Repercusiones de las enfermedades reumáticas infantilesEvaluación paterna

Resumo

This paper explores parents´ assessments of the main psychosocial consequences of the pediatric rheumatic diseases in their children and the family itself. For this purpose, one hundred patients� parents from the Paediatric Rheumatology Unit of �La Fe� Children�s Hospital in Valencia, with children with ages ranging from 2 to 18 years old, were assessed through a semi-structured interview prepared for the pre-sent essay. The results help us to establish the main lines of the psychological treatment. Parents highlight the importance of palliating their children�s irritability, mood changes, pain, school problems and their concern about body image associated with side effects of medical treatment. Likewise, parents also point out several stressors, derived from their medical situation, which is responsible for a greater anxiety and stress in the family. Among them, we can find: disturbance of the dynamic of the family system, greater attention to the ill child, medical treatment requirements, working problems, constrains on activities and emotional disturbance.