Families Coping with Change: A Conceptual Overview Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Identify components of ABC-X model  Define key terms  “stressor”, “crisis”, ”family perception”, “family resource”, “coping”, “resiliency”,  Apply ABC-X model to real-life situations Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Today’s families live with constant insecurity and stress.  Examples?  Job loss and economic change  Wars  Natural disasters  Discrimination  Blurred gender roles  Divorce  Diverse family forms and accompanying challenges Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Defining Stress: A stimulus, inferred inner state, observable response to stimulus or situation. Chemical, environmental or psychological.  Study of family stress began with study of individual stress  How is family stress different than individual stress?  How is family stress different from workplace stress or other stress? Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Change  Parenting  Ageing  Death, Dying, and Grief  Illness  Mental Illness  Violence, Abuse, and Neglect  Alcohol and Substance Abuse  Divorce  Stepfamilies  Economic Stress  Homelessness  Lesbian- and Gay-Parent  Military, Immigrant, and African American Families  Everyday Hassles Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

MACROMICRO  Economy  Natural Disasters  Wars  Discrimination  Changes in gender roles  Changing “Family”  Job loss  Homelessness  Illness / Mental Illness  Accidents  Stress  Divorce / Remarriage Others ?? Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Stress can contribute to a higher chance of illness, disease or death  Chronic vs. acute  Whitehall Study  England civil servants, social determinates of health  Men in lowest grade of employment had a mortality rate 3X higher men in the highest grade  Managing stressor events to avoid crisis can possibly negate some effects of stress on health and wellbeing  Social support  Resources Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Universities of Michigan & Chicago started studying family stress during 1930s and great depression.  Mind-body-family connection  Human reactivity to stressful situations  Family resilience  Families grow stringer through stressful experiences  Role of Spirituality and Faith in family stress management Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder  Caregiver stress  Disaster stress – after crisis  Balancing work and family  Shift to emphasis on perception, interpretation, beliefs  Social construction of stress – focus in therapy of guiding families to reframe, re-story, construct new narrative to manage stress Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Social Systems Perspective  Families viewed as living organisms  Strive toward equilibrium  Families products of subsystems  Individual members, dyads  Family products of suprasystems  Community, culture, nation  Primary focus on entire family unit Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Researchers  Developed ABC-X model of family stress and crisis  Other contributions have expanded this model  A: Provoking or Stressful event  B: Family Resource or Strengths  C: Definition or Meaning attached to the event by the family  X: Stress or Crisis Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Stress not inherently bad  Becomes a problem when degree of stress in family system reaches level where family disrupted or individual members become dissatisfied or display physical or emotional symptoms Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Associated with negative events  Associated with positive events  Stressor event provokes variable amount of change in family system.  By definition, has potential to raise family’s level of stress  Myth that happy families should be stress free  All families experience stress as a result of change  Change brings disturbance and pressure (often termed “stress”. )  Degree of stress dependent on magnitude of event and other moderating factors  Normal / Predictable :Nonnormative/ unpredictable Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Ambiguous loss  physically absent but still part of the family (divorce, missing in action).  physically present, but emotionally absent (drug /alcohol addiction).  Caring for a dependent or disabled family member.  Demoralizing events - job loss, unwanted pregnancy, poverty, homelessness, having one’s child in foster care, mental illness, criminal prosecution. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Addition of a family member.  Loss of a family member.  Sudden change in income or social statues.  Ongoing family conflict.  Daily family hassles. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 war  natural disaster  kidnapping, hostage-taking, terrorism  incarceration  desertion, mysterious disappearance  missing body  Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias  chronic mental illness  addictions  traumatic head injury, brain injury  coma, unconsciousness Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 divorce  military deployment  young adults leaving home  elderly mate moving to a nursing home  preoccupation with work, obsession with computer, games, Internet, TV Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Internal vs. External – in family?  Pervasive vs. Bonded – entire system or part affected?  Precipitate onset vs. Gradual onset  Intense vs. Mild  Transitory vs. Chronic  Random vs. Expectable  Natural generation vs. Artificial generation  Scarcity vs. Surplus  Perceived solvable vs. perceived unsolvable  Substantive Content - political, economic, moral, social, religious, health, or sexual stress. Combined or individual Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 The nature of the stressor.  The degree of hardship or the kind of problems the stressor creates.  The families previous successful experience in the event crises.  Childhood legacies of adult family members.  Accumulation of stress  Stress is often an accumulation of factors rather than one isolated event  Not all stresses are clear-cut  Stress Pileup – clustering of stressor events Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Resources can buffer or moderate the impact of the stressor event  Resources include traits, characteristics, or abilities of family members, the family system, and the community that can be used to meet the demands of a stressor event  Financial or social capital resources also play a part Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Factors that influence family perceptions of the situation include:  Substantive content of the event  Spirituality  Values and beliefs  Culture  Stage of family life cycle Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Family’s ability to redefine stressor event or reframe it to better cope/ adapt  Clarify issues. Hardships, tasks to be more manageable  Decrease intensity of emotional burdens  Encourage family unit to carry on with fundamental tasks  Learned cognitive style of stress response  Learned helplessness or hopelessness vs. learned coping  Mastery orientation – may believe they can solve problems, control outcomes  Fatalistic Orientation - everything determined by fate Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 A Crisis is:  A) Disturbance in equilibrium that is so overwhelming that:  B) Pressure that is so severe Or  C) Change that is so acute That the family system is blocked, immobilized, or incapacitated  Crisis involves change.  A crisis is a turning point with the potential for positive effects, negative effects, or both.  A crisis is a time of relative instability.  In crisis, family does not function adequately Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Family research has shifted from focus on crisis, stress, and dysfunction to focus on process of coping.  Interest in knowing why some families better able to manage and endure stressful events than others  Coping is a process, not an outcome  Coping conceptualized as 3 responses:  Direct action (new skills, resources)  Intrapsychic (reframe problem)  Controlling emotions generated by stressor Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Coping includes:  Maintaining satisfactory internal conditions for communication and family organization  Promoting member independence and self- esteem  Maintaining family bonds of coherence and unity  Maintaining and developing social supports in transactions with the community  Maintaining some efforts to control the impact of the stressor and the amount of change to the family unit. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Factors in Family Resilience and Meeting Crisis Creatively:  A positive outlook  Spiritual values  Supportive communication  Adaptability  Public services  Informal social support  An extended family  Community resources  Others?? Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 How families are able to “recover” from stress or crisis to return to equilibrium  Not necessarily to return to pre-stress family state, but to find new balance and equilibrium  Double “ABC-X” model Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Resiliency is “The capacity to rebound from adversity strengthened and more resourceful…an active process of endurance, self-righting, and growth in response to crisis and challenges.”  Family Strengths Perspective  Rather than focus on negative pathologies or dysfunctions, focuses on strengths and ability to cope and overcome challenges as a quality of strong families. Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Families today are challenged with stress and crisis  Coping with these challenges and stresses is a process  This semester  Focus on family strengths, and resiliency in meeting stress and crisis in families Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications