Both Sides of the Chronic Illness Balance Beam Growing up, every child encounters the common cold or strep throat. During the time that they are not feeling great, it sort of seems like the world is ending and life sucks. They cannot go out and play with their friends or do anything fun. However, not all children have to encounter a chronic illness, one that does not have a cure and they are stuck with it for their whole life. For children who are diagnosed with a chronic illness at a young age, this torture and experience is a reality. Childhood and chronic illnesses cause many psychological effects of varying degrees, both negative and positive, due to the forced lifestyle of survival for the individual. There are many factors that contribute …show more content…
(Woods, Mayes, Bartley, Fedele, and Ryan, page 86)”. This is especially important because it a positive alternative to the previously mentioned negative effects of peers. When ignorant peers bring an individual down through bullying, summer camps can offer a contradicting outlook and emotional experience. Woods, et al also referenced another research study when describing the positive benefits of summer camps, “… attendance at summer camping programs has been associated with improvements in personal identity, interpersonal skills, physical and cognitive abilities, positive values, perceived social skills, and increased spirituality (Simons, Gilleland, Hubbard McDanel, Blount, & Campbell, 2008; Thurber, Scanlin, Scheuler, & Henderson, 2007)” (page 87). Not only do average summer camps provide all of the amazing and beneficial qualities, but also chronic illness summer camps do all of that along with allowing the campers to understand and manage their illness better and more independently. When Woods, et al, came down to providing statistics, they had campers test their ‘Hope Score’ before attending overnight camp and then again after they returned from camp. They stated that, according to their numbers and averages, “There was a significant increase in Total hope scores from pre-camp to post-camp,” (page 91). Being around peers that understand the different emotions associated with a specific chronic illness is extremely beneficial, which only adds on to the positive aspects of summer