Discovering that a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer can be the most difficult news to process. Cancer can affect the family in an emotional way. Knowing that someone they love is going through so much pain and not knowing how to fix it is also painful. In order to get through such a hard time, families need to find different ways to cope. Even though dealing with someone you love who has cancer can be an emotional experience, families can cope with it through counseling, support, and education. Counseling helps by having someone to talk to about your feelings towards this, support helps by having someone to rely on for anything, and education helps because learning more about cancer can help you prepare for what happens next. These …show more content…
In the article Family Resiliency in Childhood Cancer by Marilyn McCubbin, Karla Balling, Peggy Possin, Sharon Frierdich and Barbara Bryne, a study was performed to illustrate how families handle this situation. The study is based on interviews from 42 parents in 26 families with a child that has cancer. From the interviews resiliency factors were identified that contributed to helping families recover from this hard time. These factors include support from the health care team, support from extended family, and support from the community. 88% of parents agreed that support from the oncology health care team was a major resilient factor. Families rely on the health care team to provide reassurance and realistic hope, information and assistance, and respect for the parents. One of the mothers from the interviews said that when she asked the doctor or nurse questions they would respond in the kindest and truthful way but that they gave her hope. Families need to know that the health care team is always accessible. A father, from the interviews, said “They [health care team] pushed calling at any time; if you had any questions, call.” This makes families feel secure that someone will always be there to answer any questions. The last thing the health care team provides is respect towards the family. The parents said that the doctors and nurses never made them feel like they weren’t as smart as them and that …show more content…
They provide support through sibling care, transportation, and emotional support. Extended family would stay with the other children when the parents had to be at the hospital. They would provide transportation to school or practices. This support is important because it allows the other siblings to still go on with their daily routines. Also they gave emotional support to the families by aiding them in any way. The families are reassured that there is always someone who will be there for them. The last factor is support from the community. The community supports through child care, financial aid and home maintenance assistance. Some of the parents said that the community helped by providing day care for their other children. Also the community helped financially by making donations and raising money for the families. The last way the community would support is by home maintenance assistance. Neighbors and churches would give the families meals and things they may be needing. These are just some of the ways families cope through support of other people.
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a life-altering event. During this time, life is not only difficult for the patient, but also for their loved ones. Families must learn to cope together and to work out the best options for the patient and the rest of the family. Although it may not be fair at times, things may need to be centered on or around the patient no matter what the circumstance. (Abbott, 2003) Sacrifices may have to be made during difficult times. Many factors are involved when dealing with chronic illnesses. Coping with chronic illnesses alter many different emotions for the patients and the loved ones. Many changes occur that are very different and difficult to get used to. (Abbott, 2003) It is not easy for someone to sympathize with you when they haven’t been in the situation themselves. No matter how many books they read or people they talk to, they cannot come close to understanding.
The National Cancer Institute articulates the importance of this support to a cancer patient, suggesting, “that having good information and support services can make it easier to cope,” adding, “friends and relatives can be very supportive,” and concluding with the usefulness of support groups (NCI website www.nci.nih.gov).... ... middle of paper ... ... York: Random House, 1991.
In 1998, the most common cause of child and adolescents death claimed approximately 2500 young lives in the United States alone. The cause of this dreadful loss of life was due to childhood cancers. This paper explores the changes in the life of children dealing with cancer, families that have been affected by these diseases (also known as pediatric cancer) and a small part of the journey they experience. Cancer does not discriminate and affects all members of the family unit. This paper investigates the challenges that a family will experience from the first diagnoses through palliative care. It examines research and statistic about childhood cancer from organization as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the National Cancer Institute's (NCI), Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF), and other cancer research organization. Although there are 12 major types of cancers that affect children, the main focus in this paper will be acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). It will also include an interview, the personal experiences of a family, real life emotions, and the effect on the parents and sibling of the (Ashtyn) child presently facing acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Life is no longer what formerly was known as being normal. Life with cancer becomes a new journey, the new normal family life that, unfortunately is not normal, but a life that includes cancer.
Age is another significant factor; if they are middle-age adults or elderly, they might want to enjoy the time with their loved ones instead of being depressed about the cancer. In the emotional dimension, patients diagnosed with lung cancer can feel a variety of emotions such as fear, depression, anger, guilt and confusion. I believe stress affects the body in a negative way and being calm affects the body in a positive way. For example, as the textbook states, “Long time stress affects the body system, and anxiety affects the health habits; conversely, calm acceptance and relaxation can actually change body response to illness”(Taylor, 45). I agree with this concept, people who tend to accept and focus on positive things; the body reacts to their emotions in a positive way.
Also, the whole family needs to come to term with the health condition, make change in priorities and schedule, and keep the family. For example, it can be much more stressful for a young or a newly married couple because they may have more experience to overcome life's difficulties. As a result, as with individual maturation, family development can be delayed or even revert to a previous level of functioning (Hockenberry, p 762.) Therefore, health care providers need to apply family development theory while planning care for a child and family with chronic health condition. Indeed, family centered care should be a part of that intervention. Parents and family members have huge and comprehensive caregiving responsibilities for their chronically ill child at home or at hospital. Moreover, the main goal taking care of chronic ill child is to “minimize the progression of the disease and maximize the child’s physical, cognitive, psychological potential” (Hockenberry, p 763). Therefore, it is essential to family being part of the child care to give highest quality of care. On the other hand, we are as a part of the health care provider need to give attention to all
In spite of what she has been faced with, she has always had a positive attitude and outlook. She is a woman of strong faith, which I believe has played a big part in getting her through the challenges she has faced. Chronic illness not only affects the patient, but all members of the family as well. For her, it has been a challenge with the expense it has incurred for her. She has health insurance, but some of the medications that she is on are very expensive. In the beginning of her illness, it placed more of a financial strain on her. She was divorced and did not have the best health insurance coverage to begin with. She remarried a couple of years ago and now has better health care insurance through her husband. Not being able to pay for your health care during a difficult time is very hard to deal with. As the nurse, we can offer referrals to agencies that may be able to offer some assistance. Psychosocial care should be incorporated into the routine care of patients with cancer (Jacobsen & Wagner, 2012). Dealing with a chronic illness can also have emotional effects on the patient, as well as other family members. Depression is a commonly incurred condition that coincides with cancer, which can lead to other health and social issues. It is of great importance to provide emotional support to the patient and their family members. As the nurse, we can offer support groups to the patient and
The intent of this interview was discussed with the family, namely, how the data would be used to discuss family experiences for an assignment in Family and Societal Nursing for RNs at State University. Most importantly, I mentioned to the family that I hoped to provide them with interventions and support to...
Outcome : Evaluate the effectiveness of the cancer caregiver support service team and whether objectives of the service has been met.
A cancer diagnosis can significantly change your life and the lives of your family in various ways. Hearing the news “you’ve been diagnosed with cancer” leave patients and their families in a whirlwind of emotions. The initial shock of this diagnosis leaves feelings of sadness, denial, frustration, confusion, fear, anger, and often times the “why me?” feeling. Thoughts start going through your head regarding how this affects yourself, your family, and your everyday life.
She’s been struggling everyday of her life for the past 10 years; battling and fighting this horrible disease has made it hard on her and her family. The cancer has now metastasized, making it difficult for her to take care of everyday responsibilities and participate in daily activities. Her 13-year-old daughter is watching as her mother suffers and becomes brittle and weak.
Wittenberg, E., Saada, A., & Prosser, L. (2013). How illness affects family members: A qualitative interview survey. The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, 6(4), 257-268. doi:10.1007/s40271-013-0030-3
Imagine having to wake up each day wondering if that day will be the last time you see or speak to your father. Individuals should really find a way to recognize that nothing in life is guaranteed and that they should live every day like it could be there last. This is the story of my father’s battle with cancer and the toll it took on himself and everyone close to him. My father was very young when he was first diagnosed with cancer. Lately, his current health situation is much different than what it was just a few months ago. Nobody was ready for what was about to happen to my dad, and I was not ready to take on so many new responsibilities at such an adolescent age. I quickly learned to look at life much differently than I had. Your roles change when you have a parent who is sick. You suddenly become the caregiver to them, not the other way around.
David is the king of ancient Israel and he was the successor of Saul. Machiavelli talks about the story of David in the old testament in 1 Samuel 17: 38-40,50-51 (pg. 56). David is the youngest out of 8 brothers and he is soon to be appointed to replace Saul since he is deemed to be a failure in ruling his own country. Machiavelli also tells us about other countries that had downfalls for not having their own defenses. In the story of David, he is trying to say that it is better to be armed by your own weapons that you know than to be armed by someone else’s that it is new to you.
When one hears the word “cancer”, thoughts about how their previous life is about to change cloud the mind, but when one hears the word cancer for their child, it is a whole different outlook; the affects of childhood cancer are not only taken on by the patients, but also by their families; the affects can range from emotionally to physically, socially to financially, and even educationally. “Childhood cancer is considered rare, especially compared with adults. Still it’s the leading cause of death in children pre-adolescent, school-aged children” (Report: Childhood Cancer Rates Continue to Rise, but Treatment Helps Drive Down Deaths). Around 12,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer every year and around one in five children that are diagnosed with cancer will die.
Strengthening Family Resilience Family resilience can be described as the successful coping of family members under adversity that enables support and cohesion within the family (Walsh, 2006). According to the research, resilient families typically have many of the following protective factors: positive outlook, spirituality, family member accord, flexibility, family communication, financial management, family time, shared recreation, routines and rituals, and outside support networks (Walsh, 2003). These protective factors not only serve as a function within the family structure, but are a factor in the therapeutic process. The family resilience perspective in therapy shifts away from a deficit-based lens that views struggling families as