Emotional and behavioural problems and family functioning in children with haemophilia: a cross-sectional survey

A comparative study is presented about emotional and behavioural problems in haemophilia and family functioning. This cross-sectional survey looked at boys, aged between 4 and 15 years, with haemophilia and compared them with a group of their healthy school peers. A basic demographic questionnaire was used for both groups along with the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Family Assessment Measure (FAM). Seventeen of 24 families of boys with haemophilia participated (70.8% response). The comparison group consisted of 12 boys, i.e. 70.6% of the haemophilia sample. The groups did not differ in terms of the children's ages and family sizes but significantly fewer of the mothers of the boys with haemophilia worked outside the home. The two groups were compared for scores on the CBCL and FAM. More problems were identified in the haemophilia group on both measures, i.e. there were more emotional, behavioural and family difficulties compared with the healthy group; however, because of the small sample sizes, the differences between the groups did not reach statistical significance. A larger study would be indicated in order to explore these differences further.