Impact of uncertainty associated with a child's chronic health condition on parents' health.

Abstract

We investigated whether uncertainty about the impact of children's chronic health conditions on their daily lives leads to changes in mothers' and fathers' mental and physical health. Three waves of data were collected over three years from parents of 228 children with chronic health conditions. Parents reported their level of uncertainty about how the child's health condition affected the child's daily life, as well as measures of their own mental and physical health at each wave of data collection. Results of structural equation models indicate that, among mothers, more illness-related uncertainty was associated with a subsequent increase in psychological symptoms relative to other mothers in the study. Psychological symptoms, in turn, were associated with a subsequent increase in physical symptoms among mothers. Uncertainty did not affect fathers' health. Illness-related uncertainty may be a risk factor for psychological and physical symptoms in mothers of children with chronic health conditions. As such, interventions that address uncertainty related to the child's chronic health condition may improve psychological and physical well-being of mothers of children with chronic health conditions. Keywords childhood chronic health conditions; parent adjustment; uncertainty HealthDue to advances in medicine and technology, children with previously fatal diseases now survive and have chronic health conditions with no cure. Between 10% and 30% of children in the U.S. have a chronic illness or disability (Davidoff, 2004;Van Dyck, Kogan, McPherson, Weissman, & Newacheck, 2004). A substantial body of research indicates that parents of children with chronic health conditions are at risk for symptoms of psychological distress (e.g., Mastroyannopoulou, Stallard, Lewis, & Lenton, 1997;Nagy & Ungerer, 1990;Silver, Westbrook, & Stein, 1998). Theory and research provide some guidance regarding which factors are likely to put parents at risk for distress. Uncertainty arising in the context of chronic Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kristen E. Holm, Ph.D., National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Division of Psychosocial Medicine, Room B101a, 1400 Jackson Street, Denver, CO 80206. holmk@njc.org. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/pubs/journals/fsh. illness is an important component of family stress, with two primary branches of investigation. These branches of investigation stem from family stress theory (Boss, 2002;Boss & Greenberg, 1984) and uncertainty in illness theory (Mishel, 1981(M...

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