Psychosocial adjustment in children and adolescents with a parent with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review explored the potential impact of parental multiple sclerosis on their offspring. It considered adjustment to parental multiple sclerosis at different developmental stages and the factors associated with good versus poor adjustment.

Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Web of Science were searched for studies on children with a parent with multiple sclerosis. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were formulated. Hand-searching journals and reference lists, contacting authors and multiple sclerosis societies for additional unpublished papers complemented the searches.

Review methods: Twenty studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria were included. The research articles were ranked according to a quality assessment checklist and were categorized as good, medium or poor quality.

Results: The review found good evidence to suggest that parental multiple sclerosis has a negative impact on children’s social and family relationships and their psychological well-being. The review also identified potential factors associated with poor adjustment. These factors included parental negative emotions, increased illness severity, family dysfunction, children’s lack of knowledge about the illness and lack of social support. Adolescent children also seemed to be more at risk for psychosocial problems than school-age children.

Conclusions: There is good evidence that parental multiple sclerosis has a negative psychosocial impact on children, especially on adolescents.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Romer G. , Barkmann C. , Schulte-Markwort M. , Thomalla G. , Riedesser P. Children of somatically ill parents: a methodological review. Clin Child Psychol Psych 2002; 7: 17-38.

Korneluk YG , Lee MC Children’s adjustment to parental physical illness. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 1998; 1: 179-93.

Kelley SDM , Sikka A. , Venkatesan S. A review of research on parental disability: implications for research and counseling practice. Rehabil Couns Bull 1997 ; 41: 105-21.

Mikail SF , von Baeyer CL Pain, somatic focus, and emotional adjustment in children of chronic headache sufferers and controls. Soc Sci Med 1990; 31: 51-59.

Compas B. , Worsham NL , Epping-Jordan JE et al. When mom or dad has cancer: markers of psychological distress in cancer patients, spouses, and children. Health Psychol 1994; 13: 507-15.

Welch SA , Wadsworth EM , Compas EB Adjustment of children and adolescents to parental cancer. Parents’ and children’s perspectives. Cancer 1996; 77: 1409-18.

Siegel K. , Mesagno FP , Karus D. , Christ G. , Banks K. , Moynihan R. Psychological adjustment of children with a terminally ill parent . J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1992 ; 31: 327-33.

Lezak D. Brain damage is a family affair. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 1988; 10: 111-23.

Hansell A. The effects of children of a father’s severe closed head injury . University of Michigan, 1990.

10.

Pessar LF , Coad ML , Linn RT , Willer BS The effects of parental traumatic brain injury on the behaviour of parents and children. Brain Inj 1993; 7: 231-40.

11.

Coldstream F. , le May A. A literature review of the potential effects of having a parent with chronic renal failure. J Clin Nurs 2008; 17: 98-105.

12.

Fuller G. , Manford M. Neurology, an illustrated colour text. London: Harcourt, 2000.

13.

Kalb RC Multiple sclerosis: the questions you have-the answers you need. New York: Demos Medical, 1996.

14.

Lechtenberg R. Multiple sclerosis fact book, second edition . Philadelphia: FA Davis, 1995.

15.

Mathews WB , Compston A. , Allen I. , Martyn C. McAlpine’s multiple sclerosis, second edition. Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone, 1991.

16.

Minden SL , Orav J. , Reich P. Depression in multiple sclerosis. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 1987; 9: 426-34.

17.

Minden SL Mood disorders in multiple sclerosis: diagnosis and treatment. J Neurovir 2000; 6: 160-67.

18.

Feinstein A. The neuropsychiatry of multiple sclerosis . Can J Psychiatry 2004; 49: 157-63.

19.

Feinstein A. , O’Connor P. , Gray T. , Feinstein K. The effects of anxiety on psychiatric morbidity in patients with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 1999; 5: 323-26.

20.

Janssens AC , van Doorn PA , de Boer JB , van der Mech FG , Passchier J. , Hintzen RQ Impact of recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis on quality of life, anxiety, depression and distress of patients and partners . Acta Neurol Scand 2003; 108: 389-95.

21.

Olkin R. , Abrams K. , Preston P. , Kirshbaum M. Comparison of parents with and without disabilities raising teens: information from the NHIS and two national surveys. Rehabil Psychol 2006; 51: 43-49.

22.

Arden-Close EY , Gidron Y. , Moss-Morris R. Psychological distress and its correlates in ovarian cancer: a systematic review. Psycho-Oncology 2008; 17: 1061-72.

23.

Ariens GA , van Mechelen W. , Bongers PM , Bouter LM , van der Wal G. Psychosocial risk factors for neck pain: a systematic review. Am J Indust Med 2001; 39: 180-93.

24.

Elliott R. , Fischer CT , Rennie DL Evolving guidelines for publication of qualitative research studies in psychology and related fields. Br J Clin Psychol 1999 ; 38: 215-29.

25.

Crist P. Contingent interaction during work and play tasks for mothers with multiple sclerosis and their daughters. Am J Occup Ther 1993; 47: 121-31.

26.

Olgas M. The relationship between parents’ health status and body image of their children. Nurs Res 1974; 23: 319-24.

27.

Arnaud SH Some psychological characteristics of children of multiple sclerotics . Psychosom Med 1959; 21: 8-22.

28.

MS Society Canada. Growing up strong: supporting the children of parents with multiple sclerosis. MS Society Canada, 2003.

29.

Kikuchi JF The reported quality of life of children and adolescents of parents with multiple sclerosis. Recent Adv Nurs 1987 ; 16: 163-91.

30.

Rorschach H. Psychodiagnostik. Berne: Hans Huber , 1932.

31.

Peters LC , Esses LM Family environment as perceived by children with a chronically ill parent . J Chron Dis 1985; 38: 301-8.

32.

Yahav R. , Vosburgh J. , Miller A. Emotional responses of children and adolescents to parents with multiple sclerosis . Mult Scler 2005; 11: 464-8.

33.

Yahav R. , Vosburgh J. , Miller A. Separationindividuation processes of adolescent children of parents with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2007; 13: 87-94.

34.

Diareme S. , Tsiantis J. , Kolaitis G. et al. Emotional and behavioural difficulties in children of parents with multiple sclerosis: a controlled study in Greece. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2006; 15: 309-18.

35.

De Judicibus MA , McCabe MP The impact of parental multiple sclerosis on the adjustment of children and adolescents. Adolescence 2004; 39: 551-69.

36.

Steck B. , Amsler F. , Grether A. et al. Mental health problems in children of somatically ill parents, e.g. multiple sclerosis. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2007; 16: 199-207.

37.

Pakenham KI , Burnsnall S. Relations between social support, appraisal and coping and both positive and negative outcomes for children of a parent with multiple sclerosis and comparisons with children of healthy parents. Clin Rehabil 2006; 20: 709-23.

38.

Steck B. , Amsler F. , Schwald Dillier A. , Grether A. , Kappos L. , Burgin D. Indication for psychotherapy in offspring of a parent affected by a chronic somatic disease (e.g. multiple sclerosis). Psychopathology 2005; 38: 38-48.

39.

Brandt P. , Weinert C. Children’s mental health in families experiencing multiple sclerosis . J Fam Nurs 1998; 4: 41-64.

40.

Blackford KA A child’s growing up with a parent who has multiple sclerosis: theories and experiences. Disabil Soc 1999; 14: 673-85.

41.

Turpin M. , Leech C. , Hackenberg L. Living with parental multiple sclerosis: children’s experiences and clinical implications. Can J Occup Ther 2008 ; 75: 149-56.

42.

De Los Reyes A. , Kazdin AE Informant discrepancies in the assessment of childhood psychopathology: a critical review, theoretical framework, and recommendations for further study. Psychol Bull 2005; 131: 483-509.

43.

Deatrick JA , Brennan D. , Cameron ME Mothers with multiple sclerosis and their children: effects of fatigue and exacerbations on maternal support. Nurs Res 1998; 47: 205-10.

44.

Ehrensperger MM , Grether A. , Romer G. et al. Neuropsychological dysfunction, depression, physical disability, and coping processes in families with a parent affected by multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2008; 14: 1106-12.

45.

Steck B. , Amsler F. , Kappos L. , Burgin D. Gender-specific differences in the process of coping in families with a parent affected by a chronic somatic disease (e.g multiple sclerosis). Psychopathology 2001; 34: 236-44.

46.

Cross T. , Rintell D. Children’s perceptions of parental multiple sclerosis. Psych Health Med 1999; 4: 355-60.

47.

Worsham NL , Compas BE , Sydney EY Children’s coping with parental illness. In Wolchik SA , Sandler NI. eds. Handbook of children’s coping: linking theory and intervention . New York: Plenum Press, 1997, 195-213.

48.

Graham CA , Easterbrooks MA School-aged children’s vulnerability to depressive symptomatology: the role of attachment security, maternal depressive symptomatology, and economic risk. Dev Psychopathol 2000; 12: 201-13.

49.

Coles RA , Pakenham IK , Leech C. Evaluation of an intensive psychosocial intervention for children of parents with multiple sclerosis. Rehabil Psychol 2007 ; 52: 133-42.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.03 MB

0.04 MB