NSG 4055 Week 2 Project The Impact of Chronic Illness
NSG 4055 Week 2 Project The Impact of Chronic Illness
The Impact of Chronic Illness
Identify one person from the illness group you chose in Week
1. The person should not be a patient at the facility in which you work. You
can use friends, family members, or coworkers. Do not use the person’s name in
the paper but only initials. Administer the questionnaire you created in Week 1
to that person. Compile the data and analyze the responses to better illustrate
where this person, his or her family, and friends are in relation to accepting
the diagnosis in relation to the standard health or illness definitions. The
analysis should also include coping skills, treatment, and support aspects of
the illness. Identify how this will direct care plan development for the chosen
illness group.
Compile a report of your interview with the questions you
created, the responses you received, your analysis, and your interpretation of
how it will affect planning care for the group in a 4- to 5-page Microsoft Word
document.
Support your responses with examples.
On a separate references page, cite all sources using APA
format.
Use this APA Citation Helper as a convenient reference for
properly citing resources.
This handout will provide you the details of formatting your
essay using APA style.
You may create your essay in this APA-formatted template.
Chronic illness
The World Health Organization defines chronic illness as a functional organic disorder that forces a change in a person’s lifestyle. Furthermore, the illness tends to persist throughout their life. It’s usually a condition that lasts longer than six months and progresses slowly. Here are some of the most common chronic illnesses (Vinaccia and Orozco, 2005):
Many endogenous factors can influence the onset of these types of diseases, such as hormones. However, it’s important to remember that you can try and improve certain circumstances in order to stop them from happening in the first place. For example, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, avoiding stress, and making sure you’re living in a healthy environment. These are just some of the weapons you have at your disposal.
Effects of chronic illness
Chronic or not, any disease has negative effects that impact your life. This article focuses on the most common.
Social effects
Castillo, Mañas, Moralejo, and Ahijado (2017) stated that a number of changes can occur when a patient develops a chronic illness:
- Modification of the patient’s role. In many cases, patients suffer a loss of autonomy and independence. Therefore, they might need extensive care and attention.
- Continuing on from the last point, the patient may need a caregiver. Typically, this would be a woman from the patient’s family. Hence, their habits and routines are also affected.
- Abandonment of household chores and daily tasks.
- Impact on the patient’s working life. For example, they might be forced to temporarily abandon their career. Furthermore, their caregiver may have to do the same.
- Negative effects on the patient’s and their family’s financial situation.
- Loss of social relations.
Psychological and emotional effects
The psychological effects of chronic illness are the following (López Ibor, 2007):
- Anxiety. This could be due to uncertainty about the future or symptoms of pain.
- Depression.
- Adaptation problems. Sufferers may struggle to deal with a situation that’s completely changed their life.