Children suffering from atopic eczema and their families. A qualitative interview-study on familial coping

Research in the field of the impact of chronic illness is nowerdays often b ased on concepts such as coping and stress adaptation. From the point of vi ew of the family chronic illness influences Family functioning, while copin g behavior is influenced by the families ressources. There is little resear ch done on this interaction. This article focusses on atopic eczema. Method s: Qualitative free interviews of more than two hours duration each, had be en done with all family members of families with a child suffering from sev ere chronic atopic enema until the age of (pre-) puberty. A family intervie w with all members of the family has also been transcribed. The interpretat ion of the data is based on the qualitative content analysis and the ground ed theory. The results from 5 families (24 interviews) lead to a typology o f familial coping. The implications of this typology are discussed.