Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease is characterized from a complicated therapeutic management, with bodily and psychological impact to the family.

This study examined the coping strategies among families with a child or adolescent with IBD.

The aim was to investigate possible sex differences with respect to coping strategies of the parents would correlated to overall coping strategies.

The participants were biological parents of patients diagnosed with IBD. The total sample included 61 parents with a mean age 46.2 (SD = 7.4). The parents completed:

– the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Scales;

– the Other As Shamer Scale;

– the Experiences of Shame Scale (ESS);

– questionnaire concerning socio-demographic information.

Mother reported higher levels of social support, accept help, passive appraisal, and overall strategies compared to fathers. The strongest difference was found in accept help (P < 0.001). The feelings of shame of the mothers and fathers of the IBD families were very similar, without statistically significant differences between the groups. The results of the MLR, after controlling for adolescents age, sex and illness duration, revealed that the older age, being a mother, being married and being employment had direct positive associations with the overall coping strategies, while ESS had direct negative associations with the overall coping strategies. The model with all seven predictors explained 68% of the total variance (R2 = 0.68, F = 6.409, P < 0.001).

Our findings provide more detailed information on the coping strategies of Greek families with a child or adolescence with IBD.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.