Similarities and differences between children with asthma wnd children with cancer: Implications for preventive intervention.

A substantial increase in the prevalence of chronic health conditions among children in the U.S. has led to growing concern with preventing the psychosocial and economic problems engendered by such illness. This exploratory study examined the validity of the recently proposed non-categorical approach to physical illness versus the traditional disease-specific perspective as the basis for the content and organization of preventive services for children with chronic illness. No significant disease-specific differences were found in measures of psychological and social adaptation between children with asthma and children with cancer, lending support to a non-categorical approach to the provision of preventive services.