Psychological adaptation and adjustment of mothers of children with congenital heart disease: Stress, coping, and family functioning

Objective: Investigate support for the transactional stress and coping mode l for mothers of children with congenital heart defects, in accounting for the variance in maternal adjustment. Methods: Participants were 52 mothers of children recruited from a universi ty medical center. Measures included illness variables, cognitive processes (i.e., appraisals of stress, expectations, methods of coping, family funct ioning, and maternal psychological adjustment). Results: Maternal adjustment was associated with high levels of daily stres s and palliative coping techniques and was not significantly associated wit h severity of the cardiac defect. Together, the variables of the model acco unted for approximately 38% of the variance in maternal adjustment. Conclusions: The findings are in accord with previous research among other chronically ill populations in suggesting an association between stress, co ping, and maternal adjustment. Within the limitations of the study, the dat a were interpreted to support the utility of theoretical models in identify ing areas in need of intervention across chronic illness groups.