2020/08/20 by John S. Rolland
paper · doi:10.1111/famp.12584
crossref created 2020/07/17 · crossref issued 2020/08/20 · crossref published 2020/08/20 · crossref published-online 2020/08/20 · crossref published-print 2020/09/01 · crossref deposited 2023/09/01 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30
The COVID‐19 pandemic has a pervasive effect on all aspects of family life. We can distinguish the collective societal and community effects of the global pandemic and the risk and disease impact for individuals and families. This paper draws on Rolland’s Family Systems‐Illness (FSI) model to describe some of the unique challenges through a multisystemic lens. Highlighting the pattern of psychosocial issues of COVID‐19 over time, discussion emphasizes the evolving interplay of larger systems public health pandemic challenges and mitigation strategies with individual and family processes. The paper addresses issues of coping with myriad Covid‐19 uncertainties in the initial crisis wave and evolving phases of the pandemic in the context of individual and family development, pre‐existing illness or disability, and racial and socio‐economic disparities. The discussion offers recommendations for timely family oriented consultation and psychoeducation, and for healthcare clinician self‐care.