| Abstract [eng] |
Psychosocial Situation of Family Having Child with Chronic Disease As the incidence of chronic diseases is rising, the burden on those affected, their families, the health system and the society is also increasing. Thus, the need and importance of further research into this problem are clear. It is likely that a better understanding of chronic diseases and their related factors will stimulate the development and introduction of new interventions to help the affected children and their families, which in turn would help in creating a strategy for psychosocial management of chronic diseases and reduce the social and economic exclusion of such persons and their families. This study aims to analyse the situation of families raising children with chronic diseases in psychological, socioeconomic, demographic and other aspects. The study involved 95 respondents who have a child suffering from chronic disease: 94.7% were women and 5.3% – men. Since the proportion of mothers participating in the research was considerably larger than that of fathers, the main findings of the research represent the assessment of mothers. A questionnaire for children with chronic diseases (QCCD) was used in the research. The questionnaire is intended to assess the psychosocial situation of families with chronically ill children based on self-report of the parents. Summarizing the findings, it can be concluded that the main difficulties faced by parents raising a chronically ill child are social by nature (the conditions at the child’s education institution are not met, unfavourable attitudes of the society, unemployment due to care of the child, lack of psychological and social support) as well as economic (material deprivation, especially if the child is sick) and psychological (fatigue, emotional stress). Intergroup analysis of the data revealed that only some socioeconomic factors, such as the dwelling, family and work situation, education and the type of chronic disease of the child, partially affected the functioning of the family of a chronically ill child. It also showed that socioeconomic factors do not affect the psychological condition of the parents; however, the latter is probably the most important factor predicting the functioning of the whole family. |
