Topic: The psychosocialfactors that affect adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD).
Purpose: To explore whether specific psychosocial factors can provide clues to the future adjustment of this population.
Sources: Ovid Web, Medline, Psychinfo, and CINAHL databases for the years 1997 to 2001.
Conclusions: Promoting effective psychosocial functioning is as important as managing the medical aspects of SCD, yet this is an area of care that is commonly overlooked. Nurses, therefore, have an opportunity to have a significant impact on the lives of adolescents with SCD if they intervene in ways to promote both biological and psychosocial adjustment.