Parental distress in response to childhood medical trauma: A mediation model

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between individual and family-level risk in predicting longer-term parental distress following their child’s unexpected diagnosis of serious illness. A mediation model was tested, whereby parents’ pre-existing psychosocial risk predicts longer-term posttraumatic stress symptoms, indirectly through parents’ acute stress response. One hundred and thirty-two parents of 104 children participated. Acute stress response partially mediated the relationship between psychosocial risk and posttraumatic stress symptoms, with a moderate indirect effect (r2 =.20, PM =.56, p <.001). Findings demonstrated that cumulative psychosocial risk factors predispose parents to a..