Uncertainty in childhood illness: a synthesis of the parent and child literature.

Uncertainty has increasingly been identified as an important construct in the clinical and empirical literature on families' responses to serious childhood illnesses. Most of the work has focused on parents' perceptions of uncertainty, but several recent studies have demonstrated that children are also affected by uncertainties inherent in the illness experience. Findings from 44 reports of parental uncertainty and 12 reports of children's uncertainty were reviewed to determine what is currently known about uncertainty in the context of acute and chronic childhood illness. Pertinent conceptual and methodological issues are identified and directions for future research are suggested.