Parents of the Chronically Ill
Moms with Sick Kids Suffer Worse Health Affects than Dads
When a child suffers a life-threatening illness, mom's and dad's health is affected too. But Statistics Canada reports that mothers are more affected than fathers.
Researchers observed families with children six to 15 years old, both with and without chronic illness, to compare parents’ health. They compiled data from1994 to 2000 into a study called Children with disabilities and chronic conditions and parental health.
Findings
Mothers with chronically sick kids reported a marked health difference from those without. About 11 per cent said they were in poor or fair health, compared to five per cent of mothers without sick kids. They were also 1.5 times as likely to report poor health than mothers without sick kids who smoke daily.
There was no such difference between fathers of the two groups.
Why the difference?
Dr. Patricia Lester is a psychologist at UCLA who helps families cope with illness. She says depression and post-traumatic stress is common when parents care for a chronically ill child. Mothers are more at risk than fathers though, because they are often more involved, she says.
“Mothers are often more closely connected to the care taking responsibilities for the children,” Lester says, “From my own experience, moms would be in the hospital more, they would be more exposed to the health care process. That’s the more common paradigm.”
She says health and perceived health is affected by stress, as the parents of chronically sick kids have many responsibilities. “They must be aware of the medical intervention process, prepare themselves to help the kids understand the situation… it’s stressful and can be overwhelming.”
She says another possible reason for health differences is that mothers deal with stress differently than fathers do. Mothers tend to avoid their own stressful feelings more than fathers do, and this correlates with higher scores on depression tests.
Avoiding health problems, for both parents
It is important for both parents to deal with this stress and not avoid it, she says, not only for their own health, but also for the health of the child. “A parent’s role in the family is to provide protection and safety. When they’re ill themselves, psychologically or physically, they’re less able to do that effectively,” Lester says.
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) offers stress support for parents, says Marie Belanger, a hospital employee who helps direct the services. The hospital provides a range of support programs, she says, but parents must actively seek them.
The health care system could be more involved by offering stress-point interventions. Ontario nurses published a study in the journal Evidence Based Nursing that suggests these interventions can reduce stress and improve family and child functioning. Intervention in these studies included counseling to develop coping strategies, telephone access, and mailed information.
