Introduction: Chronic illnesses are defined as conditions that last for a year or more and require long-term medical attention or limited daily activities, or both. In Slovenia, it is estimated that the share of children with at least one chronic disease is between 15 and 30%. Because parents pay more attention to a sick child, the needs of a healthy sibling are often neglected, which has an impact on their quality of life and overall health. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to present the impact of chronic disease in children on healthy siblings. Methods: We performed a literature review using a descriptive method of presenting the results. We searched for articles in international databases; PubMed, CINAHL, Cohrane Libary, in the library catalog COBISS.SI and Google Scholar. The search for literature took place from September 2021 to January 2022. Articles in Slovene and English were searched. Results: The life of a healthy sibling with a brother or sister with a chronic illness has a big impact on them. They are exposed to various problems in the family that other children do not experience. Due to the disease, they can feel a wave of different emotions. Compared to peers, they have more emotional and behavioral problems, poorer quality of life, social skills, and poorer understanding with peers. Awareness of the disease is important to make it easier to adapt to the situation. Healthy siblings often care for the well-being of a sibling and become their protectors. Chronic illness has been shown to have a greater impact closer to the onset of the disease and the need to hospitalize the child. They have shown that healthy siblings find it easier to adapt if parents are more aware of their feelings and participate together in help programs and support interventions. Discussion and conclusion: Siblings of children with chronic disease face a variety of problems throughout their lives. In order for the illness of a sibling to have as little negative impact on them as possible, we must offer them help in the form of various programs and interventions. As children's experiences are often presented through the "eyes of the parents", we need to pay more attention to the aspect of the children themselves and explore this area more, and teach parents how to help them not to feel neglected.
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