| Summary: | This study explored parents' experience of living with a child with Juvenile Chronic Arthritis (JCA). Taped, open interviews with 22 parents (6 fathers) were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method for grounded theory. A core category, labeled 'parental vigilance,' and two related categories labeled 'emotional challenges' and 'continual adjustment' were identified, describing the parents' management of illness-related demands, the child's vulnerability, and others' misunderstandings. Seeking information, using day-to-day strategies, seeking social support, and communicating with others are the most efficient strategies adopted by the parents. The findings indicate complementary parental roles labeled 'the managing mother' and 'the waiting father.' The study contributes to a deeper understanding o f experienced parental stress in daily living with a chronically ill child, and reflects traditional gender-based parenting roles, complementary and necessary for the family. The findings have implications for professionals who provide care to children with JCA.
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