NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... providers. In addition, there are numerous factors affecting coping strategies and outcomes in parents with chronically ill children. Hughes and Caliandro (1996), Melnyk and Alpert-Gillis (1998) assert that social support serves as a some sort of buffer in decreasing parental stress related to the child's chronic illness.
Social support also positively influences on coping in parents (Rodrigues, Geffken, Clark, Hunt, & Fisher, 1997). In such a way, assessment of the level of social support is important to make predictions concerning coping outcomes in parents with chronically ill children. The assessment of parents perception of their childs abilities, stressors and specific needs can be divided into three main categories: developmental assessment, psychological and emotional health, and current level of functioning. Developmental assessment implies evaluating language skills, social skills, gross and fine motor skills, daycare and/ or school participation, recent milestone loss or attainment, friendships, etc (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001). Psychological and emotional health assessment implies evaluating the level of coping with current degree of childs chronic disease, usual temperament, various coping strategies used with stressful events and procedures, recent behavioral changes as well as the level of emotional recovery from recent stressors.
Current level of functioning includes assessment of usual routines in daily activities and health care, ability to perform self-care (e. g. hygiene procedures, toileting, etc), taking part in routines, past and recent illnesses and hospitalizations, and recovery from recent health insult, to mention a few (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001). What concerns the assessment of coping outcomes in parents, it includes physical health, psychological and emotional health, and level of functioning.
Physical health assessment implies assessing the recent diseases, current health level, health care needs, and frequency of diseases, symptoms and signs of illness and / or physical strain. Assessment of the level of functioning embraces the assessment of parental ability to accomplish his or her role as a parent for a chronically ill child, parental ability to maintain employment, and parental ability to maintain his or her role within a family (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001). Finally, assessment of potential and/ or actual barriers to coping embraces communication needs, financial barriers and needs, recent or current life stressors, and parental beliefs. The assessment of communication needs implies assessment of adult and child relationships within a family, the relationships with health care providers, respite care providers, and social support for family and parents in particular (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001). The assessment of financial barriers and needs embraces evaluation of the ease transportation to visit a chronically ill child, insurance coverage for a child, the ability to purchase supplies for childs special care, and the ability to provide for family needs, to mention a few (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001).
The assessment of recent and current life stressors includes evaluation of the recent illnesses and deaths within the family (or recent illnesses and deaths of pets, friends, etc), recent changes in marital status or adult relationships, recent employment changes in parents, recent moves, or daycare or school changes. Finally, the assessment of parental beliefs includes evaluation of the confidence or beliefs in the parents ability to care for a chronically ill child, or the beliefs in enhance coping in the child with chronic medical disorder, the knowledge about what the parent needs to expect behaviorally and emotionally from the ill child, to mention a few (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001). What concerns theoretical framework used to guide the assessment and intervention strategies in parents with chronically ill children, the importance of using it should not be underestimated. Theory driven practice will provide a a solid foundation for astute assessments, effective interventions, and explanations of behaviors. (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001) One of the models that can be recommended includes self-regulation theory, control theory, and the emotional contagion hypothesis. The evidence in support is accumulating with parents of acutely and critically ill children experiencing unplanned hospitalizations, including chronically ill children with acute exacerbations. (Melnyk, Feinstein, Moldenhouer, & Small, 2001) According to control theory, the discrepancy between the preexisting goal or standard in individuals and individuals current state motivates behaviors leading to decrease of discrepancy (Carver & Scheier, 1982). For example, in parents with chronically ill children, there is a discrepancy between how the parents initially understood their role as parents, and current reality of their parental role of a chronically ill child.
Self-regulation theory implies that the provision of objective information to the parents during stressful encounters helps them to create cognitive schemas similar to real life events (Leventhal & Johnson, 1983; Johnson, 1984). Therefore, when the parents with chronically ill children are provided concrete information about what they should expect of their ill child, it helps them to understand and even predict the events as they take place. Finally, the emotional contagion hypothesis implies that the adjustment of a child is influenced by parents mood state and anxiety (Jimmerson, 1982). In such a way, the intervention strategies should be designed and implemented so to alleviate anxiety in parents and parental negative mood state. Conclusion In conclusion it may be said that the diagnosis of chronic medical disorder in children is an extremely stressful experience for parents. It has potentially long-lasting negative outcomes.
Therefore, it is very important for health care professionals to be aware of all ongoing stressors, responses, and needs of parents with a child with a chronic medical disorder. The application of a theoretical framework should not be underestimated, as it is able to facilitate the assessment and efficient intervention within parents and their chronically ill children. In result of this, as well as allowing the parents to function more efficiently in their role, and improving coping in parents, both parents and their chronically ill children will have enhanced outcomes. References Athreya, B. (1997).
Chronic illness. In M. W. Schwartz, T.
Curry, A. Sargent, N. Blum, & J. Fein, Pediatric primary care.
A problem-oriented approach (pp. 972 - 975). St. Louis: Mosby. Austin, J. (1990).
Assessment of coping mechanisms used by parents and children with chronic illness. Maternal Child Nursing, 15, 98 - 102. Bushman, P. (1988). Pediatric orthopedics: Dealing with loss and chronic sorrow. Loss, Grief and Care, 2, 3944.
Can, C. (1993). Common adaptive tasks facing parents of children with chronic conditions. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18, 46 - 53. Carver, C.
S. , & Scheier, M. F. (1982). Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality-social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 111 - 135. Clements, D. , Copeland, L. G. , & Loftus, M. (1990).
Critical times for families with a chronically ill child. Pediatric Nursing, 16, 157 - 161. Club, R. (1991). Chronic sorrow: Adaptation patterns of parents with chronically ill children.
Pediatric Nursing, 17, 461 - 466. Cohen, M. (1993). The unknown and the unknowable: Managing sustained uncertainty. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 15, 77 - 96.
Cohen, M. , & Martinson, I. (1988). Chronic uncertainty: Its effects on parental appraisal of a child's health. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 3, 8996. Eyes, G. (1995).
Chronic sorrow: The lived experience of parents of chronically mentally ill children. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 9, 77 - 84. Harris, E. , Canning, R. , & Kelleher, K. (1996). A comparison of measures of adjustment, symptoms, and impairment among children with chronic medical conditions. Journal of American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 356 (8), 1025 - 1032. Hughes, C.
B. , & Caliandro, G. (1996). Effects of social support, stress, and level of illness on caregiving of children with AIDS. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 11, 347 - 358. Hughes, M. , & McCollum, J. (1994). Neonatal intensive care: Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of what is stressful. Journal of Early Intervention, 18, 258 - 268.
Hutchins, V... , & McPherson, M. (1991). National agenda for children with special health care needs; Social policy for the 1990 s through the 21 st century. American Psychologist, 46, 141 - 143. Jimmerson, S. (1982). Anxiety. In J.
Haber, A. Leach, S. Study, & B. Sideleau, Comprehensive psychiatric nursing (pp. 435 - 457). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Johnson, J. E. (1984). Psychological interventions and coping with surgery. In A. Baum, S. Taylor, & J.
Singer, Handbook of psychology and health (pp. 167 - 187). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Knife, K. , Ayres, L. , Gallo, A. , Zoeller, L. , & Breitmayer, B. (1995). Learning from stories: Parents' accounts of the pathway to diagnosis.
Pediatric Nursing, 21, 411 - 415. Lazarus, R. , & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Basic Books.
Leventhal, H. , & Johnson, J. E. (1983). Laboratory and field experimentation: Development of a theory of self-regulation. In P. J. Woolridge, M.
H. Schmitt, J. K. Skipper, & R. C.
Leonard, Behavioral science and nursing theory (pp. 9 - 262). St. Louis: Mosby. Magni, G. , Messina, C. , De Leo, D. , Moscow, A. , & Carli, M. (1983). Psychological distress in parents with acute lymphatic leukemia.
Acta Psychiatric Scandinavia, 68, 297 - 300. Mccubbin, H. I. , Mccubbin, M. A. , Patterson, J.
M. , Cable, A. E. , Wilson, L. R. , & Warwick, W. (1983). CHIP-Coping health inventory for parents: An Assessment of parental coping patterns in the care of the chronically ill child.
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 359 - 370. Melnyk, B. M. , & Alpert-Gillis, L. (1998). The COPE Program: A strategy to improve outcomes of critically ill young children and their parents. Pediatric Nursing, 24, 21 - 527.
Melnyk, B. M. , Feinstein, N. F. , Moldenhouer, Z. , & Small, L. (2001, November-December). Coping in parents of children who are chronically ill: strategies for assessment and intervention. Pediatric Nursing. Melnyk, B. , Alpert-Gillis, L. , Hensel, P.
B. , Cable-Being, R. C. , & Rubenstein, J. S. (1997). Helping mothers cope with a critically ill child: A pilot test of the COPE intervention.
Nursing Research, 20, 3 - 14. Miles, M. , & D'Area, J. (1994). Parenting the medically fragile Infant. Capsules and Comments in Pediatric Nursing, 1, 2 - 14. Mintzer, D. , Als, H. , Trick, E. , & Brazelton, T. (1985).
Parenting an infant with a birth defect: The regulation of self-esteem. Zero to Three, 5, 1 - 2. Moos, R. , & Schaefer, J. (1986). Life transitions and crisis. In R. Moos, Coping with life crisis.
An integrated approach (pp. 3 - 28). New York: Plenum Press. Mu, P. , & Tomlinson, R. (1997). Parental experience and meaning construction during a pediatric health crisis. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 19, 608 - 636.
Newacheck, P. (1994). Poverty and childhood chronic illness. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 148, 1143 - 1149. Perlman, N. (1986). What are they doing to my baby now? Zero to Three, 6, 10 - 11.
Phillips, M. (1991). Chronic sorrow in mothers of chronically ill and disabled children. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 14, 111 - 120. Robson, A. (1997). Low birth weight and parenting stress during early childhood. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 297 - 311.
Rodrigues, J. R. , Geffken, G. R. , Clark, J. E. , Hunt, F. , & Fishel, P. (1997). Parenting satisfaction and efficacy among caregivers of children with diabetes. Children's Health Care, 23, 181 - 191.
Rutter, M. (1981). Stress, coping and development: Some issues and some questions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2, 223 - 256. Stevens, M. (1994).
Parents coping with infants requiring home cardio respiratory monitoring. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 9, 2 - 12. Tanner, J. , Desert, M. , & Friedan, I. (1998). Growing up with a facial hemangioma: Parent and child coping and adaptation. Pediatrics, 101, 446 - 452.
Wereszczak, J. , Miles, M. , & Hold itch-Davis, D. (1997). Maternal recall of the neonatal intensive care unit. Neonatal Network, 16 (4), 33 - 40. Whyte, D. (1992). A family nursing approach to a family with a chronic illness. Journal of Advances in Nursing, 17, 317 - 327.
Yoos, L. (1987). Chronic childhood illness: Developmental issues. Pediatric Nursing, 13, 25 - 28.
Free research essays on topics related to: control theory, theoretical framework, chronically ill, coping strategies, chronic illness
Research essay sample on Chronically Ill Chronic Illness
