Psychosocial problems of children and adolescents with a chronic disease: coping strategies

The purpose of this pilot study was to identify the coping strategies used by children, adolescents and youths with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) attending a camp for IDDM patients near Ryosen town, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Forty-three IDDM patients (24 females and 19 males) were studied, divided into two age groups. The first group included children (seven males and 10 females). The second group included adolescents and youths (12 males and 14 females). For the child group a projective drawing method was used for study and for the older group, an open questionnaire was used. Ryan-Wenger's taxonomy of children's coping strategies and Band's coding systems and classification were used for the content analysis. 'Instrumental action', 'Emotional expression' and 'Catastrophizing thinking' were the coping strategies, represented in the child group. Gender differences in coping strategies were found in the group of adolescents and youths. The most often represented and most important coping category for the male subgroup was 'Behavioral avoidance'. Next in frequency of representation for the male subgroup were 'Cognitive distraction' and 'Behavioral distraction'. The coping categories 'Seeking social support' and 'Behavioral distraction' were represented with equal frequency in the female subgroup and the next was 'Aggressive activities'. The most important coping strategy for the female group was 'Talking to peers' from the seeking social support category. The study also helped to identify several children and adolescents who might need special psychological support.