This study aimed to understand the experience of parents living with a hospitalized adolescent. Fifteen parents of hospitalized adolescents were interviewed from August to October of 2002. Data were analyzed through Martin Heidegger's phenomenological approach. Four themes were identified: the impact of the illness on the family, the feelings of the family members and the adaptation to the hospital world, religiousness and the presence of friends in the process of coping with hospitalization; changes in the adolescent. The results showed the importance of seeing the adolescent and his/her family as a being there, being-in-the-world and being-in-the-world-with-others.
family; adolescent; hospitalization