RESUMO
Background: Thalassemia is a hereditary disease of defective hemoglobin synthesis. Thalassemia results from an anomaly of genes involved in the production of hemoglobin. Every year approximately 10,000 children are born with thalassemia in India. Parents of thalassemic children feel depressed, frustrated, and helpless and have numerous emotional, psychosocial, and financial sufferings. Methods: Parent's quality of life was evaluated by a standardized WHOQOL Bref scale and coping status was assessed using the coping health inventory scale (CHIP), a sample of 100 parents of thalassemic children admitted to thalassemia ward at HSK hospital, Bagalkot was selected using purposive sampling technique, descriptive survey design was adopted. Statistical data were tested and scrutinized using descriptive and inferential analysis. Results: Total 70% of parents experienced moderate QOL, 9% had good and 21% parents had poor QOL. The mean percentage of QOL of parents was 48.11% with a mean and SD was 63�. Most of the parents had moderate (88%), 08% had good and 4% of parents� level of coping status was low. No association was found between QOL scores with study variables. A significant association was found among coping strategies with the type of family (?2=8.66, p<0.05), previous knowledge regarding thalassemia (?2= 4.912, p<0.05), relationship with the thalassemic child (?2=6.37, p<0.05). A positive correlation (r= 0.0829 p<0.05) was found between QOL and coping strategies. Conclusion: Most parents had moderate QOL and coping strategies. This study is effective to identify the QOL and coping status of parents having a child with thalassemia.