Search results for ‘Subject term:"physical illness"’ Sort:
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Grief, depressive symptoms, and physical health among recently bereaved spouses
- Authors:
- UTZ Rebecca L., CASERTA Michael, LUND Dale
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 52(4), August 2012, pp.460-471.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
The dynamic relationship between physical health and psychological well-being is explored among recently bereaved spouses. Drawing on data from a sample of 328 bereaved persons aged over 50 years who participated in the US “Living After Loss” study, the authors modelled trends in physical health, somatic symptoms, and psychological well-being over the first year and a half of widowhood. The main focus of the study was whether physical health at the time of widowhood modifies psychological well-being over time. There were a considerable number of somatic symptoms during the earliest months of bereavement but no major health declines over the first year and half. Those in poor health had initially higher levels of grief and depressive symptoms, but the trajectories or changes over time were similar regardless of health status. Those with poor health at the time of widowhood had significantly higher risks of complicated grief and major depression. The authors note that bereavement requires physical and emotional adjustment, but its psychological trajectory may be somewhat universal. They suggest that bereavement support should focus on self-care and health promotion in addition to emotional support, especially because those with poor health initially may be most susceptible to prolonged and intense clinical distress.
From vulnerability to resilience: where should research priorities lie?
- Author:
- STROEBE Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Bereavement Care, 28(2), July 2009, pp.18-24.
- Publisher:
- Cruse Bereavement Care
Recent decades have seen a shift in the focus of bereavement research from the mental and physical health consequences of bereavement to the exploration of the protective qualities that help people cope with loss. The author reviews the literature produced by both camps and concludes that the pendulum may have swung too far. The literature indicates that the vast majority of bereaved people are, indeed, resilient and will cope without intervention. But policy-makers and health and social care practitioners need also to know that bereavement is associated with excess risk of early death and physical and psychological health problems. Psycho-social intervention should focus on such ’at-risk’ groups.
At miste foraeldre er svaert - men at have syge foraeldre kan vaere svaerere: en undersogelse der saetter fokus pa, hvorfor unge med kroeftsyge foraeldre sjaeldent soger professionel hjaelp
- Author:
- ENGELBREKT Preben
- Journal article citation:
- Nordisk Sosialt Arbeid, 25(1), 2005, pp.31-42.
- Publisher:
- Universitetsforlaget AS
This article asks why young people with seriously ill parents rarely seek professional counselling. There has recently been increasing awareness of the difficulties facing children and adolescents who lose one or both parents but there is a need also to address the far larger group with seriously ill parents. Living with such a parent often causes profound anxiety which may seriously affect a young person's own development. As better treatment keeps many patients with life-threatening diseases alive longer, the young are exposed to emotional and psychological problems over a longer period. The results of a small survey by a Norwegian counselling centre for bereaved young people and those with parents suffering life-threatening diseases are given. It found 3 main reasons why they rarely seek professional counselling: they adapt to the situation in an effort to maintain as much of ordinary life as possible; parents often give the impression they are going to get better; and the young often do not realise the seriousness of the situation. The author argues we have failed as a profession and society to recognise the problems these people face and how vital it is to offer professional counselling and support before the death of the parent(s). [In Norwegian with summary in English.]
Parents thoughts of causal attributions
- Author:
- LILLRANK Annika
- Journal article citation:
- Nordisk Sosialt Arbeid, 19(1), 1999, pp.33-38.
- Publisher:
- Universitetsforlaget AS
Parents have a need to understand why their child was diagnosed with cancer, and the absence of medical explanations does not prevent parents from thinking about it. Our understanding of illness, which has a limited range of causal explanations of disease. One important coping strategy employed in order to manage the existential crisis as an unresolvable conflict is to construct causal attributions beyond medical explanations. Looks at the ways parents construct explanations.
Healthtalkonline
- Publisher:
- DIPEx
This site presents the health-related experiences of over 2,000 people with over 60 conditions and illnesses. The site uses using video and audio-clips and textual information to tell people's personal stories. Conditions covered include: mental health; dying and bereavement; chronic health issues; and autism. The site enables patients, families, carers and healthcare professionals to benefit from user experience. The information is based on qualitative research into patient experiences led by experts at the University of Oxford. The site also provides an A-Z of specific conditions, treatment choices and support.
The inheritance of loss
- Authors:
- GOLDSMITH Jo, COWEN Helena
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 37(2), August 2011, pp.179-193.
- Publisher:
- Routledge
This article discusses how the overwhelming experience of the death of a baby or child may impact upon a mother and her relationship with any subsequent children. A mother’s grief can affect her capacity to relate to her new baby with significant consequences for the baby. The article focuses primarily on how the body and physical symptoms can experience and expresses something that is known without words. If there is a traumatic dislocation between the mother and the baby, the impact on the baby will be expressed predominately through the infant's body. If this is unresolved, the body will continue to manifest this distress throughout development. The article considers 2 different developmental periods, namely early infancy and older adolescence, to explore how unresolved disturbances are expressed through the body. This is illustrated using 2 clinical cases: one from parent–infant work with a depressed mother and her 4-week-old baby who screamed for hours at a time; and the other from work undertaken with an older adolescent girl struggling with sexual abuse and bulimia. In both clinical examples, there had been deaths of siblings prior to the birth of the patient.
Dealing with life changes: humour in painful self-disclosures by elderly Japanese women
- Author:
- MATSUMOTO Yoshiko
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 29(6), August 2009, pp.929-952.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This paper examines the ways in which older people depict verbally the life changes that accompany old age. It reports a study of Japanese elderly women's casual conversations with their friends, during which they talked about their husbands' deaths and illnesses. A frequently observed discourse practice among old people is ‘painful self-disclosure’ (PSD), in which unhappy personal information on one's ill health, immobility or bereavement is revealed and speakers describe themselves using negative stereotypes of old age. During the observed conversations, however, the PSD accounts were frequently accompanied by humour and laughter. This paper examines the complex structure of the PSDs. To exemplify, a simple statement of death and illness given early in a conversation is later elaborated with descriptions of unremarkable domestic events, e.g. complaints about the husband's behaviour. Through shifting the frame of the narrative to quotidian normality, the elderly speakers convert painful life events to everyday matters that they can laugh about. Furthermore, it was found that the humour is sustained through interactions during which the hearers often laughed with the speaker. The study suggests that the disclosure of age-related negative experiences is not necessarily uniformly gloomy, but rather is combined with expressions of personal and social identities and nuanced and modulated through a complex resolution of the speaker's intentions and social expectations.
The hospice at home
- Author:
- VALIOS Natalie
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 24.5.01, 2001, pp.34-35.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Children's hospices provide a variety of vital services to terminally ill children, their siblings and parents. Looks at one award-winning children's hospice in south east England that has succeeded in taking the hospice to the home.
Helping children to manage loss: positive strategies for renewal and growth
- Author:
- MALLON Brenda
- Publisher:
- Jessica Kingsley
- Publication year:
- 1998
- Pagination:
- 136p.,list of orgs., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Explores the territory of loss in childhood using the words of children who have found themselves bereft of hope. As well as covering the short and long term implications that arise when loss occurs, it provides positive approaches that enable children not only to cope but to grow through their experiences. Topics explored include: helping a child prepare for loss; the initial impact of bereavement and its immediate consequences; helping a child mourn/come to terms with loss; the effects of separation and divorce; enabling strategies to use with children facing illness; dreams as communication and how they can be used therapeutically; facing the trauma of abuse, suicide and disaster; and strategies for renewal at home and at school, including the importance of active listening and ritual.
African American families and HIV/AIDS: caring for surviving children
- Authors:
- CARTEN Alma J., FENNOY Ilene
- Journal article citation:
- Child Welfare Journal, 76(1), January 1997, pp.107-125.
- Publisher:
- Child Welfare League of America
This article presents the preliminary findings of a national project undertaken to examine the medical/health, social service, and legal needs of African American children who have experienced or will experience the death of one or both parents as a result of HIV/AIDS. The project seeks to guide the development of culturally competent policies and practices across delivery systems responsible for managing the care of these children and their families. Services have expanded for the children but much remains to be accomplished to achieve culturally competent, integrated care systems for surviving children and their caregivers.