Attachment and chronic illness in children

Abstract

Recognizing the bio-psycho-social dimensions of chronic health conditions in children and preparing them for adaptation to the medical process is one of the most important goals of health psychology. In health care for children with chronic illness, psychologists in health care are increasingly taking into account attachment theory because of the identified strong protective factors in security attachment between the mother (or other relationship person) and child. The presented metaanalysis integrate the findings of relevant studies aimed at searching the relationship in children with chronic disease. Nine studies were selected from a total of 168 identified studies. All of included studies were aimed at searching the relationship between chronic disease in pediatric pacients and attachment. © 2020, Czech Medical Association J.E. Purkyne. All rights reserved.