This article focuses on one of the interactive processes that parents use to cope with their child's asthma. The concept allowing for the opposite was developed in the course of a clinical project designed to improve consultation methods in pediatric allergy care. We examined material from 67 conversations carried out with 22 heterosexual couples held with two family therapists: one male pediatrician and one female social worker. We found that parents made use of each other's differences in personality and parenting style, allowing each other to take opposing positions on how to cope with their child's asthma. Disagreement should be added to the list of coping mechanisms used by parents in their cooperative efforts to handle their child's asthma.
Andersen, T. (1987). The reflecting team: Dialogue and meta-dialogue in clinical work. Family Process, 26, 415-428.
2.
Annus, T., Björksten, B., Mai, X.M., Nilsson, L., Riikjärv, M.A., Sandin, A., & Bråbäck, L. (2001). Wheezing in relation to atopy and environmental factors in Estonian and Swedish schoolchildren. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 31, 1846-1853.
3.
Arendell, T. (1997). Reflections on the researcher-researched relationship: A woman interviewing men. Qualitative Sociology, 20, 341-368.
4.
Bailey, C.E., Pryce, J., & Walsh, F. (2002). Trends in author characteristics and diversity issues in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy from 1990 to 2000. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28, 479-486.
5.
Barnes, P.J., & Godfrey, S. (1997). Asthma and wheezing in children. London: Martin Dunitz.
6.
Bender, B.G., Annett, R.D., Ikle, D., DuHamel, T.R., Rand, C., & Strunk, R.C. (2000). Relationship between disease and psychological adaptation in children in the Childhood Asthma Management Program and their families. CAMP Research Group. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 154, 706-713.
7.
Brand, P.L., & Roorda, R.J. (2003). Usefulness of monitoring lung function in asthma . Archives of Disease in Childhood, 88, 1021-1025.
8.
Brazil, K., & Krueger, P. (2002). Patterns of family adaptation to childhood asthma . Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 17, 167-173.
9.
Chan-Yeung, M., Ferguson, A., Watson, W., Dimich-Ward, H., Rousseau, R., Lilley, M. et al. (2005). The Canadian Childhood Asthma Primary Prevention Study: Outcomes at 7 years of age. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 116, 49-55.
10.
Chipps, B.E. (2004). Determinants of asthma and its clinical course . Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, 93, 309-16.
11.
Cohen, M.S. (1999). Families coping with childhood chronic illness: A research review. Families, Systems & Health, 17, 149-164.
12.
Dalheim Englund, A.-C., Rydström, I., & Norberg, A. (2001). Being the parent of a child with asthma. Pediatric Nursing, 27, 365-373.
13.
Dellve, L., Reichenberg, K., & Hallberg, L.R. -M. (2000). Parents' coping with their child's asthma. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research , 2, 100-113.
14.
Fiese, B.H., & Wamboldt, F.S. (2003). Tales of pediatric asthma management: Family-based strategies related to medical adherence and health care utilization. Journal of Pediatrics, 143, 457-462.
15.
Frank, A. (1995). The wounded storyteller: Body, illness and ethics . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
16.
Gehart, D.R., & Lyle, R.R. (2001). Client experience of gender in therapeutic relationships: An interpretive ethnography. Family Process, 40, 443-458.
17.
Gustafsson, P.A., Kjellman, N.I., & Björksten, B. (2002). Family interaction and a supportive social network as salutogenic factors in childhood atopic illness. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 13, 51-57.
Katz, S. (2002). Gender differences in adapting to a child's chronic illness: A causal model. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 17, 257-269.
20.
Kieckhefer, G.M., & Ratcliffe, M. (2000). What parents of children with asthma tell us. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 14, 122-126.
21.
Knafl, K., Breitmayer, B., Gallo, A., & Zoeller, L. (1996). Family response to childhood chronic illness: Description of management styles. Journal of Pediatric Nursing , 11, 315-326.
22.
Knafl, K., & Zoeller, L. (2000). Childhood chronic illness: A comparison of mothers' and fathers' experiences. Journal of Family Nursing, 6, 287-302.
23.
Lauritzen, S.O. (2004). Lay voices on allergic conditions in children: Parents' narratives and the negotiation of a diagnosis. Social Science and Medicine, 58, 1299-1308.
24.
MacDonald, H. (1996). `Mastering uncertainty': Mothering the child with asthma. Pediatric Nursing, 22, 55-69.
25.
McCarthy, M.J., Herbert, R., Brimacombe, M., Hansen, J., Wong, D., & Zelman, M. (2002). Empowering parents through asthma education. Pediatric Nursing, 28, 465-473.
26.
Middelberg, C.V. (2001). Projective identification in common couple dances . Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 27, 341-352.
27.
Olson, D.H. (2000). Circumplex model of marital and family systems . Journal of Family Therapy, 22, 144-167.
28.
Peterson-Sweeney, K., McMullen, A., Yoos, H.L., & Kitzman, H. (2003). Parental perceptions of their child's asthma: Management and medication use. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 17, 118-125.
29.
Reichenberg, K., & Broberg, A.G. (2004). Emotional and behavioural problems in Swedish 7-to-9-year olds with asthma. Chronic Respiratory Disease , 1, 183-189.
30.
Ring, J., Krämer, U., & Behrendt, H. (2004). A critical approach to the hygiene hypothesis . Clinical & Experimental Allergy Reviews, 4, 40-44.
31.
Rydström, I., Dalheim-Englund, A.C., Segesten, K., & Rasmussen, B.H. (2004). Relations governed by uncertainty: Part of life of families of a child with asthma. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 19, 85-94.
32.
Sällfors, S., & Hallberg, L.R. -M. (2003). A parental perspective on living with a chronically ill child: A qualitative study. Families, Systems and Health, 21, 193-204.
33.
Scharff, J.S., & Scharff, D.E. (1997). Object relations couple therapy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 51, 141-173.
34.
Simon, F.B., Stierlin, H., & Wynne, L.C. (1985). The language of family therapy: A systemic vocabulary and sourcebook. New York: Family Process Press.
35.
Stabb, S.D., Cox, D.L., & Harber, J.L. (1997). Gender-related therapist attributions in couples therapy: A preliminary multiple case study investigation. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 23, 335-346.
36.
Tomm, K. (1988). Interventive interviewing: Part III. Intending to ask lineal, circular, strategic, or reflexive questions?Family Process, 27, 1-15.
37.
Trollvik, A., & Severinsson, E. (2004). Parents' experiences of asthma: Process from chaos to coping. Nursing and Health Sciences , 6, 93-99.
38.
Von Mutius, E. (2004). Influences in allergy: Epidemiology and the environment . Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 113, 373-279.
