Stress in parents of a child with hemifacial microsomia: The role of child characteristics and parental coping strategies

Objective: Examine stress levels of parents of children with hemifacial microsomia (HFM) and the relationship of parental stress to child characteristics and cognitive coping strategies. Design: Prospective cross-sectional study. Participants and Setting: Parents with a child (age 3–19 years) with HFM (N = 31) were recruited through the Department of Orthodontics and the Craniofacial Center, Sophia-Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Intervention and Outcome Measures: The adapted and shortened Dutch version of the parental stress index (NOSI-K) was used to measure parental stress, and the cognitive emotionregulation questionnaire was used to measure cognitive coping strategies. Pearson correlations and a multiple regression analysis were performed. Results: The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed associations between increased parental stress and learning difficulties and use of acceptance as a coping strategy. This suggests that problems other than the characteristic visual appearance of the child’s face in HFM have a greater influence on parental stress. Conclusions: Learning difficulties of the child with HFM and parental acceptance affect stress in parents with a child with HFM the most and are important in the search for a targeted tailoring of intervention for parents with high levels of parental stress.

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