Family Systems: Stresses

1
Family Systems Stresses Adaptation
2
Overview

• An individual familys experience of stress,
  crises, and subsequent adaptation is an ongoing
  and dynamic process.
• The process of adaptation is affected by the
  familys 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.

3
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
  familys perception of that stressor, and the
  familys existing resources interacted to predict
  the likelihood of a crisis (X) occurring.

4

• 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.

5
Assumptions

• Families over the course of life face hardships
  and changes as a natural and predictable aspect
  of family life.
• 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.

6

• Families develop basic and unique competencies,
  patterns of functioning, and capabilities
  designed to protect the family from unexpected or
  non-normative stressors and strains and to foster
  the familys recovery following a family crisis
  or major transition or change.
• 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.

7

• Families faced with crisis situations demanding
  changes in the familys functioning work to
  restore order, harmony and balance even in the
  midst of change.

8
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 vice-versa
• Systems theory (and the Double ABCX model)
  recognize interactions of the parts are not
  "static" and constant but "dynamic" processes.

9
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 familys life-
  roles, functions, goals
• Examples include chronic illness in children,
  cancer, and elder care

10

• Existing Resources (B)
• All families have some level of resources.
• Concept of existing resources is the familys 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 familys level of
  functioning

11

• 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?

12

• Crisis (X)
• Defined as the demand for change.
• Continuous variable that reflects the sum of the
  familys disorganization, turmoil, disruption
  which is triggered by an event.
• In the model- crisis is regarded as the familys
  inability to retain stability.
• If the family is able to meet the demands of the
  stressor than the crisis may be averted.
•  

13
ABCX Component Interactions

• Stressor (A) ? interacts with resources (B) ?
  familys perception of stressor/how stressor
  defined (C) ? produces the crisis (X).

14
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

15
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.