# Exploring Shared Stress Experiences Among Teens With Chronic Health Conditions

## TL;DR

This study explores how teens with chronic health conditions experience stress and how it affects their lives, emphasizing the need for personalized care.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the unique stress experiences of teens with diverse chronic health conditions during middle adolescence.

## Key findings

- Three central themes emerged: living with a CHC, feeling different due to a CHC, and responses to living with a CHC.
- Teens' stress experiences are unique and diverse, highlighting the need for individualized assessments.
- Stress should be assessed separately from other concepts in both research and clinical practice.

## Abstract

Adolescents and young adults with chronic health conditions (CHCs) experience significant condition‐related stress in addition to everyday stress. This increases their risks of high cumulative stress, which could affect current and future health and well‐being. Prior research is limited by including participants in different developmental stages, a narrow focus on one or a few conditions, or exploring concepts other than stress. Few studies have focused on the stress experiences of teens with diverse CHCs who are in one developmental stage, including the stressors they experience and their impact on teens' lives more broadly.

The purpose of this study was to explore the unique stress experiences of teens with CHCs.

Semi‐structured, audio‐only interviews were conducted with teens with CHCs. Interview questions explored everyday and CHC‐related stressors and teens' responses to these stressors. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, with qualitative description as the theoretical foundation. Codes, sub‐themes, and themes were identified and defined through an iterative process.

Fifteen teens aged 14–17 years old with a variety of CHCs completed study interviews. Three central themes were generated to reflect teens' condition‐related stress experiences: (1) Living with a CHC; (2) My CHC makes me different; and (3) Response to living with a CHC. Teens' experiences were unique and diverse, highlighting the importance of exploring individual perspectives.

This study broadens the understanding of stress experiences in teens with a variety of CHCs, highlighting how condition‐related stress can permeate multiple aspects of life. Findings underscore the need for individualized assessment of condition‐related stress and the development and implementation of tailored interventions designed to mitigate the impact of condition‐related stress on teens' lives.

Stress is a unique concept that needs to be assessed separately from other, related concepts in research and clinical practice.Research focused on specific developmental stages, such as middle adolescence, provides insights into experiences that may not be shared with older or younger teens, highlighting the importance of studies of specific developmental stages.Research on teens with chronic health conditions should include categorical and non‐categorical research, which provide distinct and important information on stress and other experiences across and within conditions.Clinicians should pay careful attention to what teens say about their condition‐related stress and what they need to help them manage that stress. All teens are unique, and clinical care should be individualized to honour that.

Stress is a unique concept that needs to be assessed separately from other, related concepts in research and clinical practice.

Research focused on specific developmental stages, such as middle adolescence, provides insights into experiences that may not be shared with older or younger teens, highlighting the importance of studies of specific developmental stages.

Research on teens with chronic health conditions should include categorical and non‐categorical research, which provide distinct and important information on stress and other experiences across and within conditions.

Clinicians should pay careful attention to what teens say about their condition‐related stress and what they need to help them manage that stress. All teens are unique, and clinical care should be individualized to honour that.