Physical Disability Within the Family

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses the effects of a physical disability on the family unit. The writer looks at whether family members and others in the medical and mental health fields are doing enough to ensure that patients that must deal with disabilities get the best care possible for all of their needs. The writer maintains that family members and medical professionals often look only at the physical aspects of the disability and therefore they do not do enough to study and help the emotional and behavioral issues that may also come along with certain physical disabilities, such as anxiety stemming from the diagnosis and the worry that comes along with that diagnosis. The writer concludes that more focus on specific disabilities would likely also be very helpful when it comes to looking at mental and emotional health issues and how family members react to those kinds of problems.

Outline:
Main Area of Study
Brief Review of the Literature
Critique of the Literature

From the Paper:

"The main issue that must be dealt with here is whether family members and others in the medical and mental health fields are doing enough to ensure that patients that must deal with disabilities get the best care possible for all of their needs. As has been mentioned, family members and medical professionals often look only at the physical aspects of the disability and therefore they do not do enough to study and help the emotional and behavioral issues that may also come along with these types of physical disabilities, such as anxiety stemming from the diagnosis and the worry that comes along with that diagnosis. When someone has a physical disability that can be cured, the suffering from it and the problems that they face with it are usually relatively short-lived and overall these kinds of physical disabilities do not contribute to long-term pain and significant mental or emotional problems.
"However, where a chronic or permanent disability is concerned, patients and their families must deal with the physical disability for a much greater period of time, and the emotional stress that this places on the family can become very uncomfortable and painful for them if there is no effective way of treating it or no outlet for the feelings that the patient and the family often has where the physical disability is concerned."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, B. L. (2002). Biobehavioral outcomes following psychological interventions for cancer patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(3), 590-610.
• Brannon, L., & Fiest, J. (2004). Health Psychology: Vol. 2. An Introduction to Behavior and Health (Fifth ed.) Belmont CA: Thompson/Wadsworth.
• DiMatteo, M. (2004). Social support and patient adherence to medical treatment: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 23(2), 207-218.
• Eitel, P., Hatchett, L., Friend, R., Griffin, K. W., & Wadhwa, N. K. (1995). Burden of self-carein seriously ill patients impact on adjustment. Health Psychology, 14(5), 457-463.
• Emery, C. F., Shermer, R. L., Hauck, E. R., Hsiao, E. T., & MacIntyre, N. R. (2003). Cognitive and psychological outcomes of exercise in a 1-year follow-up study of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Health Psychology, 22(6), 598-604.

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