ESSAY: Illness Disease and Management

After reviewing the article, which factor do you feel has the most impact on family members? Please support your response with examples from readings. What are some of the reasons it is important to include the support persons in the plan of care?

ANSWER

Emotional Impact

            Of all the adverse events associated with chronic illnesses ranging from financial burden, disruption of interpersonal relationships to psychological torture, emotional burden, in my view, has the most impact on family members. The emotional effect of caring for and living with a chronically ill patient is beyond imagination. The psychological distress experienced by close relatives normally results from the helplessness feelings brought about by chronic diseases (Golics, Basra, Finlay & Salek, 2013).  Family members report various emotional feelings including but not limited to disappointment, depression, guilt, and shame. Each of these psychological aspects affects patient’s relatives in different ways depending on the severity of the condition suffered and the duration since diagnoses. In terms of gender, women are …

The two main reasons why it is paramount to include support persons in the plan of care include: to minimize burden & distress and to improve competence and confidence. Support persons are able to assist family caregivers with the necessary information and techniques to take care of the sick person more conveniently. For instance, studies have reported considerable reduction in burden and agony for family caregivers receiving friendly, socially compassionate phone calls that offer some relief from the taxing care-giving activities. Improved social support and home visits also help minimize caregiver’s despair. Additionally, suppor…