Impact of Chronic Medical Conditions on Adolescents and Strategies of Promoting Positive Development - Term Paper Example

Impact of Chronic Medical Conditions on Adolescents and strategies of promoting positive development Name Institution Impact of Chronic Medical Conditions on Adolescents The prevalence of chronic conditions among adolescents has become a worrying trend given that many young people transition into adulthood together with these diseases. The prevalence of chronic diseases among the adolescents is a significant challenge to the health and wellness of adolescents, but assessing the extent of the issue continue to cause many challenge to health practitioners. However, many research work report on the influence of chronic diseases on adolescents, even as they transit through a fundamental stage of life. Adolescents face significant challenges owing to their development needs, but the presence of chronic diseases, such as asthma, cerebral, and atopic dermatitis, compound their challenges. The number of adolescents with chronic disease differ across regions. One study estimate that 10% of adolescents in France, Canada, and Switzerland have at least one condition of chronic disease (Alderman, Lauby & Coupey, 1995). The global prevalence of chronic conditions among adolescents has been a motivating factor in studies that attempt to outline the effect of chronic diseases on adolescents. Chronic diseases have a significant impact on adolescents because the interaction of chronic diseases with the needs of adolescents give rise to several conflicts. More significantly, chronic diseases affect the adolescents in various facets that include the biology, psychology, social, and other behavioral areas. The understanding of how chronic diseases affect adolescents is essential in establishing effective coping strategies that allow adolescents to transition into adult with the least impact from the disease. Impact of Chronic Medical Conditions Chronic medical conditions and adolescents have a reciprocal effect on each other. However, chronic diseases have a plethora of effects on adolescents, which underscore the need for measures to prevent the impact of chronic diseases. The impact of chronic medical conditions on adolescents are expressed through the three stages of the adolescents’ stage—early, middle, and late adolescence. The impact of chronic medical disease become expressed in biological, social, and psychological steps. Impact of chronic disease on growth and puberty Chronic inflammation owing to the prevalence of chronic illness has a significant impact of growth and attainment of puberty among adolescents. Many adolescents with chronic illness, experience challenge in growth and attainment of puberty that may delay their transition into adulthood. A number of large birth cohort studies indicate that physical chronic illness has less impact on the growth of adolescents, but psychological chronic illness are responsible for delayed growth (Grey, 2000). The impact of delayed puberty among adolescents with chronic illness can lead to far reaching effects. This is because any delayed puberty can result in a delay in biological, social, and psychological development, which could lead to immaturity among adolescents. For instance, delayed puberty can lead to low esteem among males and in some cases challenge in adolescents separating from their parents because of their delayed maturity (Officioso et al., 2000). The influence of these effects could compound into other effects such as adults or peers treating adolescents as less matures than those with no chronic illness do. Impact of chronic medical condition on psychological development The severity of a chronic illness has an overarching influence on the wellbeing of adolescents affected with medical conditions such as asthma or diabetes. Many chronic medical diseases have various levels of psychological impairments that accompany such complications. In their study, Lavigne and Gaier-Routman (1992) found that adolescents with chronic illness experienced high levels of internalizing symptoms that those with healthy controls. Another study indicate that girls with chronic illness tend to show higher levels of emotional maladjustment than boys do (Seltzer, 2001). The influence of chronic illness among adolescents has attracted significant research with some studies indicating that adolescents with medical conditions like asthma or diabetes being lonely, and suffering from somatic disorders. Evidently, these effects are evidence that chronic illness contribute to psychosocial development. Chronic diseases also affect the cognitive capacities of adolescents because some chronic illness tend to cause long-term neuropsychological effects amongst young people. In young people with chronic illness, some may experience delayed development of sexual sense because chronic illness could distort their physical body (Seltzer, 2001). An exemplary case would be adolescents with scars or stomas that could make them appear unattractive thereby hurting development of their sexual sense. In some extreme cases, adolescents with chronic medical conditions can suffer from impaired sexual functions, but this does not necessary imply a lack of unsafe sexual practices among affected persons. Impact of chronic illness on education and schooling Chronic illness among adolescents can lead to several challenges in relation to education and schooling. When enrolling to schools, adolescents with chronic illness may face a challenge when it comes to disclosing information to school authorities. This is often the case when adolescents with chronic diseases fear labelling and stigmatizing from their peers. The impact of providing little information, resulting from the reluctance of parents or peers, could degenerate into a crisis where the adolescents face other difficult health conditions such as cardiac failure (Seltzer et al., 2001). Even with the imminent danger of such medical conditions, adolescents with chronic illness or their parents may fail to provide school authorities with vital information regarding their illness that could help prevent the onset. The failure of notifying school authorities about the true picture of adolescents’ health could be a major setback. Chronic illness may also affect the schooling of adolescents who have experience excessive demands from treatment regimens. Adolescents who have chronic illnesses may suffer in their schooling and educational achievement, which could have other future impact such as lack of employment opportunities. Schooling adolescents with chronic illness may miss their classes when they have to attend medical treatments (Seltzer et. al, 2001). This is the case when student focus much on the treatment regiments to extent that they miss their classes. While education and treatment regimens could bring conflicts, the schooling of adolescents with chronic children could suffer significantly. The need to attend treatment and the resulting psychological problems could affect the schooling of adolescents with chronic diseases. Research indicate that teenager with chronic problems tend to demonstrate high absenteeism rate than those without chronic illness (Seltzer et al., 2001). While chronic diseases may affect the attendance rate of adolescents’ students, the severity of the medical condition have a direct relation with the rate of teenagers missing school. In most cases, teenagers with chronic diseases miss school because of adhering to treatment schedules creating a negative effect on their educational progress. The impact of loss time in school could have a direct impact on educational achievement. However, a far-reaching consequence of poor educational achievement could be loss of vocation making affected adolescents’ transition into adult while depending on their families for support. Impact of chronic illness on family and peer relations In homes with adolescents with chronic illness, parents tend to overprotect their children, which could affect the relationship between the parents and the adolescents, and perhaps cause identify deficiency. The condition of adolescents with chronic illness often make such teenager dependent on their parents because lifestyle restriction. For instance, their disabling impact of chronic disease could motivate parents to overprotect their children and may result in exclusion of such children from their parents. Teenagers with taxing medical conditions can impose excessive burden on their parents leading to restriction that may limit their relation with their parents. In cases where parents overprotect their children, adolescents with chronic diseases could suffer from identify formation (Meehan et al., 2002). This could further limit the relationship between the students and their peers at a time when adolescents need extensive time for socialization and development of identity among their peers. Adolescents with chronic diseases may suffer from issues of self-image such as dressing or public behavior that may have a conflict with their lifestyles. When adolescents are under treatment regiments, their demands for treatment and adhering to treatment schedules may place demands on them to have unique lifestyles. For instance, some adolescents could have lunchtime injections, which may affect how such adolescents behave in the public spaces. The need to prioritize disease control over social time is a significant factor that could reduce the ability of adolescents with chronic diseases to fit into their social environment. Strategies of Promoting Resilience of Positive Resilience The effect of chronic medical conditions on adolescents necessitates the need for novel strategies to promote resilience or positive development. First, it is vital to promote the development of self-esteem among adolescents that suffer from chronic illness. One of the challenge of chronic illness is the loss of self-esteem in adolescents who may suffer from delayed maturity. Consequently, there is need of parents with such children to understand their conditions of their children and motivate them into developing self-esteem (Alderman, Lauby, & Coupey, 1995). In addition, treating adolescents with chronic illness with necessary respect is essential in promoting their social and psychological wellbeing. Counselling of adolescents with chronic diseases, who have body image issues, is a significant strategy that promote positive development. Research point to a high rate of sexual dysfunction among adolescents with chronic diseases. This could be the case because the chronic disease could lead to distortion of the physical body. As a result, it is essential to offer counseling to such adolescents with the aim of creating awareness about their image. This approach could lower the level of dissatisfaction among adolescents and possibly less their indulgence in unsafe sexual acts that could expose them to risky sexual behavior. In school, it is vital to encourage adolescents with chronic illness to reveal relevant information about their conditions. Such efforts could promote resilience among adolescents with such illness. In addition, it could also reduce the occurrence of crisis that may endanger their lives. Where adolescents with chronic illness are in school, school authorities should develop strategies to accommodate their needs (Meehan et al., 2002). For instance, it may be necessary to establish flexible learning schedules to allow students receive medical care. In extreme cases, parents should take their children to special schools for specialized learning. Parents should encourage peer relations between their adolescents and other children as this will be helpful in allowing their children learn from their peers. Being that chronic illness tend to restrict the lifestyle of adolescents, peer relations can help the adolescents develop their identities and benefit from acceptability within their peers (Alderman, Lauby, & Coupey, 1995). Encouraging the youth to joint into a youth group could be a positive step to improve resilience. Evidently, chronic diseases have a significant impact on adolescents. Chronic illness could lead to poor learning, late puberty, low self-esteem, and weak social relations. However, allowing the adolescents to interact with their peers, receive counseling, be open about their condition, and enjoy flexible lifestyle could promote resilience and positive development. References Alderman E, Lauby J, & Coupey S. (1995).Problem behaviors in inner-city adolescents with chronic illness.J Dev Behav Pediatr, 16: 339–44. Grey M. (2000).Interventions for children with diabetes and their families. Annu Rev Nurs Res, 18:149–70 Lavigne J, & Gaier-Routman J. (1992). Psychological adjustment to pediatric physical disorders: a meta-analytic review.J Pediatr Psychol; 17:133–57 Meehan T, Bergen H, Coveney C, et al. (2002). Development and evaluation of a training program in peer support for former consumers. Int J Ment Health Nurs,11:34–9. Officioso A, Salerno M, Bruzzese E,et al. (2000)Adolescents with chronic pathology: body image. Minerva Pediatr, 52:539–40 Seltzer M, Greensberg J, Floyd F, et al. (2001).Life course impacts of parenting a child with a disability. Am J Ment Retard,106:265–86 Read More