Family Adaptation to Medical Stressors.

Abstract

The Family Adaptation to Medical Stressors (FAMS) was developed as a measure of family process and adaptation to stress. Three tests of reliability and three tests of validity were performed, using data from interviews with ten families on two occasions and questionnaires completed by 214 respondents. The instrument was found to be both valid and reliable. Interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and face validity ranged from .75 to .99. Each exceeded the criterion of .70. Six factors were identified using a classical factor analysis with orthogonal rotation. When these factors were scaled and correlated with respondents' scores on a measure of criterion validity, five of the six correlation coefficients were significant (p <.O1). It was concluded that the instrument measures multidimensional constructs which are associated with family adaptation to medical stressors.As the extrafamilial environment becomes increasingly complex, the family and its members experience more varied and frequent intra-and extrafamilial stressors. Thus, the study of family adaptation to stress has become increasingly important. In order to facilitate coping, we must first understand the processes which exacerbate and ameliorate stress within families. A first_step toward this understanding entails developing a means of measuring family experiences relevant to adaptation to stress.Three major reviews of the family theory and empirical literature in general and of the family stress literature in particular have been published in recent years (2,4,15). In addition, McCubbin and Patterson (16) have published a manuscript containing eight measures of family stress which synthesize previous measures of family stress and coping.Two conclusions may be drawn from this body of literature and from a review of studies of family stress and coping subsequent to it. First, while family stress continues to be conceptualized and measured in terms of Hill's (11,12) linear and nonrecursive model, the consensus among those who study the family is that the time has arrived to focus on the processes which create and /or perpetuate the outcomes heretofore

Predicting parenting stress in caregivers of children with brain tumours

“…Accepting responsibility was particularly significant in the regression. This coping strategy has a self‐blame component, which is often associated with negative outcomes . Within the WAYS, the accepting responsibility items are linked to individuals acknowledging their role in the problem, alongside a theme of trying to put things right.…”

“…In relation to the importance of parental cognitions highlighted by Mash and Johnston's model, both theory and research have strongly advocated the role played by coping styles in stress . In paediatric neuro‐oncology and other medical populations, emotion‐focused coping and strategies such as denial and avoidance have been linked to elevated parenting stress , whereas strategies viewed as more adaptive, such as seeking social support, positive reappraisal and problem‐solving , have been found to be associated with lower stress levels.…”

The role of mental-health resources in explaining family adaptation to stress: A preliminary analysis.

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The purposes of this article were to estimate construct validity for the FAMS (7), using the nonrecursive model that it was designed to test (5). We also wished to compare the applicability of both the model and the instrument to explaining family adaptation to nonmedical as well as medical stressors.

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“…A measure of family adaptation that relates specifically to health stressors has also become available (7). Development of this instrument coincided with the development of a nonrecursive model of family adaptation to chronic illness (5).…”

“…The Family Adaptation to Medical Stressors (FAMS) (7) was developed to measure these two mental-health resources, as well as four indices of family mental-health outcomes. Based on a qualitative study of family ad-aptation to childhood cancer and a review of the literature of families of chronically ill patients, six variables were identified in a preliminary form of the model (6).…”