Granting Agency:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services

Time Period:
September 2003 through September, 2007

Project Goals and Objectives:
The long-term goal of this research was to strengthen abilities of parents to manage the complexities of their child's chronic illness thereby improving their own and their child's health. The research tested a parent psycho-educational program for impact on perceived self-efficacy to manage their child's chronic illness, ability to involve the child in developmentally appropriate shared management, coping behavior, emotional health, and family quality of life. The seven-session Program (2 hrs per week) was developed and offered to parents of children who have chronic illnesses and were between 2-11 years of age. Program methods included brief presentations of key concepts, focused discussions, skills modeling, problem solving, and assignments for out of session practice of newly learned skills. The Program built upon the foundations of a successfully tested adult chronic illness self-management program, and integrated additional concepts deemed essential by parents of children living with chronic illnesses.

Partners:
University of Washington, Department of Child & Family Nursing

Primary Investigator:
Gail M. Kieckhefer, APRN, CS-PNP, PhD
Associate Professor, Family & Child Nursing
University of Washington, Box 357262
Seattle, Washington
(206) 543-8237
gailmk@u.washington.edu