THE IMPACT OF A CHRONICALLY ILL CHILD ON THE CHINESE FAMILY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The study explores the changes in behaviors and life perceptions of parents and healthy siblings within 15 Singaporean Chinese families coping with a chronically ill child. The study examines the relationships among the families' social networks, the healthy siblings' new roles, the fathers' involvement, the communication patterns within the family (e.g., secrets in the family) and the adjustment of these families to the illness. Social network was associated with structural factors e.g., social class, physical proximity of the network families and communication skills, and with cultural factors e.g., response cost, locus of control and locus of responsibility. Father's involvement was associated with class, occupation, socialization and mother's level of education. Healthy siblings' new roles were associated with age, cultural expectations, hospitalization and communication patterns within the family. Secrets in the family was associated with culture and family beliefs, protection and openness of the family. Some analysis indicated that the extended family is the primary help giver, followed by colleagues (mainly for the fathers). Fathers increased their involvement within their families since the onset of the illness. Healthy siblings were more stressed during hospital stay and were not appropriately informed about their sibling's illness. Families tended to keep information a secret, in order to protect their family members and to keep the harmony and the hierarchical structure within the family. These findings can help identify families that may benefit from more effective intervention, involving social work practice in hospitals and community, multi-disciplinarian staff in hospitals, educational system and policy makers. The findings are also used as a basis for suggesting some intervention schemes for families with chronically ill children.