Parental coping in response to their child's spina bifida.

Abstract

This study explored how 100 parents coped with their child's chronic illness of spina bifida. Nearly half the sample (48 parents) were husband-wife pairs. The mailed study instrument was The Chronicity Impact and Coping Instrument: Parent Questionnaire (CICI:PQ) developed by Hymovich. High copers and low copers scored significantly differently (p less than 0.05) on 18 out of 37 coping strategies. There were no significant differences in the stressors of high and low copers. Significant positive relationships were found between coping and marital satisfaction, coping and the quality of the relationship between husband and wife, and coping and attending a spina bifida support group (p = 0.008). Higher income and increased age of the parent also contributed to coping ability.