[3-5] Having a chronic childhood illness may have a detrimental effect on normal development and daily functioning. Disease symptoms, physical disabilities and treatment modalities can place a strain on the child and family. How the parent copes with their child’s illness can significantly impact on the child–parent relationship.[3] Studies of children with a variety of chronic illnesses suggest that mothers assume higher levels

of responsibility for the child’s care and report higher levels of stress and depression than do fathers.[6-8] Although mothers of children with JIA are at increased risk of psychological symptomatology, most research has focused primarily on the effects of JIA on the diagnosed child. There is a paucity of studies that examine parental stress http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Rapamycin.html and its effects in mothers of children with JIA. In this study, maternal stress levels as measured by the Parental Stress Index (PSI) in mothers of children with JIA were compared to those previously reported in the

mothers of children with other chronic illnesses and children without chronic illness. We aimed to test the hypothesis that mothers of children with JIA would have raised stress levels similar to the mothers of children with other chronic illnesses. The mothers of children aged between 2–12 years diagnosed with this website JIA according to the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR) criteria[1] by a pediatric rheumatologist were invited to participate. Subjects were excluded if the mother was not the primary care giver, was

non-English speaking or if on history the child or one of the child’s siblings had another significant medical, psychological or developmental problem. Mothers were approached primarily in the outpatient setting or during inpatient pheromone admissions with their child. Informed consent was obtained from each participant and the study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the three institutions where recruitment was undertaken: The Monash Children’s, Melbourne, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia. The amount of stress in the parent–child system was measured using the PSI Long Form. The PSI is a well-validated screening and diagnostic assessment tool designed to yield a measure of the relative magnitude of stress in the parent–child system.[9] It allows for early identification of parent–child systems that are under stress and are therefore at risk of development of dysfunctional parenting behavior and behavior problems in the child involved. The PSI consists of 120 items, and yields a Total Stress Score (TSS), made up of the sum of the scores for child and parent domains, which ascertain sources of stress with the family. The PSI is a self-administered questionnaire that requires 20–30 min to complete.