The Role of Uncertainty in Coping: The Experience of Parents of Children With Undiagnosed Medical Conditions

Background: \- Parents of a child with an undiagnosed medical condition face a lot of uncertainty. They may not know how to take care of their child or how the illness will affect their family life. Researchers want to study how these parents cope with and adapt to their child s condition in light of this uncertainty. Being uncertain can make it hard for parents to adapt. But it also might give them hope. Researchers want to study how uncertain the parents think their situation is and how that affects the way they think they can cope. Personality traits, like being able to handle uncertainty and being resilient, might also affect coping. Objectives: \- To understand how having a child with an undiagnosed illness affects the way their parents think they can cope. Eligibility: \- Adults with a child who has a medical condition that has not been diagnosed for at least 2 years and involves at least 2 parts of the body. Design: * Participants will answer survey questions for about 30 minutes. The questions are about their thoughts and feelings about having a child with an undisclosed illness. * Participants can take the survey on paper or online.

* Participants for this study will be English speaking men and women ages 18 years or older who have a child with an undiagnosed medical condition who have applied to the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, and have been assigned to the NIH. The participant may be the adoptive or biological parent. Parents may decide between themselves who will complete the survey as only one survey per household will be allowed.