Coping strategies used by parents during their child's hospitalization in an intensive care unit.

The purpose of this study was to identify staff behaviors and parental coping patterns helpful to parents during their child's hospitalization in a pediatric intensive care unit. Subjects were 21 mothers and 15 fathers of 27 hospitalized children. The study used a retrospective self-report method in which parents were asked their perception regarding the use and helpfulness of a number of staff behaviors, as well as whether or not these staff behaviors were experienced. A large percentage of the parents in this study perceived health care professionals in the pediatric intensive care units under study as providing, at least minimally, all of the staff behaviors/interventions listed. The staff behavior seen as most important by the largest number of parents was "being permitted to stay with their child as much as possible." In evaluating the overall findings regarding personal coping strategies, it appears that parents most frequently used problem-focused coping strategies and that these strategies were seen as most helpful. Emotion-focused coping was used by a slightly lower percentage of parents than the other categories.