Rethinking Parental Coping with Child Health: A Proposed Theoretical Model

Much of the stress and coping literature is shaped by Hill’s ABC-X model, however, parents who are learning to cope with various aspects of their child’s health may experience stressors that can be better explained by expanding the ABC-X model to incorporate specific needs of the family. To aid this expansion, the authors examine the specific context of children with chronic illnesses via a systematic review and propose a new theoretical model: the Model of Parental Coping with Child Health. The proposed model explores the integration of the biopsychosocial-spiritual model and ecological systems theory utilizing the scaffolding of the ABC-X model for the organization. Future research, implications, and recommendations are also discussed.