Effects of chronic illness on children and their families

The proportion of children affected by chronic illness is relatively high, approximately 10-12%. For these children, there is no available cure and the best that medical care can currently offer is relief from symptoms and the opportunity to participate in normal life as far as possible. Epidemiological work suggests that many of the children experience relatively few restrictions on everyday life, but about 1-2% of the total population of sick children have more severe conditions (Gortmaker & Sappenfield, 1984). Advances in biotechnology mean that it is now possible to treat many more children than in the past. However, the financial cost to the health service is coming under greater scrutiny, and the cost to families in social and psychological terms is increasingly recognised. Costs for families include the added care-taking burden involved in care of a sick child, increased psychological morbidity, especially among mothers, and impact on other family members, especially healthy siblings. For the child, there are likely to be interruptions to regular schooling, restricted mobility and activities, and sometimes long-term restrictions into adult life (Eiser, 1995). The need for regular medical treatment may well compro mise normal childhood activities. In the past, there has been a tendency for psychologists to work within a medical model in child health psychology. Thus, it is assumed that the consequences of chronic illness for psychol ogical health are disease-specific. Such a view is perpetuated where psychologists are 'attached' to