Childhood Chronic Illness: An Educational Program for Parents of Children With On-Going Health Care Needs

Building on Family Strengths: An Educational Program for Parents of Children With On-Going Health Care Needs

The long-term goal of this research is to strengthen parents' abilities to manage the complexities of childhood chronic illness. To achieve this goal, the team of parents, health care professionals, and researchers proposes the following specific aim:

• Develop, implement, and test a unique psycho-educational program, Living with Childhood Chronic Illness (the Program), for effectiveness with parents of children who have chronic illnesses.

The investigators propose the following hypotheses:

At both 6 and 12 month follow-up points, parents taking part in the intervention, in contrast to control parents, will have:

1. Greater perceived self-efficacy regarding their ability to manage the child's chronic condition;
2. Greater parental ability to involve their child in shared management activities;
3. Greater parental ability to cope at 6 and 12 months following the end of the intervention;
4. Greater emotional health; and
5. Greater parental perceived family quality of life.

Parents will enroll in the study by contacting the study number: 206-987-1000 or by sending an email message to family.strengths@seattlechildrens.org. They will complete a survey taking no more than 60 minutes. Parents will then be randomized to either take the class immediately or be in the control group which can take the class in 12 months. At the end of 6 and 12 months all the participants again take the survey.

Classes are 7 weeks in length, 2 hours each and are offered at various locations throughout the Greater Seattle area.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Child 2-11 years of age, with diagnosed chronic illness
• Parent at least 18 years of age, able to speak and read English at 4th grade level and able to attend a 7 week two-hour class program

Exclusion Criteria:

• Child in active hospice treatment