lack of attention and care from the parents. In such situations, parents are often overwhelmed by what is happening to the one family member affected that they become worn out even to think about the well-being of the rest of the household. Their focus is often on the affected person, how their future is going to be and more often than not the pain or suffering the individual goes through also affects them psychologically.

Siblings also suffer in the case of a chronic illness or a disability in the family. In many instances, families have bonds within themselves and dynamics that define the types of relationships that will exist among the family members. Therefore, when one is affected, the homeostasis within the household gets affected. Some bonds are affected, and siblings are affected by what the other is going through and therefore their normal functioning impairs to a given extent (Pinquart, 2013). They will have issues in their social functioning and how they interact with other people outside the family. If they are in school or they go to work their output is also impaired to a given level.

There are also instances where the parent is one who has the chronic illness or the disability. Considering that parents are what builds and keeps the family together, there may be chaos when trying to deal with what is happening. Especially if the parent is the breadwinner in the family, the rest will experience the strain because they have to find alternative ways taking care of themselves and also dealing with what is happening in the family. In such instances individuals in the family especially the children who are experiencing psychological distress may engage in destructive behaviors like alcohol and drug abuse just to deal with the situation they are experiencing.

There are however individual instances where family members may thrive through the difficult time they are experiencing. Such an experience may be what brings a family together even as they try to take care of their loved one and give him/her the best care. They try to love and embrace the child or family member to help him/her deal with the pain or distress he/she may be experiencing. Those families that are close and communicate openly in normal circumstances will find strength in taking care of their loved one because they are doing it together and supporting one another (Lindstrom, Aman & Norberg, 2010). It is, therefore, evident that families will respond to chronic illness or disability in varying ways. It depends on the type of relationships within the family and how close individuals are to one another. There are those who such an instance will bring them closer as they take care of the affected person and this mainly occurs in families that were previously open to one another, communicating efficiently and close. Those who had a dysfunctional family before the illness or disability will resort to other harmful activities like drug abuse, and members will drift further away from each other as a result of the stress.

References

Cousino, M. K., & Hazen, R. A. (2013). Parenting stress among caregivers of children with chronic illness: a systematic review. Journal of pediatric psychology, 38(8), 809-828.

Lindstrom, C., Aman, J., & Norberg, A. L. (2010). Increased prevalence of burnout symptoms in parents of chronically ill children. Acta Paediatrica, 99(3), 427-432.

Pinquart, M. (2013). Do the parentchild relationship and parenting behaviors differ between families with a child with and without chronic illness? A meta-analysis. Journal of pediatric psychology, jst020.

Van Cleave, J., Gortmaker, S. L., & Perrin, J. M. (2010). Dynamics of obesity and chronic health conditions among children and youth. Jama, 303(7), 623-630.