TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Psychological trajectories of mothers and fathers following their child's diagnosis of a life-threatening illness or injury: a longitudinal investigation
JO  - Journal of clinical psychology (Hoboken)
A1  - Darling, Simone J.
A1  - Hearps, Stephen J. C.
A1  - Muscara, Frank
A1  - McCarthy, Maria
A1  - Nicholson, Jan M.
A1  - Burke, Kylie
A1  - Dimovski, Anica
A1  - Anderson, Vicki
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Explore the mental health trajectories of parents following their child's life-threatening illness/injury. <br><br>METHODS: Participants were 217 parents (mean age: 34.9-40.0; 66 fathers) of 165 children who presented to a tertiary hospital with a life-threatening illness/injury. Parents completed questionnaires about their mental health and psychosocial stressors within 4 weeks of the child's illness/injury (T1), and 4 months (T2), 7 months (T3), and 19 months (T4) postdiagnosis. <br><br>RESULTS: For both mothers and fathers, mental health symptoms were elevated at diagnosis declining to normal levels by T3, with a pattern of increase at T4. Fathers demonstrated a faster decline in symptoms between T1 and T2, and fathers, but not mothers, experienced a relapse in depressive symptoms at T4. Fathers reported higher rates of work changes. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These findings have important implications for the design and timing of parental interventions to support families of children with life-threatening disease/injury.<br><br>© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0021-9762
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22829
ID  - ref1
ER  -