Do parents' psychosocial experiences help explain variation in functioning of children with congenital dermatological disfiguring conditions?

This volume is divided into three distinct parts. First, the literature review focuses on the experiences of parents raising children with congenital dermatological conditions (CDDCs). After summarising findings from studies about parents with children with non-dermatological congenital disfigurement and atopic dermatitis, the review focuses in more detail on the limited research into the experiences of parents raising children with CDDCs. Findings highlight that parents raising children with CDDCs am reporting high levels of practical, social and emotional difficulties. Part two presents an empirical paper investigating the functioning of parents raising children with CDDCs, and the relationship between these parents' and their children's functioning. Results showed that whilst on most measures, parents reported significantly better than average functioning, mothers were significantly struggling from poor mental health status. Parent and child functioning were significantly related and there was a potentially emerging trend for child's attachment style to moderate some of the transfer of their parents' negative experiences. The results highlighted professionals need to screen mothers raising children with COOCs for poor psychosocial functioning. This study was completed as part of a group research project investigating the factors underlying the variation in functioning of children with CODCs. Finally, the third part of this volume comprises a critical appraisal. This report reflects on key decisions made about sampling for the research, the choice of measure for measuring child attachment style, and the pros and cons of working as part of a research group