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Abstract

The illness of a family member is one stressful event that con­ fronts the other members and challenges their resources and adaptive capacities. An exploration of the emotional responses and adaptations of the mothers and fathers of two children 6-12 years old, with chronic leukemia as diagnosis, who were admitted to the Vicente Sotto Memo­rial Medical Center, Cebu City, is the focus of this case study. Through a series of individual in-depth interview and focus group discussions, data analysis was done through the construction of "the facts" as found in the researchers' records and tape-recorded data. The narrative analy­sis was done through the identification of themes in the emotional re­sponses revealed by the parents in the course of data gathering. A ma­trix was constructed to help analyze the data using techniques of con­stant comparison. An emergent design was further utilized, wherein us­ing the parameter of the aforementioned problems, data gathering and analysis were done alternately until adequate data for analysis were ob­tained. The findings revealed that the common emotional responses of the two parent participants were shock/disbelief, numbness, confusion, fear/anxiety, anger/guilt, depression/helplessness and loss of control. These responses were overlapping in terms of occurrence. A long with the emotional responses identification, contributory factors to such emotional reactions were also interspersed with the analysis to further lend strength to the meanings of such responses. Common adaptive or coping behaviors were centered on religiosity, talking and sharing with other patients' families. It was concluded that parents with ill siblings manifested the same perceptions on the severity of the illness but they could also have differences in their views on the management of their child's illness. Emotional support and guidance as to where to look for resources have helped the participants a lot in their coping with and adaptation to the problem on hand.

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