Childhood cancer--a family crisis 2: coping with diagnosis.

A diagnosis of cancer in a child requires families to mobilize their coping strategies in response to an extremely stressful life event. In the second article of this two-part series, the nature of coping, the strategies employed, and the factors that influence the family's choice of strategy are examined. The findings indicate that personality traits may constitute internal factors that affect the coping response, while concurrently stressful events and chronic uncertainty may be considered external influences on the family's ability to cope with a diagnosis of cancer in a child. In the first article of this series, the nature, purpose and functioning of the family were explored in an attempt to explain the impact of a childhood cancer diagnosis on the family. Overall, family reaction appears to be directed by several factors: communication and information; stage and prognosis, and as attitude to the nature of the disease itself.