Presenting Concerns and Characteristics of Families Seeking Treatment at a Medical Crisis Coping Center

This study describes children presenting for treatment related to coping with personal or family medical crises and explores use of a medical crisis counseling treatment model across crisis types (personal illness, family illness, or death of a loved one). Parents of 109 children reported on problems and functioning via the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). A subset of children completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR). CBCL scores for the clinic children fell between those of referred and non-referred normative populations, but few differences were found across crisis types. Child- and parent-report scores were most highly correlated on externalizing scales, while significant differences were found on internalizing scales with parents reporting more child difficulties than children. Results indicate that patterns of difficulties are similar across presenting crisis type and are generally subtle. Individuals working with these populations may benefit from offering coping support resources to individuals with even mild signs of distress.