Svavarsdottir

Question

Svavarsdottir conducted an integrative review about Nordic families with children who are chronically ill. Three exemplar family cases were described. How can nurses be empathetically connected to these families? In Figure 1, Svavarsdottir (2006), shows how family daily activities, family relations and family health are interconnected. Describe how the family’s quality of life is affected if one or more of these 3 factors were hindered. What may be some suggestions to help these families boost their quality of life? Feel free to share any experiences in your career where you were empathetically connected to a family and helped boost their quality of life.
From your readings and your own experience, identify and discuss five needs of families during the chronic illness experience.

Answer

Chronic illness can negatively impact on families. The family members may go through an intense emotional experience such as sadness, anxiety, guilt, and they may have a depressed mood.  A chronic medical condition is when the human health state experience a persistent disease which last long in its effect or recurs with time. The condition is chronic if it lasts more than three months. Some of the needs of families during the chronic illness experience include someone who will assist them in their daily human activities. This will help them cope since the assistance will be problem focused. They will also require emotional support which will do along in reducing emotional distress. Also, they need those around them to maintain the quality of their relationship to help them in the coping process (Erika, 2012). The family members may equally need support from a health practitioner who will guide them on how to handle the condition adequately. Lastly, financial assistance may aid in meeting the medical expenses or the support services that may be required.

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The daily family activities, family relations, and family health are interconnected since they form the core part of a home (Svavarsdottir, 2006). A healthy family has members who can perform the daily activities in the home and focus on meeting the family needs.When the core family needs are met, the possibility of a healthy family relationship increase, and when the members of a family relate healthily, the psychological diseases are minimal. Equally, the members can work towards a healthy lifestyle which reduces the chances of lifestyle disease.

If the family health is affected, the members of the family may emotionally be distressed. This will hinder the family relation since the members may be withdrawn and in a depressive state (Svavarsdottir, 2006). Their daily activities will also be interfered with given that their focus will drift to the affected person. To boost their quality of life, the family members need to go through counseling to enable them to cope with the situation in a positive manner.

Nurses can empathetically connect to this families through offering counsel services to the relatives on how to incorporate the chronically ill patient without creating a “pity face.” They may also help the patient overcome emotional distress of guilt and help the patient have a positive view of the condition (Endohope, 2014). I once had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer, at the time I went to visit the family members, they were in a depressive mood waiting for the time my friend would die since they held on the knowledge that cancer has no cure and it kills. I encouraged them not to wait for death sadly but to utilize the time they have happily. Though my friend ultimately died, she lived a longer life than expected and at the time of her death, her family members were not distressed.

References

Endohope. (2014, May 15). The Importance of support groups for managing chronic illness. Retrieved from https://endohope.org/2014/05/15/the-importance-of-support-groups-for-managing-chronic-illness/

Erika, L. (2012, July). The Impact of Chronic Illness on the Family. Retrieved from http://www.igliving.com/magazine/articles/IGL_2012-06_AR_The-Impact-of-Chronic-Illness-on-the-Family

Svavarsdottir, E. (2006). Listening to theFamily’s Voice: Nordic Nurses’ Movement Toward Family Centered Care. Journal of Family Nursing, 12(4), 346-367.