Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qlrfm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-15T14:30:52.538Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of chronic illness on children and their families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The proportion of children affected by chronic illness is relatively high, approximately 10–12%. For these children, there is no available cure and the best that medical care can currently offer is relief from symptoms and the opportunity to participate in normal life as far as possible. Epidemiological work suggests that many of the children experience relatively few restrictions on everyday life, but about 1–2% of the total population of sick children have more severe conditions (Gortmaker & Sappenfield, 1984).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1997 

References

Claflin, C. J. & Barbarin, O. A. (1991) Does telling less protect more? Relationships among age, information disclosure, and what children with cancer see and feel. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 16, 169174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christiaanse, M. E., Lavigne, J. V. & Lerner, C. V. (1989) Psychosocial aspects of compliance in children and adolescents with asthma. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 10, 7580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cottrell, D. & Worrall, A. (1995) Liaison child and adolescent psychiatry. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 1, 7885.Google Scholar
Drotar, D. (1978) Psychological research in paediatric settings: lessons from the field. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 19, 6379.Google Scholar
Eiser, C. (1989) Children's understanding of illness: A critique of the ‘stage’ approach. Psychology and Health, 3, 93101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eiser, C. & Jenney, M. E. M. (1996) Measuring symptomatic benefit and quality of life in paediatric oncology. British Journal of Cancer, 73, 13131316.Google Scholar
Eiser, C., Cool, P. & Grimer, R. (1997) What do children with a life-threatening illness want to know? Sarcoma, in press.Google Scholar
Grant, K. E. & Compas, B. E. (1995) Stress and anxious-depressed symptoms among adolescents: Searching for mechanisms of risk. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 10151021.Google Scholar
Gortmaker, S. & Sappenfield, W. (1984) Chronic disorders: Prevalence and impact. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 31, 318.Google Scholar
La Greca, A. M. (1990) Social consequences of pediatric conditions: Fertile area for future investigation and intervention. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 15, 285307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S. B., Freund, A., Silverstein, J. H. et al (1992) Adherence/health status relationships in childhood diabetes. Health Psychology, 9, 606631.Google Scholar
Lavigne, J. V. & Faier-Routman, J. (1992) Psychological adjustment to pediatric physical disorders: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 17, 133157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer, D. J. & Vadasy, P. F. (1994) Sibshops: Workshops for Siblings of Children with Special Needs. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Miller, S. M. (1995) Monitoring versus blunting styles of coping with cancer influence the information patients want and need about their disease. Cancer, 76, 167177.Google Scholar
Phipps, S. & DeCuir-Whalley, S. (1990) Adherence issues in pediatric bone-marrow transplantation. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 15, 385400.Google Scholar
Slavin, L. A., O'Malley, J. E., Koocher, G. et al (1982) Communication of the cancer diagnosis to pediatric patients: Impact on long-term adjustment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 179183.Google ScholarPubMed
Stein, R. E. K., Bauman, L. J., Westbrook, L. E. et al (1993) Framework for identifying children who have chronic conditions: The case for a new definition. Journal of Pediatrics, 122, 342347.Google Scholar
Varni, J. W., Katz, E. R., Colegrove, R. et al (1993) The impact of social skills training on the adjustment of children with newly diagnosed cancer. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 18, 751768.Google Scholar
Wallander, J. L. & Thompson, R. J. (1995) Psychosocial adjustment of children with chronic physical conditions. In Handbook of Pediatric Psychology, vol. 2 (ed. Roberts, M. C.) pp. 124141. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.