Relationships in families of children and adolescents with sickle cell disease.

This study represents the findings from interviews and assessments of children and adolescents with sickle cell disease and their parents regarding the quality of family relations, the degree to which sickle cell disease has impacted on these relations, and the variables which contribute to these relations. With 70 families as respondents, the data reveal a wide variance in quality of relations, but a broad base of positive relations. Parent report tends to be more positive than child report, both in terms of quality of relations and the impact of sickle cell disease on relations. Social support and knowledge about the disease are significant contributors to positive relations, while socioeconomic status, family structure, and illness severity are not predictive of quality of relations. With age and gender as covariates, results indicate that the families of girls tended to have more positive relations. The data suggest approaches to family and community support in order to help families maintain and build relations in the face of the stresses which sickle cell disease imposes.