ABSTRACT
The study is a part of the cross-Nordic research project, 'Families of children with disabilities in the Nordic countries: a Nordic research project for analysing the medical and social effects of disability on the child, the family and society'. The research project was initiated by the Nordic School of Public Health in Gothenburg (Köhler 1990), Sweden, which coordinated the project through Evy Kollberg. The participants of the Nordic research project were Evy Kollberg (Sweden), Airi Hautamäki (Finland), Arvid Heiberg and Thomas Öye (Norway), Stefan Hreidarsson (Iceland) and Jan Kirkegård (Denmark). Each was responsible for the data collection in their own country. I want to express my gratitude to the team for the opportunity to collaborate in the fruitful exchange of ideas, and for the opportunity to test my theoretical ideas on the Nordic data.
