Chronic illness and the family life‐cycle

Chronic illness is currently the outstanding health issue in the United States. It creates increased family stress, requires constant adaptation by the family members and poses a challenge to nurses to better understand and meet the needs of the family as well as the individual. This paper presents a psychosocial typology of chronic illness and discusses the importance of time phasing of the chronic illness. A conceptual framework for analysing the interaction of chronic illness with family and individual life-cycles is outlined. Knowledge of life-cycle stressors is essential for nurses to better delineate the relationship between the vertical and horizontal life stressors which affect the family system.