Family Functioning In Patients with SARS-COV2

Table 7: Association between Family classification and FACES III class.

The accumulation of stressful situations in the family can produce unhealthy behavior patterns that can threaten the integrity of the family [16]. Families should receive interventions to reinforce adaptive behaviors and deflect unhealthy behaviors that lead to maladaptive [18]. No association was found between the family type by kinship and the severity of the COVID-19 disease with the adaptability and cohesion of the family, however, as an interesting finding in our work. We found a tendency for cohesion and high adaptability, being for cohesion related and agglutinated, and for adaptability, flexible and chaotic. It was not found that the type of family and the severity of the disease increased cohesion or adaptability in any way, however, we observed that in the population with SARS-CoV-2 infection there could be an increase in both, with a tendency to agglutination and chaos, to be able to handle the family situation through which it happens, in the middle of a global pandemic crisis. A comparative study is proposed to investigate the effect on the family. There is an emotional impact on the family after the presence of critically ill patients in the nucleus, mainly with the increase in the stay in intensive care [19]. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, an important role of physical distancing has also been observed in family dynamics, in such a way that there has been a decrease in support from formal and informal networks, a climate of sustained tension, and distribution of inequitable roles with female overload, the recurrent appearance of conflicts and changes in daily routines. In other diseases, such as HIV infection, there has been a trend towards less family cohesion, but greater adaptability and rigid and unrelated families have a poorer quality of life [20]. However, in this type of infection, due to its chronicity, the family has the opportunity to prepare for the possibility of fatal outcomes.

Contrary to this, in the case of abrupt diagnoses, there may be some type of arrangement of family dynamics similar to that presented by the COVID-19 disease, especially depending on the severity of the association of the infection. Similar to our work, AlviaMacías et al. have found that in diarrheal diseases, the agglutinated-chaotic family tends to prevail over the other family types and that the type of family cohesion and adaptability correlates with the level of knowledge of diarrheal diseases, so there may be some modification of family dynamics through educational interventions for the family [21].

In an earlier study by Clover et al., It has been found that family dynamics and family dysfunction can increase the prevalence of infections, such as influenza B infection, with the hypothesis that family dysfunction can alter the immune response, increasing the susceptibility of infection [20]. This may be relevant, especially in a scenario before the COVID-19 infection, because more than the response to the infection that a person can present, -since- the family can influence the health measures that are applied, promoting greater support in the family and the activation of family resources.

Conclusion

According to the family typology, by kinship, the main types of families identified in patients with COVID-19 disease were simple nuclear in 72.4%, followed by extended family in 13.3% and single parent in 8.2%. All the patients belonged to an urban family. We found 63.3% of patients with mild severity of COVID-19 disease, 20.4% with moderate severity, 6.1% severe, and 9.2% were asymptomatic.

We observe a greater tendency towards the type of family with high cohesion and adaptability, being by cohesion related and agglutinated, and by adaptability, flexible and chaotic, however, we did not find any association between the family type by kinship and the severity of the COVID-19 disease with the adaptability and cohesion of the family. The role of the family doctor in family support and the application of family interventions from the diagnosis of the disease, the follow-up, the recovery, and later is important, given the enormous psychosocial impact that the disease entails and the degree of stress and anxiety involved, as well as the relationship that the disease has on rearrangements in family dynamics and functionality.

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