[Reactions of patients and families with cystic fibrosis to psychological management].

A model of care for patients with cystic fibrosis including the possibility for continuous psychological counselling besides medical care is presented. In order to evaluate reactions of those affected to the offer of counselling 243 sessions between 81 patients or/and parents and the psychologist (IJK) were attributed to one of the following reaction types: type 1: negation/rejection, type 2: acceptance of talks, type 3: reactive wish to be counselled, type 4: active acceptance. The high proportion of reaction type 4 in the age groups 0; 1-1 (65.0%), 1-3 (45%) and in adult patients (46.6%) shows that the majority of parents approach the psychologist with questions, anxieties and worries in the first months and years after the diagnosis has been established. In the adult age group patients themselves request support for coping with a variety of difficulties. Type 2 sought contact with the psychologist on the assumption that in the future they could draw on the help of someone familiar in moments of crisis; this reaction dominated in the 3 groups aged 3-15 years. In adolescents the offer of a counselling session is made use of to discuss current problems (type 3).