Significant Life Event and Coping Strategy Health, Medicine Case Study

Significant Life Event and Coping Strategy
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Significant Life Event and Coping Strategy
Introduction
Although dying is a normal thing, it is treated as an illness. As a result, more individuals die ion hospitals and alone. Palliative care (end of life care) aims to assist patients with life-threatening illness (Wheeler, 2016). The care aims to manage the symptoms that come about as a result of the sickness and offer comfort and assistance to the patient. In palliative care, patients are expected to receive comprehensive assessment and treatment to address not only physical issues but also psychological and spiritual challenges. Towards death, the symptoms of the patient need more aggressive palliation. At the same time, support should also be given to the patient’s family. After the death of the patient, palliative care should now focus on the bereaving family. The ultimate aim of palliative care is to improve the quality of life for both the patient and the family. This case study uses the theory of family conflict to demonstrate the impact of Maria’s diagnosis to her and her family, and also presents coping strategies for the husband to cope with the diagnosis.
Impact of Maria’s diagnosis
The theory of family conflict can be applied in Maria’s case to demonstrate how the diagnosis impacts her and the rest of the family members. A family means a group of people who are linked together in ways that are mutually reinforcing (Mooney, Oliver & Smith, 2009). While a family primarily means direct blood relatives, it can also include other persons whom an individual feels most connected. While palliative care programs operate on the premise that the family is the unit of care, the family is often considered as a group of people who can assist in improving care or resist efforts. Hence, in palliative care, how the family members perceive their experience and how their relationships fit together is critical (Fringer, Hechinger & Schnepp, 2018). The best outcomes can be realized if family members receive appropriate interventions. While individuals expect family members to offer maximum care to patients on palliative care, this is not always the case. This is because these family caregivers face challenges that make the care challenging.
Maria’s family will face numerous stressors, starting from critical decisions regarding care to grieving the imminent loss. The immediate family, especially the husband John and the two sons will be most affected. It is not easy for immediate family members to consider the idea that Maria is about to die. Being the closest family member, it will be stressful to imagine that such a thing can happen. John will have a difficult time accepting that his wife of 10 years is about to die. Similarly, the two sons will have to accept that their mother will die and leave them behind. The wide social network of Maria will also have to deal with the possibility of losing a friend, colleague, role model, etc. While the family members and the wider social network can be helpful to one another and Maria, the emotional burden can result in family conflict. The family members can face emotional, psychological, and spiritual stresses that emerge from palliative care that can challenge the functioning of a healthier family (Kasl-Godley, King & Quill, 2014). In this case, Maria and John have been married for 10 years and have two children. The thought that Maria is going to die will put a strain on the husband and the two children. On the one hand, Maria has to deal with the fact that she is about to die and leave behind her husband and the boys. While Maria worries about the family members, she has also to deal with the stress associated with advanced lung cancer. Probably, she is dealing with pain that comes with the disease. On the other hand, the family members especially the husband and two children may be worried that they are not offering the required care to Maria. The husband may be concerned that he is not be making the most appropriate decisions regarding the care. John may feel that Maria is not receiving the care that she deserves at this time when she is about to die. He may feel inadequate to meet Maria’s needs at a time when she needs him most.
Few families are normally perfectly cohesive, hence under the stress of palliative care, hidden tensions can easily emerge. The ability of a family to handle the stressors that emerge during such a time is majorly determined by past and present dynamics and other factors that may or may not be associated with the illness (Sheidow, Henry, Tolan & Strachan, 2014). John and Maria may have some challenges in their marriage. Tensions within marriages are inevitable but how people handle them determines the stability of the marriage. In the case that their marriage had challenges in the past, the terminal illness will amplify the problems. Since now the family is dealing with extreme stress as a result of terminal illness, the family conflict will increase. The issues that were not previously addressed in the family are likely to re-emerge and cause more problems. For instance, assuming that Maria had not forgiven John for something he did to her, then John will leave with the guilt that he wronged his wife and cannot make things right.
The family conflict has adverse effects on the care process. Families tend to be ill-prepared to address conflicts that arise in palliative care (Boelk & Kramer, 2012). Conflict interferes with the ability of interdisciplinary teams in dealing with patient and family needs. Family conflict will have adverse effects on Maria and the rest of the family. It may lead to increased risk on the part of the caregiver where it increases their burden. John, who is the primary caregiver may be a victim of poor personal health as he attempts to care for Maria. Similarly, the personal health of the two boys may be neglected as all the attention goes towards catering for the needs of their mother. Due to the challenges associated with palliative care, John may suffer from depression and anger as the caregiver. The inability to deal with conflicts that emerge in the process will make the bereavement process difficult.
In such a difficult moment, members are vulnerable to “asserti...