Coping and adaptation in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The coping and adaptation of 39 children (6-12 years) to Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia was studied during the first remission with a projective technique--Children's Apperception Test (CAT-S). Seventy seven percent of the children gave adequate responses. Among these, disease awareness was present in 96%, expectation of a favourable outcome was held by 70%, though 61% evidenced emotional distress. Children's psychiatric morbidity was found to be associated with non-response to CAT-S, to anxiety related themes, and negatively with ability to maintain an expectation of a positive outcome.