Emotional and behavioural problems were investigated in children who have a parent with multiple sclerosis (MS), in relation to factors such as family dysfunction, parental depression and illness-related characteristics. The participants were 56 MS patients, their spouses and one randomly selected child aged 4-17 years, and a comparison group of 64 children and both their parents, none of whom reported somatic illness. Emotional and behavioural problems in the children were identified by reporting of both parents and self-report using the Achenbach's Child Behaviour Checklist and Youth Self Report respectively. Parental depression and family dysfunction were explored using the Beck Depression Inventory and Family Assessment Device, respectively. The data were analysed using independent samples t-tests for between-group comparisons, Pearson r correlations between children's problems and family dysfunction or parental depression, and multiple regression analyses for identifying predictors for children's problems. Children whose parents, especially mothers, had MS presented greater emotional and behavioural problems than comparison children. Children's problems were positively associated with maternal depression and family dysfunction. Family dysfunction predicted children's overall and externalizing problems, while the severity of impairment of the ill mother predicted children's internalizing problems. Implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.

These findings, although based on a small sample, suggest a relationship between PCOS and MRKHS and the presence of psychological problems, such as anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescents. This study is among the first to examine psychological difficulties in adolescents with such a rare menstrual syndrome as MRKHS.

This article presents an overview of published studies on interventions with children and adolescents living with a parent who has a chronic somatic illness, organized according to type of intervention, children's age, stage of parental illness, and the goals, techniques, theoretical basis, duration, evaluation, and outcome of the intervention. Issues concerning children's psychological response to parental illness are addressed. Useful clinical guidelines are presented, including the promotion of illness-related knowledge and coping skills in children and the selection of treatment goals and intervention techniques according to the child's developmental needs, the family needs, and the stage of parental illness. The need for interventions for very young children and for evidence-based intervention studies is discussed.Keywords: child and family intervention, children of parents with illness, group intervention, child psychotherapy 1 This review used articles and books retrieved from various sources, including the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CANCERLIT databases for the years 1984 to 2004. In the database search, the terms children and family were combined with ill parents, disabled parents, intervention, chronic disease, and several illness names, such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

This study investigates the relation of communication around parental multiple sclerosis (MS) to family dysfunction and mental health problems of the children in Greek families. Fifty-six families with a parent with MS were studied regarding emotional well-being of children, parental depression, family functioning, and illness' related impairment, correlated to the amount of information about parental illness provided to children. Significant differences were found in three dimensions of child psychopathology on maternal scores of Child Behavior Checklist, between children who had partial information about parental illness and the other two groups of children who had explicit or no information at all. Differences were also observed in children's scores on (Youth Self Report) social problems between the same groups. The finding that children who had only partial information about their parents' illness presented more problems, illustrates the importance of "how, what, and how much" of information is communicated to children. Clinical implications are discussed in terms of the families' difficulties with communicating parental illness with their children and possible need for professional support.