Cystic Fibrosis & Psychosocial Development

This assignment delves into the complex relationship between psychosocial development and cystic fibrosis (CF) in children. It highlights how understanding human development principles can help healthcare professionals better support CF patients. The text emphasizes the importance of tailoring care to a child's developmental stage, encouraging open communication, and fostering hope and acceptance for a fulfilling life despite CF.

Running Head: Health: A Psychological Perspective
Health: A Psychological Perspective
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Introduction
The aim of the assignment is to outline the stages of a developmental psychology theory
in relation to cystic fibrosis (CF). In relation to this theory the paper, discuss where a child (aged
12) with cystic fibrosis may fit developmentally and why. The assignment highlights the
cognitive, psychological, social, emotional, and physical implications of living with this chronic
disease. The difference in the lifespan development between the health person and people with
CF is highlighted in the assignment. Lastly, the importance of understanding the human
development for health professionals is explained.
Stages of a developmental psychology theory in relation to cystic fibrosis
According to Erikson’s developmental stages of human across lifespan include (McLeod,
2013)-
 Infancy stage- 0-1 year
 Toddlerhood- 1-3 year
 Preschool- 3-6 year
 Elementary school- 6-puberty
 Adolescence- teen to early 20s
 Young adulthood- 20-40 year
 Middle adulthood- 40-60 year
 Late adulthood- 60+
Before discussing the developmental stages of CF children, each stage is discussed in
general. According to Ericson, in the infancy stage, parents care a child and the child will

2HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
develop optimism. A child at this age learns concepts and body movements through sensory data
such as touch, smell, etc. A child at this age develops trust by secured attachment with mother. If
this secured attachment is lost, a child develops mistrust and worthlessness. In the toddler stage,
a child tends to build self esteem and autonomy. They take initiative to perform activities of
daily life independently such as dressing eating or toilet training. Children experience shame
when they lack self-reliance (Berk, 2017). In the preschool stage, children according to Ericson
tend to copy the adult behaviour and the most significant relationship is with the basic family. In
the school-aged children, development occurs by learning new skills and concepts. At this stage
social development occurs. Children develop significant relationships with peers and neighbour
or else it will lead to problems with competence and self-esteem. In the adolescent stage, a
person tends to find his or her own identity, develop sense of morality. If unsuccessful at this
age, a child may develop role confusion. In the adult stage, people become capable of
establishing satisfying relationship, and deep intimacy. At the middle adulthood stage a person,
tend to focus more on career and work. They are more generative and from late adulthood to
death stage, a person acquires integrity or sense of despair (Cherry, 2015).
Children with cystic fibrosis will have development stages but they may develop in a
manner different from the children without the disease. It is the recessive genetic disorder of
mucous and sweat glands in the body caused by the defective cystic fibrosis transmembrane
regulator gene (). Ericson’s developmental stages refer to body, mind and culture, and the theory
mentions that each stage has a goal. However, children with cystic fibrosis have to overcome
many obstacles unlike the normal infants. These infants confronted with CF are less likely to
develop strategies required to deal with problems in real life (Cherry, 2015).

3HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Overcoming obstacles at early stage becomes difficult for the children with CF. In the
infant stage, the child may develop mistrust instead of trust as the parents are less aware of the
disease like CF and care to be given to the child. Children with CF at toddler stage may develop
mistrust issues. During early school age and middle school age, CF children will dependent on
the parents and other people for care. They are responsible at this age to learn the basics of CF
care. Hence, they demonstrate the delayed cognitive development on terms of language
acquisition. Instead of play and other learning opportunities they get the environment of
medication. Therefore, they fail to be autonomous and develop the feeling of shame. Instead of
learning self-care habits, the children engage with parents to be guided towards self-care. This
continues from the age of 6 years until 12 years. In this phase, CF child fails to take initiative for
life and may feel guilty and incompetent unlike the normal children. At this age they may feel
inferior to others (Ernst et al., 2010).
From the age of 13-15, the CF children partner with parents for owing some aspects of
self care. The develop curiosity regarding the support person. At the adolescents stage, the
children with CF face identity struggle. CF children depend on the family members for daily
activities and to cope with their illness. Therefore, CF children experience role confusion as they
fail to accomplish the personal identity. At the age of 16-18, the children with CF can lead their
own care and owe maximum aspects of self-care. From early adulthood onwards, CF patients
tend to take ownership of care and primarily responsible for their self-care. At the young
adulthood stage, CF children struggle to establish satisfying intimate relationship with others. CF
patients are preoccupied enough, to have time for others (Baltes & Schaie, 2013).
In this paper, CF is focused on child with age 12 years. Instead of establishing social
relationship with peers and neighbors, they experience isolation due to stigmatization and

4HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
discrimination (Mickley et al., 2013). They do not feel equal to their colleagues and learn the
deviations from normality. They may feel inferior as they frequently take medication for cough,
expectorant and may feel inferior for being shorter than others. They may appear normal but the
visible manifestations of CF make them vulnerable. They thus feel different from peers. School
life appears to be obstacle, however, they still have the scope of learning skills to integrate into
health environment. Eventually the child may learn the disease related experiences such as
clubbing of fingers, barrel chest and others. Therefore, children may recur to normalisation as the
problem-solving strategy when searching for self-care. They attain greater knowledge for
treatment adherence and medication. Children with CF at this age mainly focus on self-care to
avoid exacerbation. This hampers their potential to establish intimate relationships with others in
the society. However, there is a greater need for children with this illness to have family and
social support (Linnemann et al., 2016).
Instead of showing more concern for body image, looks, clothes, schoolwork and
experiences of different kind of emotions, the CF children concern about physio, taking
medications, and nutrition. Mealtime behavior is the other major health-related concern for
children with CF. CF children are at greater risk of a dietary malabsorption and chronic lung
infection. CF chid will focus less on schoolwork due to high absenteeism pertaining to
medication and fatigue (Ernst et al., 2010). At the age when other people learn about logical
thinking and systemic manipulations, CF children have to worry about illness and curability.
They tend to diminish the emphasis on illness. By keeping the illness secret, they fail to develop
intimate friendships. Instead of improved cognitive, emotional and social skills, they develop
psychological distress in these children. Anxiety and depression is the common problem
encountered by them. Eventually the adolescence phase becomes more difficult for the child of

5HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
12 years with CF. While other children gain significant independence, CF child may be highly
dependent on parents with increasing hospitalisation due to pulmonary exacerbations. There is a
high chance of low self-esteem, strain and reduction in physical activity (VanDevanter et al.,
2016).
Understanding of human development- relevant to health professionals
Understanding human development is essential for the health care professionals as they
can coproduce a quality care along with the patients and families. By having an understanding of
human development, the care providers can win the tryst of the family members. They can better
resolve the queries of the care users. The physician or the nurse can initiate the intervention for
the decision if they are aware of the child’s readiness to engage mentally and emotionally. It will
promote the psychiatric nursing (Stuart, 2014). Care can be coproduced if the child is
demonstrating the curiosity and the search for insight. By identifying to what extent a child is
deviating from the normal developmental milestones, the nurses can help the child with CF to
reframe challenges into opportunities for improvement. Learning physio and treatment adherence
in child can be enhanced if they are aware of the cognitive and social capabilities of child with
CF. Care delivered can be more patient centric by knowing about the age related changes across
the lifespan. Human development psychology helps to understand in what the stage the next
patient is. Accordingly, they can adjust the compassion. Further, the health professional can
move forward in career by attending the classes like lifespan development psychology. In
addition to the therapeutic attention, the health care professionals can also address the patients
personally with sympathy. They will help to design care for individual situation (Fraser &
Rosina, 2017). It will help the health professionals to better engage with the patents in decision-
making. They can encourage honest communication and family support. Understanding the

6HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
lifespan development will help in comprehensive treatment plan and instituting palliative care
treatment plan. It is possible that CF child can have optimistic life despite CF and accomplish
meaningful goals. Psychological adjustment can be achieved in these children by stimulating
hopefulness and acceptance. In this situation, health care professionals play vital role in life of
CF children.
Conclusion
The process inherent in psychosocial development is complicated by CF. A 12 year old
child with CF focus more on treatment. Understanding human development can assist the health
professionals to support the patients with CF. They can help the child to achieve meaningful
goals despite CF

7HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
References
Baltes, P. B., & Schaie, K. W. (Eds.). (2013). Life-span developmental psychology: Personality
and socialization. Elsevier.
Berk, L. E. (2017). Exploring lifespan development. Pearson.
Cherry, K. (2015). Erikson’s psychosocial stages summary chart. About. com. Accessed July, 25.
Ernst, M. M., Johnson, M. C., & Stark, L. J. (2010). Developmental and psychosocial issues in
cystic fibrosis. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America, 19(2), 263-
283.
Fraser, J., & Rosina, R. (2017). Psychosocial development and response to illness. Paediatric
Nursing in Australia: Principles for Practice, 55.
Linnemann, R. W., O'Malley, P. J., Friedman, D., Georgiopoulos, A. M., Buxton, D., Altstein, L.
L., ... & Moskowitz, S. M. (2016). Development and evaluation of a palliative care
curriculum for cystic fibrosis healthcare providers. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 15(1), 90-
95.
McLeod, S. (2013). Erik Erikson. Retrieved August, 9, 2013.
Mickley, K. L., Burkhart, P. V., & Sigler, A. N. (2013). Promoting normal development and self-
efficacy in school-age children managing chronic conditions. Nursing Clinics, 48(2),
319-328.
Stuart, G. W. (2014). Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing-E-Book. Elsevier Health
Sciences.

8HEALTH: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
VanDevanter, D. R., Kahle, J. S., O’Sullivan, A. K., Sikirica, S., & Hodgkins, P. S. (2016).
Cystic fibrosis in young children: a review of disease manifestation, progression, and
response to early treatment. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 15(2), 147-157.