Background Studies have documented the experiences of families with seriously ill children, but few have focused on the spiritual needs of families confronted with a child's imminent death.
Ethicists can encourage clinicians to consider language used to communicate with parents and ask about the family’s values to ensure ethical pediatric end-of-life care.
Objective.: Disabling pediatric chronic pain is accompanied by a significant burden to those affected and by high societal costs. Furthermore, it bears the risk of aggravation into adulthood. Studies have shown intensive interdisciplinary pain…
BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to show the results of an overnight polysomnography in a cohort of 9 children (7 females and 2 males) with achondroplasia, aged between 1 and 12 years (5.56+/-4.7 years). All of the children carried the…
BACKGROUND: End-of-life decisions (EoLDs) are very difficult to make. How parents and physicians incorporate quality of life (QoL) considerations into their end-of-life decision making (EoLDM) for children with profound intellectual and multiple…
Importance: The death of a close relative is associated with an increased mortality risk among the bereaved, but much less is known about the potential association of the death of a sibling in childhood with mortality in this population. Objective:…
Importance: The death of a close relative is associated with an increased mortality risk among the bereaved, but much less is known about the potential association of the death of a sibling in childhood with mortality in this population. Objective:…
OBJECTIVE: Describe changes in mothers' and fathers' grief from 1 to 13 months after infant/child neonatal/pediatric intensive care unit death and identify factors related to their grief. METHODS: Mothers (n = 130) and fathers (n = 52) of 140…
Objective To evaluate current attitudes and barriers to advance care planning for adolescent patients with life-threatening conditions among paediatric neurologists. Design Cross-sectional study. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to…
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the availability and utilization of palliative care units among children with cancer in Japan. Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 368 palliative care units. We sent a…
Introduction: The high incidence and prevalence of chronic pain in patients with CF is well documented. In patient surveys, reports of intense pain range from 33% - 82% of respondents. Commonly reported sources of pain include headache, sinuses,…
As a psychopathological function of prolonged grief (PG) disorder, disruptions in autobiographical memory have been shown in bereaved individuals in terms of preferred access of loss-related memory and reduced specificity in non-loss-related memory.…
The article presents a study with aim, Revealing the Impact of Loss: Exploring Mental Health Through the Use of Drawing/Writing With HIV Positive Adolescents in Johannesburg. This study examined the use of drawings completed by perinatally infected…
Survival rates of perinatally infected HIV-positive adolescents (PIA) are increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a gap in understanding how disclosure and bereavement have an impact on PIA beliefs and understanding of their HIV infection and its…
AIM: This study examines parental satisfaction with care received in the context of a life-limiting fetal diagnosis and subsequent birth. METHODS: Survey methods were utilized to embed the Quality Indicators (QI) and Parental Satisfaction of…
Individuals with Rett syndrome (RTT) can have variable manifestations of stereotypies. In this nation-wide cross-sectional study, we recruited all individuals with RTT in Taiwan diagnosed as RTT by neurologists based on genetic findings and…
This paper describes a practice innovation: the addition of formal weekly discussions of patients with prolonged PICU stay to reduce healthcare providers' moral distress and decrease length of stay for patients with life-threatening illnesses. We…
OBJECTIVES: Pediatric subspecialty care, including multidisciplinary palliative care, tends to be located in urban academic centers or children's hospitals. Telehealth provides the opportunity to care for patients who would otherwise not be able to…
Critical care providers are responsible for many aspects of patient care, primarily focusing on preserving life. However, nearly 40% of patients who are admitted to an adult critical care unit will not survive. Initiating a conversation about…
BACKGROUND: Population-based research to identify underserviced populations and the impact of palliative care (PC) is limited as the validity of such data to identify PC services is largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the validity of using such…
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…
Pediatric health care is practiced with the goal of promoting the best interests of the child. Treatment generally is rendered under a presumption in favor of sustaining life. However, in some circumstances, the balance of benefits and burdens to the…
"Losing Thomas & Ella" presents a research comic about one father's perinatal loss of twins. The comic recounts Paul's experience of the hospital and the babies' deaths, and it details the complex grieving process afterward, including themes of…
"Losing Thomas & Ella" presents a research comic about one father's perinatal loss of twins. The comic recounts Paul's experience of the hospital and the babies' deaths, and it details the complex grieving process afterward, including themes of…
Adolescence, the transition between childhood and adulthood, represents a time of rapid biological, neurocognitive, and psychosocial changes. These changes have important implications for the development and evolution of adolescent spirituality,…
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…
As a fellowship trained palliative care physician impressed by the complementarity of Palliative and Integrative Medicine, I am reporting on recent experiences with healing touch in our pediatric hospital (Children's Hospital and Medical Center in…
Cancer is a leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) Wiener et al. (Pediatr Blood Cancer 60(5):715-718, 2013). Though most AYAs will survive, cancer will become incurable in 10-40 % Schrijvers and Meijnder (Cancer Treat Rev…
Background: Alternative locations for children near end of life (EOL) are lacking in the United States with deaths largely occurring within intensive care units (ICUs). The reflection room (RR) was implemented as a relevant space for providing this…
Background: Parents of children with a life-limiting disease have to rely on themselves at home while adequate paediatric palliative care is lacking. In several countries, paediatric palliative care teams are introduced to ensure continuity and…
In paediatric palliative care (PPC), parents are confronted with increasing caregiving demands. More children are cared for at home, and the need for PPC of children is lengthened due to technical and medical improvements. Therefore, a clear…
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: Although a large percentage of children with advanced-stage cancer die at home, remarkably little information is available regarding the experience of general practitioners (GPs) with respect to providing home-based palliative care to…
The aim of this study was to clarify advanced cancer patients' communication preferences regarding ending anticancer treatment and transitioning to palliative care, and to explore variables associated with these preferences. Participants were 106…
