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Introduction: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is one of the most frequent chronic, systemic connective tissue diseases. There are many studies considering stress coping in adults with chronic disease but only limited work has examined stress coping approaches of sick child’s parents. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the stress coping approaches in mothers of children with chronic disease – juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Material and Methods: The survey was conducted in 37 children with JIA, aged 10-17 years hospitalized in the Clinic of Pediatric Cardiology, Medical University of Lodz, in years 2005-2006 and their mothers. The following normalized, questionnaire methods were applied: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAI and STAIC versions), Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and psychological conversation. Results: In the group of examined mothers, high scores in the standardized scale for age and gender, reflecting the most frequently chosen stress coping approach, concern the stress coping approach focused on issue, which was selected by 54% of the study population. The high level of anxiety-state, depending on the actually experiencing situation and thus resulting from current hospitalization and the process of treatment was reported by 29,7% of the children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. No statistically significant correlation was found between the anxiety level in examined children and their mothers’ stress coping approach. Conclusions: Mothers of children with JIA in distress presented most commonly stress coping approach focused on issue. There was a tendency in mothers to effective stress coping through cognitive situation analysis. (Clin Exp Med Lett 2007; 48(3):169-172)

Keywords: stress coping approach, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Mothers, Child