Psychosocial situation of families with chronically ill children: a survey of parent initiatives

Abstract

Children with chronic illness or disabilities and their families require more support than healthy families. The working group "custodial and psychosocial supply" defined 4 theses to figure out deficits and targets of family support: 1) my child is different; 2) my child is not devisable; 3) my child needs strong helpers; and 4) my child needs safety.Based on these theses, a questionnaire for parents was designed of which 20 were sent to 34 parent initiatives in Germany each, for distribution to a random sample of member families.499/680 questionnaires were returned of which 419 could be included in the analysis. Less than 50% of the parents felt adequately and timely informed about their child's condition, and support for coping with the child's diagnosis was rarely given. Less than half of the parents reported to have been informed about the options for support within the German social system, and less than 15% were aware of instructions for clearing houses on care and support. About a third of the parents reported needs for managing family, siblings or household, but only a third of these had been offered organised and structured family support. More than 50% of the families reported restraints in participating in social life: such restraints were associated with problems in partnership and loss of friends. Half of the parents felt restraints of the family income because of their child's condition.There is need for improvement of the psychosocial condition of families with chronically ill or disabled children by better, more and timely information about the child's clinical condition, access to the social support system and availability of support services.