title: Chronic illness and the family life-cycle.
abstract: Chronic illness is currently the outstanding health issue in the United States. It creates increased family stress, requires constant adaptation by the family members and poses a challenge to nurses to better understand and meet the needs of the family as well as the individual. This paper presents a psychosocial typology of chronic illness and discusses the importance of time phasing of the chronic illness. A conceptual framework for analysing the interaction of chronic illness with family and individual life-cycles is outlined. Knowledge of life-cycle stressors is essential for nurses to better delineate the relationship between the vertical and horizontal life stressors which affect the family system.
authors.affiliation: Medical Divisions, Christian Hospital Northeast, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Newby
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015399:Nursing Research; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013598:Systems Theory