Family Systems Theory and Chronic Childhood Illness: Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Chronic illness in childhood presents many diverse challenges to the affected child, the family, and the medical care system. Psychosocial implications of the illness must be recognized and dealt with in conjunction with requisite physiological treatment. Coordination of the various helping professionals involved in a given child’s care is essential while working toward improvements in function for the child and his family. Several authors (Battle, 1975; Gliedman and Roth, 1980; Mattsson, 1972; Pless and Pinkerton, 1975; Straus and Glaser, 1975) have reviewed the needs of the child with chronic illness and his family and described their approaches toward effective health care intervention. Although these reports include many useful guidelines and important suggestions for health care professionals working with chronically ill children and their families, they do not present a conceptual framework to organize professional efforts. This paper will present a theoretical approach to chronic illness in childhood which stresses the system characteristics of the affected child’s family. I will also outline roles for health care providers which support and enhance the family’s ability to organize itself to meet the special demands of a chronic illness while maintaining effective function for its members in other spheres. This outline will draw chiefly upon the work of Minuchin (1970, 1974, 1975, 1978) and his colleagues (Baker and Barcai, 1970) with children with Juvenile Onset Diabetes Mellitus and their families.