The impact of family functioning on health changes in children with cystic fibrosis.

Family stress, family and personal resources, and parental coping were operationalized from self-report questionnaires completed by mothers and fathers in 72 two-parent families who had a child with cystic fibrosis (CF). Three-month and 15-month changes in clinically recorded measures of the CF child's height and weight data and pulmonary functioning were correlated with the family functioning variables. Each of the four criterion indices of CF child health changes were regressed separately on the significant family functioning variables. Twenty-two percent of the variance in 15-month height and weight changes were explained by family stress, family resources, and parental coping. Family functioning variables also explained 17% of the variance in 3-month pulmonary functioning changes and 15% of the variance in 3-month height and weight changes. These findings suggest that the way in which the family functions has indirect effects on critical indices of a CF child's health. These data lend support to an increased focus by physicians and other medical professionals on the health of the total family system as a way to enhance outcomes for children with CF.