Jackson, E L · Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community · 1999
When a child has ME/CFS, it affects the entire family, not just the sick child. This review looked at how brothers and sisters of children with ME/CFS are impacted and how they cope with the situation. The authors found that healthy siblings often don't get enough attention and support because the focus is on caring for the ill child.
This study brings attention to an often-overlooked aspect of ME/CFS—its ripple effects on healthy family members, particularly siblings. Recognizing and supporting siblings may improve overall family functioning and psychological outcomes, making it relevant for holistic ME/CFS care approaches.
This review does not provide quantitative data on the prevalence or severity of sibling problems, nor does it establish causal mechanisms explaining how sibling dynamics specifically differ in ME/CFS families versus other chronic illnesses. The study cannot determine which interventions are most effective in supporting siblings.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Jackson, E L (1999). The effects on siblings in families with a child with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10451339/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jackson-1999-effects-siblings,
author = {Jackson, E L},
title = {The effects on siblings in families with a child with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community},
year = {1999},
note = {PubMed: 10451339},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jackson-1999-effects-siblings},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jackson-1999-effects-siblings
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