PURPOSE To explore the grieving, coping and resiliency experiences of parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to investigate the suitability of chronic sorrow theory as a framework to understand those experiences. METHODS This study combined focus groups with a web-based cross-sectional survey to explore chronic sorrow in parents of children with CP. Eight parents of children with CP...

BACKGROUND A child's obesity is generally perceived by the public to be under the control of the child's parents. While the health consequences of childhood obesity are well understood, less is known about psychological and social effects of having an obese child on parents. We set out to characterize stigma and courtesy stigma experiences surrounding obesity among children with Bardet-Biedl sy...

When a child is diagnosed with an eating disorder, parents are expected to help the child recover. Yet, parents often feel under-prepared and alone, their experiences inadequately known to healthcare professionals. The research aim was to examine the meaning to parents of caring for a child with an eating disorder. Qualitative interviews with 29 parents were analyzed and the parents’ experience...

Parents' opinions – view of their child's experiences in the legal process: An interpretative analysis of parents' opinions.

OBJECTIVES To assess parents' first experiences of their very preterm babies and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). DESIGN Qualitative study using semistructured interviews. PARTICIPANTS 32 mothers and 7 fathers of very preterm babies (<32 weeks gestation). SETTING Three neonatal units in tertiary care hospitals in South East England. RESULTS Five themes were identified. The first...

BACKGROUND The admission of a very premature infant to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is often a difficult time for parents. This paper explores parents' views and experiences of the care for their very premature baby on NICU. METHODS Parents were eligible if they had a baby born before 32 weeks gestation and cared for in a NICU, and spoke English well. 32 mothers and 7 fathers were ...

Parents of children with severe and intractable epilepsy face profound caregiving challenges, dealing with their child's frequent and intense seizures, accompanying physical, social and psychological problems, and ongoing quest for seizure control through a variety of medications, diet and surgery. With the advent of a new, surgical treatment for epilepsy, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), these p...

OBJECTIVE To explore the experiences and needs of parents of young children (aged 2-4 years) with cerebral palsy (CP) regarding their child's physical and occupational therapy process in a rehabilitation setting. METHODS A qualitative design was used involving semi-structured interviews with 21 parents of young children with CP. Interviews were conducted until informational redundancy was ach...

BACKGROUND Clinical research on psychological aspects of disorders of sex development (DSD) has focused on psychosexual differentiation with relatively little attention directed toward parents' experiences of early clinical management and their influence on patient and family psychosocial adaptation. OBJECTIVES To characterize parental experiences in the early clinical care of children born w...

BACKGROUND Low-income parents often seek help from pediatricians for early childhood social-emotional problems but seldom follow through with referrals to behavioral health services. OBJECTIVE We sought to understand low-income parents' experiences seeking help from pediatricians for social-emotional problems and how those experiences influenced decisions about accessing behavioral health ser...