Blogs Written by Families During Their Child's Hospitalization: A Thematic Narrative Analysis.

PURPOSE: To identify stressors experienced by parents whose child is hospitalized in an intensive care unit, and identify coping mechanisms utilized to ameliorate those stressors.

DESIGN AND METHODS: Using Lazarus and Folkman's Transactional Model of Stress and Coping as a framework, 20 publicly available blogs written by parents while their child was a patient in intensive care were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. Stressors and coping techniques were identified, and grouped by theme for further analysis.

RESULTS: The most frequently noted types of stressors were related to information; both knowing and not knowing information related to their child's condition was reported as stressful, as well as waiting for information and when the information was not what was expected. Reframing was the emotion-focused technique most often identified by the parents, and seeking support was the most frequently noted problem-focused coping mechanism.

CONCLUSIONS: Illness blogs represent a rich source of information regarding the experiences of families with a child in the hospital. Parents transitioned from more emotion-focused coping strategies to problem-focused strategies during their child's hospital stay.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: When nurses give information to parents, they should be aware that knowing information can be stressful as well as not knowing, and care should be taken to provide support for parents after information is given. Nurses can also help parents identify sources of support. Writing about their experiences, either online or in a journal, may help parents cope in stressful situations.