Coparental strategies for managing childhood chronic illness in post-divorce families

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (2010) estimates that 15% of children in United States require special health care for a chronic condition. Because family variables are related to children's health outcomes and adherence to treatment plans, it's important to better understand how postdivorce coparenting dyads arrange and organize their relationships (Chesla, 2010). A grounded theory study was conducted with 14 divorced parents of children with chronic illnesses. Results suggest that parents desire to enact coordinated care management with their coparenting partners, but their ability to accomplish such care is affected by the circumstances of their dissolution, attempts to de-escalate coparenting tensions, parental recruitment of third parties, and their perceptions of child illness.