Perceived seriousness of children's surgery and family adaptability and cohesion.

This study investigates the relationship between the family's perception of the seriousness of a child's surgery and the level of family adaptability and cohesion before and after the surgical event. Research hypotheses are based on the Family Crisis and Circumplex models of marital and family systems. Forty-one families were included in the pretest/posttest single group design in which a child underwent a tonsillectomy. Study findings do not consistently support the conceptual models, and implications for the testing of middle range family theories are described.