Sibling Adjustment to Childhood Chronic Illness: An Integrative Review
Shannon P. Lummer-Aikey, Sara E. Goldstein
Abstract
Siblings of children with a chronic illness are among the close family members impacted by childhood chronic illness. Family roles, routines, and functioning are adjusted to fit the needs of the child and family throughout the course of the illness. Empirical articles regarding adjustment of healthy siblings of children with chronic illnesses ages 0 to 17 years, published in 2000 to 2019 were searched on PsycInfo, PubMed, and Medline using the keywords "sibling adjustment," "sibling chronic," and "sibling illness." Through thematic synthesis, four broad topics emerged concerning sibling adjustment to chronic illness: (a) experiences, (b) psychosocial adjustment, (c) coping, and (d) communication. Implications for family nursing and family health practitioners and future research directions are presented.