When the child's illness is life threatening: impact on the parents

An investigation of the impact on parents of children with life threatening (LT) and parents of children with non-life threatening (NLT) chronic illnesses measured satisfaction with social support received, perception of the impact of the child's illness, and coping behaviors. Eighty fathers and 80 mothers of children completed four questionnaires: (a) The Sociodemographic and Illness-related Questionnaire (Krulik, Hirschfield, & Sharon, 1984); (b) Social Support Questionnaire (London, 1988); (c) Perception of the Impact of the Child's Chronic Illness on the Parent Questionnaire (Katz, 1994); and (d) Coping Health Inventory for Parents (CHIP) (McCubbin, McCubbin, Patterson, et al., 1983). The results of parents together and fathers and mothers separately, and parents of LT and parents of NLT chronic illnesses were compared using ANOVA, MANOVA, and Doubly multivariate analysis. Parents of children with LT and NLT illnesses reported significant differences in social support, perception of the impact of the illness, and coping behaviors. Although fathers and mothers reported significant differences in the use of the medical team as a coping behavior, no significant differences were found between fathers and mothers related to social support and perception of the impact of the illness.