Psychosocial Adaptation and Family Resilience in Children with Complex Medical Conditions
A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Mental Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2027 | Viewed by 177
Editors
Interests: pediatric psychology; clinical psychology; child and family health; complex medical conditions; cognitive behavioral therapy
2. Patient and Family Wellness Center, Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA
3. Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA
Interests: pediatric oncology; pain; fatigue; health-related quality of life
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Children with complex medical conditions and their families navigate significant and enduring challenges that extend beyond medical management to encompass emotional, behavioral, and family functioning domains. Psychosocial adaptation to a pediatric medical condition is shaped by illness characteristics, developmental stage, family processes, and broader systems of care. At the same time, many families demonstrate remarkable resilience—leveraging strengths, resources, and adaptive coping strategies in the face of uncertainty and stress. This Special Issue seeks to advance the current understanding of the mechanisms that underlie both risk and resilience among youth with complex conditions and their families, as well as the development and implementation of interventions to support psychosocial adjustment. We welcome contributions that examine trajectories of adjustment, identify novel modifiable targets for intervention, and highlight innovative approaches to supporting family wellbeing across the illness course and care settings. We encourage submissions that integrate rigorous methodologies and interdisciplinary perspectives, particularly work that centers the perspectives and experiences of youth and families to inform patient- and family-centered models of psychosocial care.
Dr. Christina Sharkey
Dr. Kimberly L. Klages
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- pediatric illness
- psychosocial adaptation
- resilience
- family functioning
- coping
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