title: Factors influencing the coping effort of mothers of hospitalized children.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model predicting the relationships among four concepts: predictability of events, control, anxiety, and coping effort of mothers of children hospitalized with acute physical conditions. The sample consisted of 45 mothers of acutely ill, hospitalized children from 1-24 months of age. For each of the concepts, 16 events commonly associated with hospitalization of a child were proportionately ranked using magnitude estimation measurement technique. The psychometric properties of the instrument were estimated through reliability assessment and cross modality matching. Multiple regression analysis indicated that 97% of the dependent variable, coping effort, was explained by two of the three predictor variables--predictability of events and anxiety. Mothers who knew what events to expect experienced less anxiety and reported expending less effort to cope with the stressful events. Control was not a significant factor in predicting the mothers' coping effort.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Schepp
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006743:Hospital Bed Capacity, under 100; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*