The Impact of Pituitary Disease on the Family Caregiver and Overall Family Functioning

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Abstract
Chronic medical illness not only affects the patient but the entire family. The family system undergoes a tremendous change in focus during the acute illness, with members marshaling their resources to help the ill member. This inward focus is costly, producing profound stress. Often, family communication styles change to protect the family system and prior functioning. When the stress of caring for an ill member becomes chronic, as is seen in pituitary disease, the initially adaptive changes in family functioning may become problematic even in those families with previously healthy coping. Those families with previously less healthy functioning become even more dysfunctional. Each family identifies a caregiver for their ill member. This caregiver also experiences significant stress related to caregiving demands. Caregiver adaptation to the stress depends on how the stress is perceived, as well as the caregiver’s coping patterns and availability of and satisfaction with social support. These elements comprise a stress process model of caregiving, which has been well-validated in dementia caregiving research. Although the majority of research has focused on dementia and cancer caregiving, identified issues have applicability to caregiving and family issues related to pituitary disease. This report will review: (1) the field of caregiving research, focusing on a stress process model; (2) those issues identified in prior caregiving research which have applicability in caregiving for patients with pituitary disease; (3) stresses on the family system; (4) assessment of family functioning, and (5) interventions for caregivers and areas for future research.