The newest edition of best-selling Chronic Illness continues to focus on the various aspects of chronic illness that influence both patients and their families. Topics include the sociological, psychological, ethical, organizational, and financial factors, as well as individual and system outcomes. This book is designed to teach students about the whole client or patient versus the physical status of the client with chronic illness. The study questions at the end of each chapter and the case studies help the students apply the information to real life. Evidence-based practice references are included in almost every chapter.
Because chronic disorder is becoming an ordinary feature of family life and development, understanding its impact has become critical. This volume, and the conference proceedings it reports, represents a major effort to examine the family's response to chronic physical or psychopathological illness in one or more of its members. Recent data are revising our notions of chronic illness. Evidence is mounting that chronic psychiatric disorders reflect, in part, abnormalities of brain structure and function. In this sense, they are, in part, medical disorders. On the other hand, a number of traditionally labeled medical disorders produce a broad range of psychological symptoms and are exquisitely sensitive to psychosocial influences. Families undergo a complex process of adaptation during which their response to stress and their fundamental beliefs about learning and parenting change. These beliefs endure and are difficult to alter. By examining the processes in a wide range of chronic conditions, this volume helps to identify the common, underlying processes of adaptation. The first three chapters concern the families' responses to disorders that are distinctly medical; the next three focus on families' responses to "grey zone" disorders or anomalies that appear early in life, minor physical anomalies, and communication handicaps; and one chapter focuses exclusively on schizophrenia. The last chapter reflects an effort to develop a model based on the experience of researchers with both psychiatric and medical illness.
This book discusses how human beings cope with serious physical ill ness and injury. A conceptual model for understanding the process of coping with the crisis of illness is provided, and basic adaptive tasks and types of coping skills are identified. The major portion of the book is organized around various types of physical illness. These physical illnesses, which almost all people face either in themselves or their family members, raise common relevant coping issues. The last few sections cover "the crisis of treatment," emphasizing the importance of unusual hospital environments and radical new medical treatments, of stresses on professional staff, and of issues related to death and the fear of dying. The material highlights the fact that people can successfully cope with life crises such as major ill ness and inj ury, rather than the fact that severe symptoms and/or breakdowns sometimes occur. The importance of support from professional care-givers, such as physicians, nurses, and social workers, and from family, friends, and other sources of help in the community, is emphasized. Many of the selections include case examples which serve to illustrate the material. Coping with Physical Illness has been broadly conceived to meet the needs of a diverse audience. There is substantial information about how human beings cope with illness and physical disability, but this material has never been collected in one place.
The second edition of Nursing Care of Children and Young People with Long Term Conditions remains the only nursing-specific text on the care of paediatric patients with chronic illness. Written to meet the needs of nursing students and professionals alike, this comprehensive volume provides authoritative and up-to-date information on the context, theory, and practice of delivering holistic care to children and families in a range of health and social care settings. Contributions from a team of experienced academics, educators, and practitioners offer valuable insight into the impact of chronic illness on children and parents, the practical implications of meeting their physical, psychological, and social needs, empowering them to be 'experts' in their care, and many more vital aspects of long-term paediatric care. This edition features new and revised content reflecting contemporary guidelines and evidence-based practice, including updated clinical case studies and a new chapter examining the impact of having a sibling with a long-term condition. Emphasising a multi-disciplinary approach to managing chronic illness, this important resource: Provides numerous case studies and activities illustrating the application of theoretical principles and current evidence in nursing practice Investigates the genetic basis of chronic illness and the differing onsets of long-term conditions Discusses current political, economic, and social policies that are influencing healthcare for children and bringing challenges to managers and practitioners Examines both classic and contemporary theories of grief, loss, coping, and adaptation Explores ethical, legal, and professional aspects of nursing children and young people with chronic illness Addresses evolving nursing roles, the importance of acute emergency care, and the planning and delivery of effective transition from child to adult services Nursing Care of Children and Young People with Long Term Conditions is required reading for student and registered children's nurses, as well as for practitioners in related health and social care disciplines.
Children and young people suffering from long-term conditions require continuing support and nursing care throughout their lives. Nursing Care of Children and Young People with Chronic Illness explores chronic disease management in the context of recent developments, including the National Service Framework for Children. It addresses the aetiology of chronic illness and the impact on the child’s family. It also explores holistic approaches to caring for their social, physical and psychological needs, and highlights the importance of the nurse’s role in promoting children and their parents as ‘expert patients’. Nursing Care of Children and Young People with Chronic Illness is a comprehensive, up-to-date resource for nursing students and practitioners on the context, theory and practice of assessing health needs, and the delivery of holistic care and services within a variety of care settings, to enable them to meet the changing needs of children and young people with chronic illnesses and diseases, and their families. The first nursing-specific text related to the care of children & young people with chronic illness Incorporates case studies & scenarios throughout to enable readers to gain an understanding of the application of concepts & theories in practice Covers care aspects of the child and young person in different settings including tertiary, secondary, primary health care and the home Written in the context of the NSF for Children
A revealing account of how families adapt to living with a chronically ill child What is it like to live with a child who has a chronic, life-threatening disease? What impact does the illness have on well siblings in the family? Myra Bluebond-Langner suggests that understanding the impact of the illness lies not in identifying deficiencies in the lives of those affected, but in appreciating how family members carry on with their lives in the face of the disease's intrusion. The Private Worlds of Dying Children, Bluebond-Langner's previous book, now considered a classic in the field, explored the world of terminally ill children. In her new book, she turns her attention to the lives of those who live in the shadow of chronic illness: the parents and well siblings of children who have cystic fibrosis. Through a series of narrative portraits, she draws us into the daily lives of nine families of children at different points in the natural history of the illness—from diagnosis through the terminal phase. In these portraits, as family members talk about their experiences in their own words, we see how parents, well siblings, and the ill children themselves struggle, in different ways, to contain the intrusion of the disease into their lives. Bluebond-Langner looks at how parents adjust their priorities and their idea of what constitutes a normal life, how they try to balance the needs of other family members while caring for the ill child, and how they see the future. This context helps us understand how well siblings view the illness and how they relate to their ill sibling and parents. Since the issues raised are not unique to cystic fibrosis but are common to other chronic and life-threatening illnesses, this book will be of interest to all who study, care for, or live with the seriously ill.
As medical science has become increasingly refined and effective, greater numbers of children and adolescents are surviving diseases that previously carried a more guarded prognosis. Yet chronically ill young people face a multitude of adjustment challenges, including academic difficulties and peer and family issues. Filling a crucial void in pediatric psychology, this volume assembles the latest knowledge about the impact of major diseases on learning and behavior, examines cognitive toxicities associated with current pharmacotherapies and medical procedures, and presents strategies for successfully reintegrating chronically ill students into the classroom. Highlighting important new developments in assessment and intervention, the volume emphasizes the need for team-based collaboration and training across hospital, outpatient, and classroom settings.
These children and families need psychological support to help them comply with doctors' orders and cope with issues such as restricted physical activity, frequent absences from school, and social problems.