The Effects Of Social Support On Chronic Disease

The purpose of this unit is to provide the learner with knowledge, understanding and skills to promote active support to increase an individual’s participation in tasks and activities. It is aimed at those whose role includes planning, monitoring and providing direct support and assistance to individuals.

Living with a chronic condition not only effects the individual, but it effects the entire family. An adolescent living with a chronic health condition not only depends on their family for support, but also on support from their friends, classmates, and healthcare team (Rostami, Parsa-Yekta, Najafi Ghezeljeh, & Vanaki, 2014). Supporting an individual with a chronic disease leaves an emotional impact and can be financially straining as well. Families living with a sick child must find strategies to cope. Whether the coping strategies utilized are positive or negative, they leave a lasting effect on the entire family, as well as the child living with the condition (Woodson, Thakkar, Burbage, Kichler, & Nabors, 2015). Involvement of the parents in this situation is vital to the child’s future success in managing their illness (Landers, Friedrich, Jawad, & Miller, 2016). This paper will explore one family’s story of living with, and coping with, a child who has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).

When someone is suffering or living with a chronic illness it can have a huge impact on them psychologically and socially. Chronic Illness is a condition that is prolonged in duration, usually more than 3 months and is rarely cured (DoH, 2012). Having to cope with a chronic condition might lead to life changes, such as dependency on others, loss of income, which can cause feelings of loss and reduced self-esteem. They can also report feelings of social rejection, poor healthcare and workplace termination due to their presenting condition (Earnshaw, Quinn, & Park, 2011).

Depending on their nature, social relationships can influence behavioral health, psychological health, physical health, and mortality in a myriad of ways (Umberson and Montez, 2010). In general, healthy and high-quality social relationships are those characterized by support and mutual respect; whereas unhealthy and low-quality social relationships are those deemed toxic through stress and disrespect.

Discussion how “words of comfort” encapsulated the books take on medicine, I feel that these words are showing us how in medicine being a caring and sympathetic health care provider is important. (Verghese, 2009) In the book relationships with patients is shown to be as important as the care they are providing. Knowing how much technology and medicine has advanced in the last years I feel that no matter how good the scientific side of it is there has to be a relationship with the health care providers and patients. It is proven that a positive relationship helps a patient recover faster. Relationships can help in many ways just having someone to talk to, give feedback, and encouragement are all way relationships are able to benefit and speed up recovery. (Brainline, 2015)

The role of relatives and friends is important in the lives of residents. Sometimes just knowing that there is someone to talk to and confide in can help people overcomes their problems just as much as any treatment. The participation

Throughout her everlasting injury and recovery, someone was always there by her side. From her sister to her husband to her best friend, she always had a companion with her. Lauren was extremely lucky and she realized how lucky she was to have such amazing guardians who gave her endless hope and support. Who knows if she could have made it without her loved ones. Looking back at her injury, Lauren notes,“My guardians - my husband, my parents, and my doctors and nurses- helped to prevent death from stealing me, but only by the narrowest margin” (Manning 91). Also, in a recent New York Times article, Elizabeth Pope says, “Loneliness is a risk factor for functional decline and early death in adults over age 60, according to a University of California, San Francisco study published in July. More than 43 percent of the 1,604 participants reported that they often felt left out or isolated or lacked companionship.” These are two examples that highlight how companionship is essential for one to survive. When one is going through difficult times such as injuries or illnesses, they need a friend or family member to be there with them. Many people out there are dying at a young age because of extreme loneliness and isolation. Humans need each other, especially during times of misery. The amazing people who surround and care for us everyday are truly important and should never be taken advantage

Abstract: Due to the progressive of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and many patients are suffering from its complications. The purpose of this study is to determine whether different support groups formats and family supports improve the functional status of clients with pulmonary disease. The Sample of 90 clients as research participants recruited through a convenience sample, and these clients divided into three groups with a different type of interventions. The results: All effects were not statistically significant at the .05 significance level for teacher and control groups except the website group for

"No matter how bad you think your condition is, there are always people who are worse off. " I got this comforting statement from the book, Conception of a Dialysis Patient, written by Fayton Hollington. In this memoir, the author recounts his experiences as a lupus and dialysis patient. Fayton's life has been full of challenges since the day he was diagnosed with lupus. Bit by bit, he takes his audience on a journey through the decades of his battles with chronic medical conditions.

A book offering coping strategies and hope for those diagnosed with an Invisible Chronic Illness, Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired written by Mary E. Siegel and Paul J. Donoghue, also speaks a lot about how relationships are impacted by Invisible Chronic Illness but also offers suggestions and intervention strategies in order to fix them. Those with Invisible Chronic Illness often struggle to maintain normal relationships. The burdens that can come along with having an Invisible Chronic Illnesses can hinder even the strongest of relationships. When in times of need people tend to look towards their families for support, but sometimes this need is not met making their illness even harder to bare. Some of the challenges that familial relationships will face during the time someone is diagnosed with Invisible Chronic Illness will involve changes in roles, unmet needs of both parties, and self-doubt or doubt of others.

Providing Peer Support in Other Users. Kidney and Stroke teams trained groups of patients and employees to provide support for service users in the time of need. Evaluations showed patients valued and appreciated talking to someone who has had the same experiences or similar and could lend them support to help determine decisions. The challenges faced with providing peer support was finding a sufficient amount of volunteers for the program, peer support has now become apart of kidney services and continues on a volunteer bases with stroke services.

Health Behaviours can be split into three types, as defined by Kasl and Cobb (1966). Firstly, health behaviour is a behaviour directed to avoid disease such as having a balanced diet. Secondly, illness behaviour is aimed at seeking remedy such as visiting the doctor, and thirdly is sick role behaviour which is an activity aimed at overcoming illness. Further explanation by Matarzzo (1984) includes health impairing behaviour to account for choices we make such as smoking or drinking which can affect our heath. Social contexts have previously been associated with health inequalities using measures such as class, environment and education and socio-economic status (SES) (Lynch, 1997; Adler, 1999; Adler 2002). Here this essay will aim to discuss how living in certain social contexts can constrain our health behaviour choice, but also argue how other factors such as gender and availability of medical interventions affect these choices too.

There is increasing indication suggesting that social relationships and social support are protective of ill health. Thoits (2010) points that negative impacts of stressors on health and wellbeing are reduced when people have social support. Stansfield (1999) distinguishes the importance between social network and functional aspects of support; this included the number of frequency of contacts. The quality of support would include positive emotional and practical support and also any negative, undermining aspects of close relationships. Mittelmark (1999) suggests benefits of strengthening social ties can create better functioning individuals and improved physical and mental health.

Illness uncertainty is a cause of a persistent and all-encompassing mental anxiety for people existing with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and basically changes how well they live and their coping ability with the disease. Social support or the lack thereof is a precursor of uncertainty in illness according to the Uncertainty in Illness theory. In 2013, a cross-sectional correlational study was conducted by Moosa, Mayam, Narges, and Fatemeh to examine uncertainty in 80 people living with HIV and how it related with social support in Iran. The outcome proved the theory and confirmed a high level of illness uncertainty in people living with HIV and a negative correlation amid apparent social support and illness uncertainty (Sajjadi, M., Rassouli, M., Bahri, N., & Mohammadipoor, F. 2015). In another study done by Deimling, Musil, Moore, Schneider & Wonghongul, on 2000 breast cancer survivors. The survivors

A chronic illness is a long-lasting condition that can be controlled but not cured. It is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, accounting for 70% of all deaths in the U.S., which is around 1.7 million each year. With statistics like that, being diagnosed with a chronic illness could obviously have severely negative effects to a person’s body. Not only is a chronic illness physically stressful, it also has the ability to affect a person’s mental state. Some commonly known chronic illnesses are diabetes, epilepsy, and glaucoma.