Children's coping responses

Clinical and research data indicate that while nurses attempt to promote health and positive stress outcomes, little is known about actual stress appraisal and coping efforts directly from the child's perspective. This exploration attempted to identify and describe coping responses among well children. Qualitative data were drawn from 32 well children aged 8 through 11 years by interview responses to a sentence completion list and by completion of daily semistructured journals over a period of 6 weeks. All data were subjected to content analysis. Twenty-one categories among four themes of cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, behavioral, and interpersonal coping responses emerged, beginning a taxonomy of children's coping efforts. Results supported some previous studies; however, new categories were identified and implications for research and clinical practice explored.