The Affects That Cancer Has On Families
The Affects That Cancer Has On Families
Kansas State University
When a loved one is diagnosed with a chronic illness, it’s puts tremendous stress and remorse on the non-ill loved one. A chronic illness is a general term describing the length of time of a disease’s symptoms. Moreover, a chronic illness is any disease that can have a long term effect on the body. To give a little background on the name chronic, it comes from the Latin word ‘chromos’ meaning time (cited in, The Chronic Illness Cures website). Chronic illnesses are, but not limited to cancer, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. When an individual is diagnosed with a chronic illness, they have it for life. It is noted that more than 90 million Americans are affected by some chronic illness. It also accounts for one-third of life loss of an individual before the age of 65 (Bonadonna, 2003). One chronic illness that has begun to increase within the past few years is cancer. Cancer starts when abnormal cells begin to replicate at an extremely fast pace (Davidson, Kagan, & Gall, 2007). An estimated 12,400 American children and adolescents under the age of 20 were diagnoses with cancer in 2000 and the risk of any child developing cancer under 20 years of age is about 1 in 300 ( Hewitt, Weiner, & Simone, 2003) Struggle of the Individual When a child is diagnosed with any type of cancer their whole quality of life changes. One minute they’re at school and playing with their friends and the next they’re in a hospital bed having different treatments and tests done. Some survivors of pediatric cancer may experience or develop psychosocial effects, such as less frequent partnership and living with parents more often than their adult counterparts (Dieluweit et al., 2010).
Impact on the Family Having an ill family member or loved one puts an emotional burden on the non-ill members. Some individuals may feel frightened by the thought of their loved one dying or suffering.
Kansas State University
When a loved one is diagnosed with a chronic illness, it’s puts tremendous stress and remorse on the non-ill loved one. A chronic illness is a general term describing the length of time of a disease’s symptoms. Moreover, a chronic illness is any disease that can have a long term effect on the body. To give a little background on the name chronic, it comes from the Latin word ‘chromos’ meaning time (cited in, The Chronic Illness Cures website). Chronic illnesses are, but not limited to cancer, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. When an individual is diagnosed with a chronic illness, they have it for life. It is noted that more than 90 million Americans are affected by some chronic illness. It also accounts for one-third of life loss of an individual before the age of 65 (Bonadonna, 2003). One chronic illness that has begun to increase within the past few years is cancer. Cancer starts when abnormal cells begin to replicate at an extremely fast pace (Davidson, Kagan, & Gall, 2007). An estimated 12,400 American children and adolescents under the age of 20 were diagnoses with cancer in 2000 and the risk of any child developing cancer under 20 years of age is about 1 in 300 ( Hewitt, Weiner, & Simone, 2003) Struggle of the Individual When a child is diagnosed with any type of cancer their whole quality of life changes. One minute they’re at school and playing with their friends and the next they’re in a hospital bed having different treatments and tests done. Some survivors of pediatric cancer may experience or develop psychosocial effects, such as less frequent partnership and living with parents more often than their adult counterparts (Dieluweit et al., 2010).
Impact on the Family Having an ill family member or loved one puts an emotional burden on the non-ill members. Some individuals may feel frightened by the thought of their loved one dying or suffering.
References: Chronic Illness Cures. Retrieved December 5, 2011 from http://www.chronicillnesscures.com/what-is-chronic-illness/ Bonadonna, R. (2003) Mediation’s impact on chronic illness. Holistic Nursing Practices, 309-318 Davidson, T., Kagan, J., & Gall, S. B. (2007) Cancer. The Gale Encyclopedic of Childhood and Adolescence. Ed. Dieluweit, U., Klaus-Michael, D., Grabow, D., Kaatsch, P., Peter, R., Seitz, D. C., & Goldbec, L. (2010). Social outcomes of long-term survivors of adolescent cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 19(12), 1277-1284 Duffy, M. & Gillig, S. (2003) Cancer, families, and family counselors. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 11(1), 68-71 Edwards, B. & Clarke, V. (2004) The psychological impact of a cancer diagnosis on families: the influence of family functioning and patients’ illness characteristics on depression and anxiety. Psycho-Oncology, 13: 562-576 Hewitt, M., Weiner, S. L., & Simone, J. V. (2003) In Institute of Medicine (Ed). Childhood cancer survivorship: Improving care and quality of life. Washington DC: National Academy Press Houtzager, B. A., Oort, F. J., Hoekstra-Weebers, J. E., Caron, H. N., Grootenhuis, M. A., & Last, B. F. (2004) Coping and family functioning predict longitudinal psychological adaptation of siblings of childhood cancer patients. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 29, 591-605