Parents' reports of "tricks of the trade" for managing childhood chronic illness.

Purpose: To examine how parents respond to and manage the challenges of childhood chronic illness.

Design: Qualitative, comparative, secondary analysis.

Participants: Fifty-eight families (55 mothers, 44 fathers) with a school-age child (6-15 years old) with a chronic illness.

Results: Three approaches to illness management were identified: strict adherence, flexible adherence, and selective adherence. These approaches varied in the extent to which parents developed and relied on target management behaviors that concurred with or deviated from the treatment plan prescribed by healthcare providers.

Conclusions: The three management approaches contribute to understanding the processes associated with differing interactions between healthcare professionals and parents when a child has a chronic illness.