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Journal of Pediatric Psychology 23(2) pp. 87-98, 1998
© 1998 Society of Pediatric Psychology

other

Diagnosing Developmental Problems in Children: Parents and Professionals Negotiate Bad News

Eva Z. Abrams, PhD and Joan F. Goodman, EdD

University of Pennsylvania

All correspondence should be sent to loan F. Goodman, University ofPttm-sytvanta, Graduate School of Education, 3700 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pnnsyivania 19104. E-mail: joang{at}rrwfs.upenn.edu.

Objective: To examine how parents and professionals engage in a process of negotiation over what labels to use and what developmental meaning to ascribe to those labels when Imparting a diagnosis of mental disability to parents of young children.

Method: We performed a sodollnguistic analysis of 10 feedback sessions with parents whose children had been diagnosed by a clinical team as developmental / disabled.

Results: Professionals shied away from explicit use of labels; they preferred to describe children's deficits with rate descriptors (e.g., "slow"). Parties to the sessions see-sawed between optimistic and pessimistic statements. That is, when parents seemed despairing, professionals would try to hold out hope; when parents were unrealistic, professionals gave more blunt statements. Parents who received the most ambiguous Interpretations seemed left with diagnostic questions still unanswered; those who received more forthright information appeared better able to move on to issues of prognosis.

Conclusions: Diagnoses of developmental disabilities are Jointly constructed by parents and professionals. We recommend larger and more controlled studies on the relationship between negotiation and labeling In diagnostic feedback interviews and the impact of these processes on parental satisfaction and adaptation.

Key words: mental disability; delay; retardation; diagnosis; labels; interpretation; negotiation; parents and professionals.


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