The symposium "Family Dynamics, Family Therapy, and Pediatric Medical Illness," held at Downstate Medical Center on December 12 and 13, 1980, considered the impact of life-threatening illness in children and adolescents on intrafamilial dynamics. A group of experts addressed the practical and theoretical psychological and social issues facing pediatric patients and their families when con fronting chronic and severe childhood illnesses including brain damage, cancer, hemophilia, juvenile diabetes, and heart disease. The presentations and group discussions clearly revealed the complexity of physical and psychological problems posed by the seriously ill child with chronic disease for both the health care provider and the family. The conference proceedings confirm that quality care and treatment for the ill child requires the partici pation of a variety of health care disciplines representing diverse fields of knowledge. Pediatricians, family practitioners, child psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, psychologists, nutritionists and others all have important collaborative roles to play. The symposium participants wrestled with some of the basic developmental and clinical questions: How is the ongoing development of a family altered as a result of chronic incapacitating illness in a child member? How can principles of intensive family and individ ual psychotherapy be applied during the medical treatment of life threatening illness? What are the psychological stress points during the course of a chronic medical illness? These are but a few of the issues addressed in this publication.

Chronic childhood disease brings psychological challenges for families and carers as well as the children. Roger Bradford explores how they cope with these challenges, the psychological and social factors that influence outcomes and the ways in which the delivery of services can be improved to promote adjustment. Drawing on concepts from health psychology and family therapy, the author proposes a multi-level model of care which takes into account the child, the family and the wider care system and how they interrelate and influence each other.

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.

Management of chronic illness in children and adolescents often is a multifaceted challenge that requires the attention and expertise of individuals from a variety of disciplines that include psychology, psychiatry, social work, and medicine. The aim of this book is to provide readers with a practical overview of the definitions, characteristics, theories and models, diagnostic and treatment indications, and relevant aspects and methods of evidence-based psychosocial treatments for chronic illness in children and adolescents. Although treatments and research for chronic conditions are reviewed in general, particular attention is directed at asthma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes mellitus, and sickle cell disease due to the high incidence of these chronic diseases among children and adolescents. Case vignettes and suggestions for further reading are provided for the interested reader.

Provides a model to analyze the impact of chronic illness on the large population, patients and families, who are affected by it. Illustrates a systematic approach for psychosocial assessment and interventions. This text brings together ideas from extensive research and provides a perspective on chronic illness throughout the lifespan. Through case studies and a well researched nursing model, the book provides innovative approaches for the hospital and community-based nurse. Special features include a review of literature specific to chronicity, excellent diagrams and charts to highlight content, and chapters on time, coping, orientation to life, and stressors.

Over a relatively brief period of time pediatric psychology as an organized field has evolved and expanded as a science and in clinical practice. Reflecting a newer focus on family roles in health and illness, the present volume is relevant to a variety of fields because family issues and pediatric medicine inherently interact with numerous disciplines and approaches. This volume fills the need for a resource indicating research advancements that links pediatric psychology and pediatrics with family issues. The articles -- selected from special issues of Pediatric Psychology -- cover such topics as chronic illnesses and handicapping conditions, failure to thrive, spina bifida, recurrent abdominal pain, and health promotion. These pediatric conditions are considered in terms of concomitant psychosocial effects on parents and siblings, family resources and environment, adjustment and maladjustment, interventions and programming utilizing and assisting families.

This book offers an antidote to the medicalization of health care and observes the special needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged persons with respect to health. It is useful for practitioners in the fields of mental health, family and child welfare, gerontology, and industrial practice.

Child life is a profession that draws on the insights of history, sociology, anthropology and psychology to serve children and families in many critical stress points in their lives, but especially when they are ill, injured or disabled and encounter the hosts of caregivers and institutions that collaborate to make them well. Children and their families can become overwhelmed by the task of understanding and navigating the healthcare environment and continue to face challenges through their daily encounters. It is the job of child life professionals to provide care and guidance in these negotiations to serve as culture brokers, interpreters of the healthcare apparatus to family and child and the child to medical professionals. Despite the best efforts to provide quality, sensitive psychosocial care to children and their families, they remain vulnerable to lingering aftereffects. The goal of this revised edition is to help prepare child life specialists to deliver the highest level of care to children and families in the context of these changing realities. Each chapter has been substantially revised and two new chapters have been added. This book will be a valuable resource for not only child life specialists but also nurses, occupational and recreational therapists, social workers and other hospital personnel.

This interdisciplinary volume offers theoretical, empirical, and practical insights into the strengths of families beset by chronic health issues. Featuring topics that run the lifespan from infancy to late adulthood, its coverage reflects both the diversity of family challenges in long-term illness and the wealth of effective approaches to intervention. The component skills of resilience in life-changing circumstances, from coping and meaning making to balancing care and self-care, are on rich display in a framework for their enhancement in therapy. The book’s expert contributors include tools to aid readers in the learning and teaching of concepts as they model respectful, meaningful research methods and ethical, non-judgmental practice. Among the topics covered: Helping families survive and thrive through the premature birth of an infant. Enhancing coping and resiliency among families of individuals with sickle cell disease. A family science approach to pediatric obesity treatment. Risk and resilience of children and families involved with the foster care system. Strengthening families facing breast cancer: emerging trends and clinical recommendations. The unfolding of unique problems in later life families. With its mix of practical and empirical expertise, Family Resilience and Chronic Illness: Interdisciplinary and Translational Perspectives has much to offer both researchers in the family resilience field and mental health practitioners working with clients with chronic illness.