Transcript The Theory of Family Stress and Adaptation

Overview
 An individual family’s experience of stress, crises, and
subsequent adaptation is an ongoing and dynamic
process.
 The process of adaptation is affected by the family’s
response to a stressful event, their available resources,
and presence or absence of effective coping strategies.
 Adaptation exists on a continuum from positive
adaptation (bonadaptation) to maladaptation,
resulting in increased or decreased family functioning.
Development of the theory
 The original family stress theory was developed by
Reuben Hill (1949), who studied families’ responses to
war, war separation, and eventual reunion after WWII.
 The ABCX Model detailed how the three factors (the
ABC components) of a stressor event, the family’s
perception of that stressor, and the family’s existing
resources interacted to predict the likelihood of a crisis
(X) occurring.
Sociologists McCubbin and Patterson (1983) developed
the Double ABCX Model, which added postcrisis
variables (e.g. coping mechanisms) to explain how
families recover from crisis and achieve adaptation
over time.
 Theory originally based on longitudinal research
involving families in which a father/husband was a POW
or MIA during the Vietnam war.
 Families facing a stressor event experience phases of
adjustment and adaptation, exemplified by a range of
processes in which the variables interact.
Assumptions
1.
Families over the course of life face hardships and
changes as a natural and predictable aspect of family
life.
1.
Families develop basic competencies, patterns of
functioning and capabilities to foster the growth and
development of family members and the family unit,
and to protect the family from major disruptions in
the face of transitions and changes.
3. Families develop basic and unique competencies,
patterns of functioning, and capabilities designed to
protect the family from unexpected or nonnormative stressors and strains and to foster the
family’s recovery following a family crisis or major
transition or change.
3. Families draw from and contribute to the network of
relationships and resources in the community,
including its ethnicity and cultural heritage,
particularly during periods of family stress and
crises.
5.
Families faced with crisis situations demanding changes
in the family’s functioning work to restore order,
harmony and balance even in the midst of change.
Systems theory and the Double ABCX Model
 The family is viewed as the “system”, where experiences
of one family member affect the experiences of other
family members.
 Family systems theory and the Double ABCX model
highlights the integral influence of the family system
on each individual member's development and viceversa
 Systems theory (and the Double ABCX model)
recognize interactions of the parts are not "static" and
constant but "dynamic" processes.
Concepts: ABCX Components
Stressor (A)
 Life event or transition impacting the family unit that
has the potential for changing the family social system.
 Defined as distinct from stress.
 Can occur in any aspect of the family’s life- roles,
functions, goals
 Examples include chronic illness in children, cancer,
and elder care
Existing Resources (B)
 All families have some level of resources.
 Concept of existing resources is the family’s use of
community and intrafamilial systems. i.e. SES, parents
education
 May be adequate or inadequate depending on the
nature of the stressor event or family’s level of
functioning
Perception of the Stressor (C)
 Defined as the meaning the family assigns to the crisis
event and the total circumstances that lead to the
crisis.
 In other words: how well does the family define the
problem, grasp the problem and understand the
situation?
 Crisis (X)
 Defined as the “demand for change”.
 Continuous variable that reflects the sum of the
family’s disorganization, turmoil, disruption which is
triggered by an event.
 In the model- crisis is regarded as the family’s inability
to retain stability.
 If the family is able to meet the demands of the
stressor than the crisis may be averted.
ABCX Component Interactions
Stressor (A) → interacts with resources (B) → family’s
perception of stressor/how stressor defined (C) →
produces the crisis (X).
Putting Theory into Practice
 Current nursing research focuses on family
adaptation to chronic illness.
 Requires nurses to understand the stages of illness
and how families respond to the illness process
 Theory assumptions help to guide practice that
recognizes family needs beyond a one-time event
Future Developments
 Increasing number of “stressors” faced by families
 Increasing prevalence of chronic disease
 Increasing complexity of family structure
 Although the model in its entirety can be
cumbersome, the elements can easily be broken down
and applied to an almost infinite combination of
factors.