Utility of multifamily psychoeducational groups for medically ill children and adolescents.

The Experience of Parenting an Adolescent with Spina Bifida

“…This model and others suggest that the impact of a child's disability is evident as families adjust their timetables to accommodate the situation and reallocate their resources to meet the financial and psychosocial costs associated with the disability. Further, the potential to minimize developmental needs of other family members, and the emerging role conflicts associated with caregiving responsibilities, may increase the strain on the family (Gustafsson, Bjorksten, & Kjellman, 1994; Quittner, DiGirolamo, Michel, & Eigen, 1992; McCubbin, et al, 1998; Quittner, Opipari, Regoli, Jacobsen, & Eigen, 1992; Wambolt & Levin, 1995).…”

Psychological Factors in Asthma and Psychoeducational Interventions

“…Rejecting the linear model of etiological causality, the multisystemic model is strengthened with this psychoeducational intervention, in which all factors influence and are influenced by the illness. In moderate/severe asthma, besides the usual preventive and pharmacological approaches, it is essential to turn to a widespread intervention: psychoeducational and multifamily programmes, with a multidisciplinary team, to increase the control of the illness and allow therapeutic effectiveness (Wamboldt et al, 1995;Devine, 1996;Steinglass et al, 2002;Yorke et al, 2007) The innovative therapeutic interventions (Psychoeducational and Multifamily) revealed promising results, as demonstrated in the present study. Namely in both interventional groups, there were good results, with statistically significant improvement in quality of life, asthma control, psychological variables (anxiety state and trait, depression and coping mechanisms) and clinical parameters (spirometry).…”

Contributions of Medical Family Therapy to the Changing Health Care System

“…Caregiver support programs, for example, can effectively delay the institutionalization of a loved one with Alzheimer's dementia (Mittleman et al, 2006). Family psychoeducation groups provide information and support for those coping with a range of illnesses (Gonzalez & Steinglass, 2002;Steinglass, 1998), or for specific illnesses such as cancer (Kim, et al, 2008, Kazak et al, 1999Kazak, 2005), chronic pain (Lemmens, Eisler, Heireman, Van Houdenhove, & Sabbe, 2005), or asthma (Wamboldt & Levin, 1995). Some medical family therapists find that such participation is an important way of building a medical family therapy practice.…”