Impact of Lifestyle Disruption on Parent and Child Coping, Knowledge, and Parental Discipline in Children With Sickle Cell Anemia

We compared the knowledge of sickle cell disease, child and parent coping strategies, and parent discipline methods/knowledge in three groups of children and their parents. The groups were composed of: (a) children with sickle cell anemia who experienced disease-related significant lifestyle disruption, (b) children with sickle cell anemia who experienced disease-related minimal lifestyle disruption, and (c) non-ill Black children. The groups were matched for age, sex, and ethnicity. No differences were found among the groups on measures of child coping. Children with sickle cell anemia, regardless of level of disruption, reported more knowledge about sickle cell disease than did healthy peers. Parents of children in the significant lifestyle disruption groups scored lower on the Engagement, Emotional Engagement, and Problem-Focused Disengagement, and higher on the Medical Coping scales of the Coping Strategies Inventory than parents of healthy children and children in the minimal lifestyle disruption group. Surprisingly, the groups did not differ in discipline knowledge; however, parents of children in the minimal lifestyle disruption group reported significantly greater use of effective discipline methods than parents of healthy children. Further research on the relations among coping, discipline, and lifestyle disruption due to SCA in children is suggested.