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Running head: FINAL INTERVIEW ASSESSMENT – CHURCHWARD FAMILY

Final Interview Assessment – Churchward Family

Diana J. Vergaray

Brigham Young University – Idaho

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Introduction

As we have studied families under stress this semester, we have discussed many tools

that families and individuals use when coping with their situations and we have been introduced

to research backed models of stress and coping. These models assist helping professionals and

other caring individuals see internal and external influences that affect the family and their

coping efforts. This paper is to demonstrate the use of these models and concepts to analyze a

family’s stressful experience. In preparation for this paper, I interviewed the Churchward

family. Present for the interview was Rebecca (mom), Sarah (19), Matthew (16), and the twins

Jacob and Joshua (14). Dale (dad) was unable to attend due to work but was invited to share

responses to interview questions via email. As we went through the questions, the twins and

Matthew were given the opportunity to answer first then Rebecca and Sarah added their

thoughts.

Nature of the Stressor

Sarah Nicole Churchward was unstoppable. She was a high school honor student with a

full load of classes earning high school and college credit, had recently received her driver’s

license, was launching her own make-up business, had three additional part time jobs and was

active in church and seminary. Life was good; she was looking forward to graduating and

serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, without warning,

while on a field trip to Steven’s Pass, she collapsed in the snow. Sarah lay in the snow for two

hours before rescuers could reach her. She was rushed to an emergency room and was relatively

unharmed. She thought it would be an isolated occurrence and that at most she would miss a day

of school. However, this event started Sarah and her family on a journey that was more than any

of them could have imagined possible. She started “passing out” up to 20 times a day, every
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day. Sarah and her parents were in and out of emergency rooms and doctor’s offices. No one

knew what these episodes were or why they were happening.

In Depth Analysis

Double ABCX Model (Webber, 2011)

I. Pre-crisis

A. Stressor (a): Sarah was collapsing up to 20 times a day.

B. Existing resources (b)

1. Psychological/individual: Sarah is a strong willed, persistent, determined

individual.

2. Intrafamilial/family: the Churchward family is a stable two parent family with

a capable, dedicated homemaker and a steady job that provides good family

health care coverage.

3. Social/community: there is a caring ward family and extended family members

living close by.

C. Perception of a (c): the other children in the family thought that whatever was wrong

would stop “pretty soon” and things would go back to normal. Between emergency room

visits, doctor’s appointments and tests, Sarah and Rebecca both found that there was so

much that had to be done and taken care of that they really had no time to think, only do.

II. Crisis (x):

The family was diligent and persistent as they were bounced around from doctor to

doctor and test to test. There were so many questions and no one had answers. Then, four

months later, Sarah was diagnosed with a rare form of narcolepsy with full body cataplexy. A
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whole new set of questions emerged. How do we find treatment? What does this mean for the

months and years to come?

III. Post-crisis

A. Pileup (aA)

1. Hardships from a:

a. Sarah’s sudden cessation of all normal activities caused her extreme

mental/emotional distress as she worried about everything that she “had

to do” and could not. She felt useless, helpless and that she was a

burden.

b. Many of Sarah’s friendships were lost because she was no longer able

to hold up her end of the friendship.

c. Driving Sarah to appointments caused a substantial drain on the

family’s time and financial resources, especially as time went on.

d. Sarah turned 18 which caused complications and confusion in regard to

medical treatment as questions came up about who is responsible, who

signs the papers and who can have access to what information.

e. Sarah spent 10 days in the hospital unable to walk followed by 6 weeks

of home care.

f. Dale’s mother passed away during this time which was hard on the

whole family.

2. Transitions: this family was entering the launching phase as Sarah had been

preparing to graduate High School and go on her long-anticipated Mission for the

church. Matthew, Jacob and Joshua were not far behind, but this family phase
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was seriously challenged by this stressor as the question of whether Sarah would

be able to do any of these things came in to focus.

3. Consequences of coping efforts: Sarah experienced the onset of a serious eating

disorder and she noted that it was most likely caused by the helplessness she felt.

Sarah spent several months in an in-patient eating disorder program, coming

home on weekends. She then spent additional time in an intensive outpatient

program which required driving an hour, to an hour and thirty minutes, each way,

multiple times a week.

B. Existing and new Resources (bB): on the recommendation of an emergency room

doctor, the family pursued a sleep study which led to the diagnosis of Narcolepsy with

full body cataplexy. A diagnosis in four months is very rare as it often takes 10 years, or

more, to find the cause in such an unusual case. This diagnosis allowed the family to

pursue treatment. Unfortunately, they were unable to find a doctor, even in Seattle,

qualified to treat such a case. Then they found out about a clinical study being conducted

in California. Sarah participated in the study which necessitated multiple round-trip

flights from Seattle to Los Angeles but was discharged early when she developed internal

bleeding. However, because of being in the study they were able to connect with a doctor

in Seattle to continue treatment.

C. Perceptions (cC): As the reality that this was a life-long condition set in, perceptions

began to change. Sarah’s cognition changed from, “this is temporary, it will go away” to

“life is over; now where do I go?” Jacob said that he spent a lot of time thinking about

how to handle the situation when his sister has a sleep attack. Rebecca began to wonder
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what it would be like if her daughter could never live independently and came to terms

with the idea even though it is not clear what will happen.

D. Coping: They worked together to handle sleep attacks. Jacob, Joshua and Matthew,

who have their own mental/emotional/social challenges, each left their comfort zone to

help the family and Sarah deal with this situation. Sarah could no longer be left alone

and whoever is with her had to learn to care for her during a sleep attack. The boys

learned to reassure any onlookers that she was okay, that it is a known medical condition

and that they did not need to call 911. Sarah made an information/instruction card that

could be handed to anyone who was concerned.

E. Adaptation: The Churchward family achieved a level of bonadaptation as noted by the

fact that they were able to meet each family member’s needs and indeed grow closer as a

unit. They had increased emotional bonding and participated more fully in cooperatively

in family functioning and shared goals.

Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation (Webber, 2011)

Using the Resiliency Model, we can add to the picture we have already drawn with the

Double ABCX Model. One thing this model adds to the picture is Patterns of Functioning.

Retained patterns of functioning (T): Even while under extreme family stress, Dale had

to maintain his already stressful level of work responsibilities. This was especially important

because of the health insurance his employment provided.

Revised patterns of functioning (T): Sarah’s inability to drive, meant that she could no

longer help with transporting the younger children to their activities. She was also unable to be

in school, do her part-time jobs or even help much at home. This shifted many responsibilities to

Rebecca and other family members. Sarah’s sudden need for constant care and multiple trips to
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emergency rooms and appointments meant that Rebecca could no longer do many of the things

that she normally did. Besides losing the ability to do her normal activities she was prevented

from giving the other children the attention that they were used to receiving.

Newly instituted patterns of functioning (TT): Matthew was able to get his driver’s

license and, even though he does not like to drive, was able to relieve some of the burden of

driving the twins where they needed to go while Rebecca was driving Sarah to her eating

disorder program. The twins became more responsible in caring for themselves and their sister.

Family Resilience

In her book, strengthening family resilience, Froma Welsh (2017) discusses three keys to

family resilience, belief system, organizational processes and communication processes. The

Churchward family showed exceptional resilience in all of these areas. They kept a positive

outlook and mastered what was possible, thus helping them to tolerate uncertainty. Throughout

this experience Sarah has worked hard to maintain a spiritual outlook. She put it well when she

said, “as hard as it is now, it will never be as hard as it was before I fully embraced the

atonement.”

The family also displayed resiliency in the area of organizational processes as they all

worked together to do what needed to be done to meet each family member’s needs. This is

demonstrated by Matthew taking on some of the responsibility of caring for his brothers by

transporting them as necessary. Their flexibility and connectedness served them well as they

worked through the multiple challenges presented to them.

A big part of the family’s resilience was their communication processes. They were able

to problem solve together and unite to fill each person’s needs. Jacob said about stepping in to
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help take care of his sister, “we got to be more responsible. She is a role model, but we had to

handle it.” Sarah said that talking with her brothers helped her cope and manage the stress.

Summary and Conclusion

Complicated situations such as this one can be brought into better focus when observed

through the lens of the stress models. We are able to help the family see their strengths,

opportunities that accompany their challenges and ways that they can make improvements to

their coping strategies. There are many beneficial opportunities that this stressor provided for

the Churchward family. The family made the best of a difficult situation by taking the whole

family to Disneyland once when they went to California for the narcolepsy study.

The added time that Matthew, Jacob and Joshua spent with Sarah positively affected their

relationships and family cohesion improved as they increased communication, understanding and

interdependence. Their face and tone of voice displayed a sense of pride and accomplishment as

the brothers talked about being more responsible as a result of this trial. Rebecca noted that the

health care costs for the boys was less because the deductible was met very early in the year by

the cost of Sarah’s care.

Even though Sarah lost friends and associates because of this, she has been able to make

different friends and to form deeper relationships with them. She started a blog, found at

thoughtoutlet.net, as an outlet for her thoughts and feelings and to help others who are going

through tough times. Even as she lost her independence, externally, Sarah has developed a kind

of internal independence through her suffering and trials.

Walsh (2017, p. 45) said, “Families are better able to weather adversity when members

have an abiding loyalty and faith in each other, rooted in a strong sense of trust.” We see this in

the Churchward family as each member left their comfort zone and stretched and grew together.
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References

Walsh, F. (2017). Strengthening family resilience. New York: The Guilford Press.

Weber, J. G., (2011). In Individual and family stress and crises. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications, Inc.