Antecedents of Mental Health in Parents of Individuals Born with ARM: The Association Between Illness Representations, Negative and Positive Coping, and Depressive Symptoms

The Common-Sense Model of Illness Self-Regulation (CSM) provides a theoretical framework for understanding how individuals make sense of health conditions and regulate their emotional responses through coping strategies. This study aimed to apply the CSM to parents of children with anorectal malformations (ARMs), exploring whether illness representation (threat and control perceptions) is associated with depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through coping strategies.