ABSTRACT
There has been much research into how parents, and in particular mothers, cope with the diagnosis of a chronic illness in their child (Cunningham, 1979; Drotar et al., 1975; Emede and Brown, 1978; Kennedy, 1970). The approach adopted in most studies is to see the child's diagnosis as being similar to a bereavement for parents, producing grief reactions, followed by the stages of shock and disbelief, denial, anger, adaptation and adjustment (Raphael, 1984).
