Pediatric palliative care studies often rely on proxy-reported instead of direct child-reported quality of life metrics. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally evaluate quality of life for pediatric patients receiving palliative care…
Little is known about the prevalence, characterization and treatment of pain in children with progressive neurologic, metabolic or chromosomal conditions with impairment of the central nervous system. The primary aims of this study were to explore…
CONTEXT: Discussing end-of-life issues with patients is an essential role for chaplains. Few tools are available to help chaplains-in-training develop end-of-life communication skills. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether playing an…
CONTEXT: Children with intellectual disability (ID) are at risk for adverse end-of-life outcomes including high emergency room utilization and hospital readmissions, along with low hospice enrollment. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to…
The loss of a close friend or relative is always an ordeal. When this loved one is a baby, born or even unborn, a number of specific aspects have been reported by parents and researchers. The specificities of perinatal mourning have been…
AIMS: This study explored how paediatric healthcare professionals experienced and coped with end-of-life conflicts and identified how to improve coping strategies. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to all 2,300 professionals at a paediatric…
Most studies that have examined whether a child's death influences parental relationship stability have used small-scale data sets and their results are inconclusive. A likely reason is that child loss affects not only the risk of parental…
Pediatric lung transplantation has advanced over the years, providing a potential life-prolonging therapy to patients with cystic fibrosis. Despite this, many challenges in lung transplantation remain and result in worse outcomes than other solid…
Background: Geography and population distribution present challenges to the care of children with life-limiting conditions (LLC) within Australia. Children and young people have unique needs in relation to the provision of palliative care within…
BACKGROUND: Cystic fibrosis is a life-limiting autosomal recessive genetic illness. A feeling of shortness of breath is common in cystic fibrosis, especially as the disease progresses. Reversing the underlying cause is the priority when treating…
BACKGROUND: The Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for improvement in education and training of pediatricians in pediatric palliative care (PPC). Given the shortage of PPC physicians and the immediate need for PPC…
BACKGROUND: Although the role of pediatric palliative care (PPC) is well described in oncology, neonatal, and pediatric intensive care patients, the involvement of PPC in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is not well explored. CHD is a…
Background: The benefits of early integration of palliative care (PC) in oncology have been well established yet, there remain significant barriers to PC integration, especially in the setting of pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).…
The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of peer support on post-traumatic stress disorder in parents who have experienced the death of a child, the factors associated with the parents' post-traumatic stress reactions and the parents'…
Parents who experience the death of a child are at high risk for psychopathology. Because a large percentage of pediatric deaths occur in the pediatric intensive care unit each year, a follow-up meeting between bereaved parents and intensivists could…
This study expanded upon previous scholarship by examining end-of-life (EOL) depictions and messages of death within Disney and Pixar animated films. We argue Disney and Pixar depictions of EOL and death can provide critical opportunities for…
Most childhood deaths in the United States occur in hospitals. Pediatric intensive care clinicians must anticipate and effectively treat dying children's pain and suffering and support the psychosocial and spiritual needs of families. These actions…
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In the United States, 57,000 children (newborn to 18 years) die annually. Bereaved parents may rely on religious or spiritual beliefs in their grief. The study's purpose was to examine differences in parents' use of spiritual…
BACKGROUND: Paediatric palliative care is a nuanced area of practice with additional complexities in the context of intellectual disability. There is currently minimal research to guide clinicians working in this challenging area of care. METHOD:…
Objective: To characterize cases of children admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary university hospital who died in the period ranging from January 01, 2012 to July 31, 2014, and who required palliative care and/or were subjected…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine forms of dyadic coping (DC) as mediators of the association between parents' grief response and dyadic adjustment and to determine whether these indirect effects were moderated by the child's…
The number of children without a diagnosis in pediatric palliative home care and the process of decision-making in these children are widely unknown. The study was conducted as single-center retrospective cohort study. Between January 2013 and…
AIM: To document the profile and management of children with developmental disabilities (DD) attending an outpatient complex pain clinic at a Children's Hospital in Sydney, Australia. METHODS: Children with DD from 2011 to 2014 were identified from a…
Pediatric end-of-life care (EOL care) entails challenging tasks for health care professionals (HCPs). Little is known about HCPs' experiences and needs when providing pediatric EOL care in Switzerland. This study aimed to describe the experiences and…
Background: Over 42,000 children die each year in the United States, including many with multiple complex chronic conditions (MCCCs), but little is known about whether the presence of MCCCs influences families to utilize pediatric hospice care.…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Heath care use and cost for children at the end of life is not well documented across the multiple sectors where children receive care. The study objective was to examine demographics, location, cause of death, and health…
OBJECTIVE: Discussing the potential deterioration of a child who has a life-limiting condition has recognised benefits for future care, but can be challenging in a clinical context where uncertain illness trajectories are common. Existing research is…
OBJECTIVES: Anticipating case management is considered crucial in pediatric palliative care. In 2012, our children's university hospital initiated a specialized pediatric palliative care team (PPCT) to deliver inbound and outbound case management for…
With the growing number of children and young people with complex care needs or life-limiting conditions, alternative routes for nutrition have been established (such as gastrostomy feeding). The conditions of children and young people who require…
Over 42,000 children die each year in the United States, including those with intellectual disability (ID). Survival is often reduced when children with intellectual disability also suffer from significant motor dysfunction, progressive congenital…
BACKGROUND: Children's books have the potential to facilitate communication about death for children living with a serious illness and for children coping with the death of a loved one. OBJECTIVES: This study examines the content of children's…
This paper explores the challenges of resolving conflicting feelings around talking with a child about their terminal prognosis. When children are left out of such conversations it is usually done with good intent, with a parent wishing to protect…
Background. There is a need for increased palliative care training during pediatric residency. Objective. In this pilot study, we created a comprehensive experiential model to teach palliative care skills to pediatric residents. Our Comfort Care…
We aimed to characterize the parent experience of caring for an infant with neonatal encephalopathy. In this mixed-methods study, we performed semistructured interviews with parents whose infants were enrolled in an existing longitudinal cohort study…
Objectives To examine the relationship between pediatric primary care involvement and hospice and home health care use at end of life. Methods California Medicaid data were used to estimate the relationship between pediatric primary care involvement…
Aim: Paediatricians caring for severely ill children may receive requests for physician-assisted dying (PAD). Dutch euthanasia law only applies to patients over 12 who make well-considered requests. These limitations have been widely debated, but…
Objective: Controlling seizures in children approaching death is often challenging. The evidence base to guide best practice is limited. We aimed to compare our current practice against the guidance for seizure management produced by the Association…
