Table 1.

Study setting and participants.

Centers	Type of care	Patient group	Participants
Center A (large university hospital)	Counselor at the out- and inpatient care centers working with advice and support to facilitate everyday life for families with children with chronic illness.a	Children (aged 0-17 years) mostly treated for hematologic diseases and HIV infections	3 counselors
Center B (large university hospital)	Counselor at the out- and inpatient care centers working with advice and support to facilitate everyday life for families with children with chronic illness.a	Children (aged 0-17 years) mostly treated for various forms of cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases	10 counselors
Center C (small rural hospital)	Pediatric oncology outpatient care center with a team of pediatricians, nurses, counselors, physiotherapists, and dieticians	Children (aged 0-17 years) mostly treated for various forms of cancer	2 nurses
Center D (small rural hospital)	Pediatric neurology outpatient care center with a team of pediatricians, nurses, counselors, physiotherapists, and dieticians	Children (aged 0-17 years) treated for neurologic diseases	2 nurses

^aAt the outpatient care centers, the children usually only met the counselors, but sometimes additional professionals from the team were involved during the appointment. At the inpatient care centers, the counselors were part of a team of professionals, including pediatricians, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, dieticians, and pedagogues.