The Impact Of Living With Chronic Illness Social Work Essay

The Impact Of Living With Chronic Illness Social Work Essay Families and individuals have to overcome new challenges due to disability and chronic illness. Families have suffer financial burden related to providing health facilities, education and buying appropriate equipment for the disabled or chronically ill member of the family. Some times house needs to modified to accommodate the needs of affected individual. Sometimes families and affected individuals get financial help from social services but getting the whole procedure and paper work done puts an extra burden while caring for the affected family member. Sometimes the situation is more worse when affected families and individuals suffer because they are unaware of the facilities and help they can get from government institutes Stress: Caring for the affected member of the family on daily basis puts family members under constant stress, anxiety, and depression and also physical fatigue. Family members and the affected individual become uncertain about the future. The affected individual also suffers from the frustration of disability and losing function. Gender: Disability affects family members differently- female family members tend to be more considerate and affectionate towards the affected person while male family members tend to provide financial support. Most families who are responsible for the care of disabled/chronically ill members of the family find this division of labour according to gender an easy way to manage and cope with challenges. Gender also affects disabled individual- female and male individual show different attitudes towards physical disability or chronic illness/pain. Women do not feel comfortable outside their home anf find it dangerous while men tend to adapt to their reduced function and still tend to be as functional as is possible. Disabled females tend to be more dependent on family and friends compared to disabled males. Relationships: Often relatioships change their meanings within the family responsible to care for a disabled member. The person who is mainly responsible for the care/ entertainment/ diet and necessities of the disabled person tends to take more important position in the family and the rest of the family becomes less involved in decision making. If a mother is more involved in the care of a disabled child this can lead to father being less involved in the care responsibilities and tend to indulge himself more in work or activities outside home- this can sometimes lead to conflicts within the families with one member feeling overburdened. Lifestyle: Most of the resources (money, time etc) of a family with a disabled member are spent in the care of the disabled leading to an overall lower quality of life. Families have to give up entertainment plans such as holidays due to lack of resources, facilities and extra responsibility of care. Friends, neighbors, and people in the community may react negatively to the disability by avoidance, disparaging remarks or looks, or overt efforts to exclude people with disabilities and their families. Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, many communities still lack programs, facilities, and resources that allow for the full inclusion of persons with disabilities. Families often report that the person with the disability is not a major burden for them. The burden comes from dealing with people in the community whose attitudes and behaviors are judgmental, stigmatizing, and rejecting of the disabled individual and his or her family (Knoll 1992; Turnbull et al. 1993). Family members report that these negative attitudes and behaviors often are characteristic of their friends, relatives, and service providers as well as strangers (Patterson and Leonard 1994). Social stigma: Families with disabled member and disabled individual themselves feel isolated from the society. Friends, neighbours and other family might not play their supportive role effectively Overall, stress from these added demands of disability in family life can negatively affect the health and functioning of family members (Patterson 1988; Varni and Wallander 1988). Numerous studies report that there is all increased risk of psychological and behavioral symptoms in the family members of persons with disabilities (Cadman et al. 1987; Singer and Powers 1993; Vance, Fazan, and Satterwhite 1980). However, even though disability increases the risk for these problems, most adults and children who have a member with a disability do not show psychological or behavioral problems. They have found ways to cope with this added stress in their lives. Increasingly, the literature on families and disabilities emphasizes this adaptive capacity of families. It has been called family resilience (Patterson 1991b; Singer and Powers 1993; Turnbull et al. 1993). Many families actually report that the presence of disability has strengthened them as a family-they become closer, more acceptin g of others, have deeper faith, discover new friends, develop greater respect for life, improve their sense of mastery, and so on. While there are many commonalities regarding the impact of disabilities on families, other factors lead to variability in the impact of disability on the family. Included in these factors are the type of disability, which member of the family gets the disability, and the age of onset of the disability. Disabilities vary along several dimensions, including the degree and type of incapacitation (sensory, motor, or cognitive); the degree of visibility of the disability; whether the course of the condition is constant, relapsing, or progressive; the prognosis or life expectancy of the person; the amount of pain or other symptoms experienced; and the amount of care or treatment required. John Rolland (1994) has outlined a typology of chronic conditions based on some of these factors and has described the psychosocial impact on families based on these factors. His argument, and that of several others (Perrin et al. 1993; Stein et al. 1993), is that the variability in the psychosocial impact of chronic conditions is related more to characteristics of the condition than to the diagnosis per se. Consider the course of the condition. When it is progressive (such as degenerative arthritis or dementia), the symptomatic person may become increasingly less functional. The family is faced with increasing caretaking demands, uncertainty about the degree of dependency and what living arrangement is best, as well as grieving continuous loss. These families need to readjust continuously to the increasing strain and must be willing to find and utilize outside resources. If a condition has a relapsing course (such as epilepsy or cancer in remission), the ongoing care may be less, but a family needs to be able to reorganize itself quickly and mobilize resources when the condition flares up. They must be able to move from normalcy to crisis alert rapidly. An accumulation of these dramatic transitions can exhaust a family. Disabilities with a constant course (such as a spinal cord injury) require major reorganization of the family at the outset and then perseverance and stamina for a long time. While these families can plan, knowing what is ahead, limited community resources to help them may lead to exhaustion. Disabilities where mental ability is limited seem to be more difficult for families to cope with (Breslau 1993; Cole and Reiss 1993; Holroyd and Guthrie 1986). This may be due to greater dependency requiring more vigilance by family members, or because it limits the persons ability to take on responsible roles, and perhaps limits the possibilities for independent living. If the mental impairment is severe, it may create an extra kind of strain for families because the person is physically present in the family but mentally absent. This kind of incongruence between physical presence and psychological presence has been called boundary ambiguity (Boss 1993). Boundary ambiguity means that it is not entirely clear to family members whether the person (with the disability in this case) is part of the family or not because the person is there in some ways but not in others. Generally, families experience more distress when situations are ambiguous or unclear because they do not know what to expect and may have a harder time planning the roles of other family members to accommodate this uncertainty. In addition to cognitive impairment, other characteristics of disabilities can create ambiguity and uncertainty for families. For example, an uncertain life expectancy makes it difficult to plan future life roles, to anticipate costs of care, or to make decisions about the best living arrangements for adults requiring assistance in the activities of daily living. For example, from 1970 to 1991, survival for children with cystic fibrosis increased 700 percent, to a life expectancy of twenty-six years in the United States (Fitzsimmons 1991). These young adults now face difficult family decisions, such as whether to marry and whether to have children. In more extreme cases related to severe medical conditions, persons may have their lives extended by using advances in biomedical science and technology. When this happens, families can be faced with very difficult decisions about what techniques and equipment should be used, for how long, with what expected gains, at what cost, and so on. Society is facing new issues in biomedical ethics, but there is no social consensus about how aggressively to intervene and under what circumstances. Family members who bear the emotional burden of these decisions do not always agree on a course of action and, furthermore, may be blocked by hospitals and courts from carrying out a particular course of action. While these kinds of cases may not yet be widespread, they have sparked intense debate and raised the consciousness of many families about issues they may face. In addition to type of impairment, there is variability in the severity of impairment. The degree to which a person with disability is limited in doing activities or functions of daily living (e.g., walking, feeding oneself, and toileting) can be assessed and is called functional status. The lower the persons functional status, the more assistance he or she will need from other people and/or from equipment and devices. Family members are a primary source of this needed assistance (Biegel, Sales, and Schulz 1991; Stone and Kemper 1989). Providing this assistance can create a burden for family caregivers, which may result in physical or psychological symptoms of poor health. For example, parents, especially mothers, experience more depression when their children with disabilities have lower functional status (Patterson, Leonard, and Titus 1992; Singer et al. 1993). For elderly caregivers, physical strain may be a limiting factor in how much and for how long assistance can be provided f or the disabled individual (Blackburn 1988). The age of the person when the disability emerges is associated with different impacts on the family and on the familys life course, as well as on the course of development for the person with disability (Eisenberg, Sutkin, and Jansen 1984). When conditions emerge in late adulthood, in some ways this is normative and more expectable. Psychologically it is usually less disruptive to the family. When disability occurs earlier in a persons life, this is out of phase with what is considered normative, and the impact on the course of development for the person and the family is greater. More adjustments have to be made and for longer periods of time. When the condition is present from birth, the childs life and identity are shaped around the disability. In some ways it may be easier for a child and his or her family to adjust to never having certain functional abilities than to a sudden loss of abilities later. For example, a child with spina bifida from birth will adapt differently than a child who suddenly becomes a paraplegic in adolescence due to an injury. The age of the parents when a childs disability is diagnosed is also an important consideration in how the family responds. For example, teenage parents are at greater risk for experiencing poor adaptation because their own developmental needs are still prominent, and they are less likely to have the maturity and resources to cope with the added demands of the child. For older parents there is greater risk of having a child with certain disabilities, such as Down syndrome. Older parents may lack the stamina for the extra burden of care required, and they may fear their own mortality and be concerned about who will care for their child when they die. The course of the childs physical, psychological, and social development will forever be altered by the chronic condition. Since development proceeds sequentially, and since relative success at mastering the tasks of one stage is a prerequisite for facing the challenges of the next stage, one could anticipate that the earlier the onset, the greater the adverse impact on development (Eisenberg, Sutkin, and Jansen 1984). There are many ways in which the accomplishment of development tasks is complicated for persons with disabilities. This, in turn, has an effect on their families as well as on which family roles can be assumed by the person with disability (Perrin and Gerrity 1984). For example, in infancy, disability may frighten parents, or the infant may be unresponsive to their nurturing efforts such that attachment and bonding necessary for the development of trust are compromised. The parent may feel inadequate as a caregiver, and parenting competence is undermined. For a toddler, active exploration of the social environment, needed to develop a sense of autonomy and self-control, may be restricted because of the childs motor, sensory, or cognitive deficits. Parents, fearing injury or more damage to their young child, may restrict their childs efforts to explore and learn, or they may overindulge the child out of sympathy or guilt. If other people react negatively to the childs disability, pare nts may try to compensate by being overly protective or overly solicitous. These parent behaviors further compromise the childs development of autonomy and self-control. As children with disabilities move into school environments where they interact with teachers and peers, they may experience difficulties mastering tasks and developing social skills and competencies. Although schools are mandated to provide special education programs for children in the least restrictive environment and to maximize integration, there is still considerable variability in how effectively schools do this. Barriers include inadequate financing for special education; inadequately trained school personnel; and, very often, attitudinal barriers of other children and staff that compromise full inclusion for students with disabilities. Parents of children with disabilities may experience a whole set of added challenges in assuring their childrens educational rights. In some instances, conflict with schools and other service providers can become a major source of strain for families (Walker and Singer 1993). In other cases, school programs are a major resource for families. Developmental tasks of adolescence- developing an identity and developing greater autonomy-are particularly difficult when the adolescent has a disability. Part of this process for most adolescents generally involves some risk-taking behaviors, such as smoking and drinking. Adolescents with disabilities take risks too, sometimes defying treatment and procedures related to their condition, such as skipping medications or changing a prescribed diet. Issues related to sexuality may be particularly difficult because the person with disability has fears about his or her desirability to a partner, sexual performance, and worries about ever getting married or having children (Coupey and Cohen 1984). There is some evidence that girls may be at greater risk for pregnancy because of their desire to disavow their disability and prove their normalcy (Holmes 1986). Teens with mental impairment may be subjected to sexual exploitation by others. When disability has its onset in young adulthood, the persons personal, family, and vocational plans for the future may be altered significantly. If the young adult has a partner where there is a long-term commitment, this relationship may be in jeopardy, particularly if the ability to enact adult roles as a sexual partner, parent, financial provider, or leisure partner are affected (Ireys and Burr 1984). When a couple has just begun to plan a future based on the assumption that both partners would be fully functional, they may find the adjustment to the disability too great to handle. The development of a relationship with a significant other  after  the disability is already present is more likely to lead to positive adjustment. Young adulthood is that critical transition from ones family of origin to creating a new family unit with a partner and possibly children. When disability occurs at this stage, the young adults parents may become the primary caregivers, encouraging or b ringing the young person home again. The risk is that the developmental course for the young adult and his or her parents may never get back on track. This is influenced in part by the extent to which there are independent living options for persons with disabilities to make use of in the community. When the onset of disability occurs to adults in their middle years, it is often associated with major disruption to career and family roles. Those roles are affected for the person with the disability as well as for other family members who have come to depend on him or her to fulfill those roles. Some kind of family reorganization of roles, rules, and routines is usually required. If the person has been employed, he or she may have to give up work and career entirely or perhaps make dramatic changes in amount and type of work. The family may face a major loss of income as well as a loss in health and other employee benefits. If the person is a parent, childrearing responsibilities may be altered significantly. The adult may have to switch from being the nurturer to being the nurtured. This may leave a major void in the family for someone to fill the nurturing role. If the person is a spouse, the dynamics of this relationship will change as one person is unable to perform as indepen dently as before. The partner with the disability may be treated like another child. The sexual relationship may change, plans for having more children may be abandoned, lifestyle and leisure may be altered. Some spouses feel that their marital contract has been violated, and they are unwilling to make the necessary adjustments. Children of a middle-aged adult with a disability also experience role shifts. Their own dependency and nurturing needs may be neglected. They may be expected to take on some adult roles, such as caring for younger children, doing household chores, or maybe even providing some income. How well the familys efforts at reorganization work depends ultimately on the familys ability to accommodate age-appropriate developmental needs. In families where there is more flexibility among the adults in assuming the different family roles, adjustment is likely to be better. The onset of disability in old age is more expectable as bodily functions deteriorate. This decline in physical function is often associated with more depression. An older person may live for many years needing assistance in daily living, and the choices of where to get that assistance are not always easily made. Spouses may be unable to meet the extra caretaking needs indefinitely as their own health and stamina decline (Blackburn 1988). Adult children are often in a position of deciding where their elderly parent or parents should live when they can no longer care for themselves. Having their parents move in with them or having them move to a nursing home or seniors residence are the most common options. However, each of these choices carries with it emotional, financial, and social costs to the elderly person as well as to his or her adult children. This responsibility for elderly parents is not always shared among adult children. Adult daughters are more likely than adult sons to be involved in providing direct care for their elderly parents (Brody 1985). The many decisions and responsibilities can be sources of tension, conflict, and resentment among extended family members. This period of disability in old age can go on for a very long time, given the medical capability to sustain life. While the practice is still not widespread, more elderly people are preparing a living will, which is a legal document preventing extraordinary means from being used to prolong their lives.

Experiment to investigate factors affecting the rate of reaction betwee

Experiment to investigate factors affecting the rate of reaction between magnesium ribbon and hydrochloric acid Rates of Reaction: Investigation Experiment to investigate factors affecting the rate of reaction between magnesium ribbon and hydrochloric acid. Chemical reactions between substances are caused by the collision of particles. More collisions mean a quicker rate of reaction. In the reaction between hydrochloric acid and magnesium ribbon, the chemical reaction takes place when the magnesium ribbon is dropped into the hydrochloric acid. The products are hydrogen gas and magnesium chloride. The equation for this reaction is as follows:- Magnesium + Hydrochloric acid Magnesium chloride + Hydrogen Mg (s) + 2HCL (aq) MgCl2 (aq) + H2 (g) Factors that affect the rate of reaction:- * Temperature * Mass of magnesium ribbon * Concentration of hydrochloric acid * Surface area of magnesium ribbon I have chosen to use the concentration of hydrochloric acid as my independent variable. These different concentrations can be varied easily and made up accurately for the experiment. Each experiment will be done four times so that an average reading can be calculated - ensuring an accurate and reliable conclusion. The measured variable will be the time taken for the same quantity of magnesium ribbon in each experiment to be used up in reaction. The constant variable will be the length of the magnesium ribbon used in each experiment. Rate of reaction = Gradient of the line of a graph plotted with time taken to cease reacting against concentration. Concentration of a solution describes the number of active particles in a particular volume. The unit of concentration is: mol.dm-3 Prediction I predict that the higher the concentra... ...ing around faster. This would mean HCL and magnesium particles would collide more frequently, thereby increasing rate of reaction. I think that my results on graph 1 were suitable to draw an accurate best-fit line. The points are all joined by the line. I used 5 different concentrations which were in a suitably wide range. If I were to repeat the experiment I would use a slightly wider range of concentrations to expand my conclusion, such as 1.25M, 0.75M and 0.25M. If the resources were available, I would also extend the range to higher concentrations than the 2M I was restricted to in this investigation. Further investigation could also include using another factor as my independent variable. I could differ the surface area of magnesium in my experiments, and see how this affects rate of reaction; in what way and if there is a definite proportional relationship.

Psychology Analysis on Disney Character Essay

Extra Credit The fictional character I chose to diagnose is Donkey from Shrek. Donkey is a hyperactive, talkative, funny and sensitive donkey with buckteeth. He enjoys singing, senseless chatter and usually speaks Ebonics. He also proves to be rather annoying to those around him. Donkey has a sweet tooth as well. He enjoys parfait, cake and other pastries of the sort. Some of Donkey’s quirks include acrophobia, which is a fear of heights. He is also colorblind and suffers from hypochondria; this is a fear of illness. Donkey is impatient and has a short attention span too. In my opinion, Donkey has bipolar disorder. Often through out the movie he shows multiple signs of hyperactivity, elation, irritability, flights of ideas, rapid thinking and speaking, and moderate reckless behavior. Donkey showed signs of hyperactivity from the moment he was able to speak. When he was hit with some of that pixie dust, he attained the ability of speech and flight. Even though the ability for him to fly did not last very long, he still retained the talking part. Once he realized he was able to talk permanently, that was his way out of every situation he got into. Donkey’s hyperactivity comes from the fact that he was always locked up in a cage and was taken care of by an old woman who treated him very poorly. Since he got his freedom he showed his true colors and abused the fact that he was able to talk or do as he pleases. Throughout the movie, Shrek would get very aggravated with him because he just would not shut up or stop moving. He could not hold still for five seconds. Donkey shows signs of elation and euphoria as well. No matter what you do to him or how bad you do it, Donkey always looks at the bright side of things and pretends as if nothing ever happened. Either that or he is just an oblivious animal. This sense of euphoria adds on to his hyperactivity. Since he is always happy and hyperactive, it is hard to get his attention therefore making it an ordeal for others to talk to him because he would just dose off into his own little world mid conversation and act as if he just won the mega-millions. Donkey does not get irritated very often, but when he does, he actually becomes quite persistent. After Shrek and Donkey deliver Fiona to Lord Farquaad, Donkey follows Shrek to his fairy tale character free swamp and attempts to live there. Shrek then mentions that he will build a fort around his swamp and Donkey becomes more and more irritated as Shrek wants to be left alone. While Donkey is outside he takes the initiative to build his own fort therefore dividing Shrek’s land. When Shrek comes back out he questions Donkey’s decision and they start arguing. As the conversation persists, Donkey becomes more and more aggressive with Shrek leading them to become physical to start shoving each other. In my opinion, Donkey is showing signs of irritability because it seems to me that nothing ever went his way. Furthermore, he was always told what to do and was treated insignificantly and undermined. Since Donkey is always so hyperactive and on the move, he does not allow himself or for his brain to process his thoughts or actions. You can pretty much compare Donkey to a puppy with new chew toy or a cat with a ball of yarn. Since he feels this euphoria and hyperactivity, he is happy. When you are happy you tend to be more relaxed and your sense of awareness goes down a level, therefore causing Donkey to have rapid thinking and speaking. Aside from euphoria, hyperactivity, irritability, and rapid thinking and speaking Donkey also has flights of ideas. Sometimes he would become so happy and coiled up from one event that he does not think about the future. This leads him to come up with ideas that seem rational and foolproof in his mind but in reality it is very dangerous, stupid and nearly impossible. Because of the fact that he is so happy and looks mostly on the bright side of things, he does not consider the consequences, therefore putting himself and others in danger. Through out the movie, Donkey does not show much sign of reckless behavior either. The most reckless thing he has done is speak to a dragon while Shrek  tried to infiltrate the castle and save the princess. If this situation was looked upon by professionals they would say that Donkey has to be admitted into a mental institution. If you were to ask Donkey how he felt about his actions, I believe he would see it completely normal and would not find any problems. I believe this reckless behavior also generates from his symptoms of hyperactivity, rapid thinking and speaking and euphoria. Additionally, after Shrek attempts to stop the marriage of Fiona and Farquaad, Donkey comes flying in with the same dragon he was talking to earlier in the movie. It just so happens to be that the dragon is a female dragon. At the end of the movie, when all the antagonists are defeated, Shrek and Fiona go off to the swamp and get married with all their fairy tail creature friends. Again, Donkey comes flying in with his girlfriend dragon, but this time they come in with little baby fire breathing flying Donkeys. To me this would be a reckless thing to do because; well for one he is a donkey and she is a dragon. I would imagine the difficulty to conceive children. Overall, I believe Donkey’s most vital symptoms are hyperactivity, euphoria, and rapid speaking and thinking. In my opinion, these major symptoms trigger Donkey’s minor symptoms that are flights of ideas, reckless behavior, and irritability. If the major symptoms were treated or worked upon then Donkey would have an easier time controlling his minor symptoms. I think that if there was a way to develop some sort physical program for Donkey to take part in, it would help him with his hyperactivity and rapid thinking and speaking but would most likely increase his sense of euphoria. The physical program would be meant for Donkey to spend his energy. Therefore, this would make him tired and he would no longer be hyperactive to the degree he was before he did any physical activity. Furthermore, it would lessen the intensity of his rapid thinking and speaking because when you have no energy or are tired then you seem to be slowed down and more calm. This would essentially lead Donkey to learn how to control his urges of hyperactivity and make him think of what he is actually going to do.

Get Organized for Graduate School

Graduate students—and faculty—often find themselves overwhelmed with tasks. Good time management skills are essential, but succeeding in graduate school requires the ability to organize more than your time. Being unorganized—not knowing where your stuff is—is a time waster. The unorganized student spends precious time searching for papers, files, notes, wondering which pile to check first. She forgets and misses meetings or arrives late, repeatedly. He finds it hard to focus on the task at hand because his mind is swimming what the details of what must be done next or what should have been done yesterday. An unorganized office or home is a sign of a cluttered mind. Cluttered minds are inefficient for scholarly productivity. So how do you get organized? 1.  Set up a Filing System Go digital when you can, but dont forget to organize your paper files, too. Dont skimp on file folders or youll find yourself doubling up on files and lose track of your most important papers. Whenever possible, go digital (with a good backup system!). Maintain files for: Research/thesis ideas.Thesis references (probably divided up into additional files for each topic).Exam materials. As you prepare for comps, will have copies of old exams, study materialsProfessional credentials - vita,  sample cover letter,  research statement etc.Reprints and professional articles, organized by topic.Life (bills,  taxes, etc.).Teaching materials (organized by topic). 3.  Acquire and Use Office Supplies Though supplies can be expensive, its easier to get organized when youve got the right tools. Purchase a quality stapler, paper clips, binder clips, stick on notes in several sizes, sticky flags for marking important pages in texts, etc. Go to a supply store and purchase office supplies in bulk to maximize savings and to be sure that you dont unexpectedly run out of supplies. 4.  Organize Class Materials Some students use binders to organize class notes, with dividers to separate your notes from assigned readings, handouts, and other materials. Other students keep all of their class materials on their laptop and use software such as OneNote or Evernote to save and index their notes. 5.  Remove Clutter at Home and Organize Your Study Space Sure youre desk and study area should be neat. Its also helpful to keep track of the rest of your home too. Why? School is overwhelming enough without worrying about whether you have clean clothes, differentiating between the cat and dust bunnies, or losing unpaid bills. Set up a command center near the entrance to your home. Have a bowl or spot for you to put your keys and empty your pockets of important materials. Have another spot for your bills. Each day as you open your mail sort it into stuff to throw out and bills and other materials that require action. Additionally, make sure you have a dedicated space to work in your home. It should be free of distractions, well lit, and have all supplies and files nearby. Even if your living space is small or shared, be sure to designate a portion to your graduate studies. 6.  Create a Schedule for Household Tasks Set up a schedule for accomplishing household tasks like laundry and cleaning. Break cleaning up into smaller tasks, by room. So you might clean the bathroom on Tuesday and Saturday, clean the bedroom on Wednesday and Sunday, and the living room on Thursday and Monday. Clean the kitchen weekly then spend a few minutes each day on it. Use the timer trick to keep on task while youre cleaning and show you how much you can do in just a little time. For example, Im amazed that I can clear out the dishwasher and wipe down the countertops in 4 minutes! 7.  Dont Forget the To-Do List Your  to-do list is your friend. These simple tips can make a difference in your life. From my own experience as an academic, I can attest that these simple habits, though challenging to set, make it much easier to make it through the semester and maintain efficiency and productivity.