Factors related to caregiver state anxiety and coping with a child’s chronic illness.

Abstract

The resiliency of families, based on family functioning and family hardiness, may influence caregivers' anxiety while their child is in the hospital undergoing treatment for his or her chronic illness. The current study assessed the relationship among these factors for caregivers of children with various chronic illnesses who were residing at a local Ronald McDonald House (RMH). Caregivers completed paper-based questionnaires to assess family hardiness, functioning, and parent state anxiety and interviews to identify positive and negative strategies and behaviors affecting how they were coping with their child's illness. Findings indicated that family functioning mediated the relationship between family hardiness and caregiver anxiety as a resilience factor that further reduced caregiver anxiety. During interviews, caregivers suggested that support from family members strengthened their coping abilities. Negative interactions with their child's medical team and not knowing how or being equipped to help their child live with his or her illness heightened caregiver stress. Future research should focus on developing, implementing, and measuring the effectiveness of interventions to improve caregiver support, such as by holding caregiver support groups at local RMHs, especially during a child's hospitalization.

Psychological Adjustment in Families Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…As expected, the psychological benefits of seeking emotional support and practical advice was demonstrated (Karst and Vaughan Van Hecke 2012;Meadan et al 2010;Nabors et al 2013). Intra-individual differences in coping resources were, however, noted.…”

“…This includes emotional and practical support from family and friends in addition to formal support services via health resources and therapeutic interventions (Barker et al 2011). Both forms of support have been shown to manage levels of depression by enhancing positive characteristics, such as optimism (Karst and Vaughan Van Hecke 2012;Nabors et al 2013). Notably, perceived quality of available support has been found to be more important to individual coping than the quantity of support available (Barker et al 2011;Hsieh and Lo 2013).…”

A Review of Psychosocial Factors of Marfan Syndrome: Adolescents, Adults, Families, and Providers

“…These include being far from home, difficulty related to witnessing the child's medical problem/pain, emotional or financial stress, siblings not understanding the depth of care required for the severity of the illness, and difficulty interacting with medical personnel. 76 Although the difficulty of witnessing a child's medical problem has not been evaluated in MFS individuals, it may have an impact as there have been multiple cases of aortic dissection in patients with MFS under the age of 25. 77 Within the MFS population, emotional or financial stress and siblings not understanding the depth of care required for the severity of the illness have been examined.…”

“…A common emotional stressor on the caregiver is the impact of the chronic illness diagnosis on the siblings of the patient. 76 Many a times, siblings of the patient do not understand the medical situation and may not understand why, for instance, they are not getting as much attention as their sibling which can place stress on the caregiver. Patients with MFS report feeling able to share their feelings with siblings similarly compared with the general population.…”

Analysis of resilience and sexual behavior in persons with HIV infection

“…The majority of studies on resilience have focused on persons with physical and psychological problems and/ or disorders such as stress (Braun-Lewensohn & Sagy, 2013), spouses who died of AIDS (Yu, Chan, Zhang, & Stewart, 2016), transgender women (Perez-Brumer et al, 2017), anxiety (Nabors et al, 2013), coping and resilience (Tippens, 2017), trauma (Pooley, Cohen, O'Connor, & Taylor, 2013), resilience and mastery among HIVpositive older gay and bisexual men (Emlet, Shiu, Kim, & Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2017), quality of life of gay, bisexual men and people/persons living with HIV (PLHIV) (Remor & Ulla, 2002), and disclosure of HIV status and psychological well-being (Zea, Reisen, Poppen, Bianchi, & Echeverry, 2005). A longitudinal study showed that internalized stigma and HIV diagnosis were associated with ways of coping (resilience) among PLHIV (Garrido-Hernansaiz, Murphy, & Alonso-Tapia, 2017).…”