Background: Limited research has examined the impact of a child's death from cancer on siblings. Even less is known about how these siblings change over time. Objective: This study compared changes in siblings 1 (T1) and 2 (T2) years after the death…
BACKGROUND: Legacy-making, actions or behaviors aimed at being remembered, may be one strategy to enhance coping and improve grief outcomes for bereaved parents and siblings. While legacy interventions have been developed and tested in pediatric and…
The present study aimed to examine whether bereaved parents “meaning-made”–defined as results of attempts to reduce discrepancies between the meaning assigned to the death of the child and self and world-views—was influenced by their own and their…
The death of a child is an individual process of grief but also a context of significant relational processes, which have been only rarely considered in research. The aim of this study was to examine the interactive processes within bereaved parents.…
Using data from Americans' Changing Lives: Wave 1, 1986, this study examined the long-term effects on the personal functioning of older women and men following the death of an adult child or a spouse. Guided by Weiss's (1993) theoretical framework,…
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…
Background Memory making is the process of creating mementos of a child with a life-limiting condition, who may be at or near end of life, providing a tangible and visual connection to the child who has died. Acorns memory making work already…
OBJECTIVE: To determine bereaved parents' perceptions about participating in autopsy-related research and to elucidate their suggestions about how to improve the process. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective multicenter study was conducted to collect tumor…
Family care is essential to pediatric nursing practice, as the entire family is affected by childhood illness. However, little is known about art making for therapeutic purposes and how art is used to better understand families' experiences. Our…
OBJECTIVES:
Surrogate decision makers involved in decisions to limit life support for an incapacitated patient in the ICU have high rates of adverse emotional health outcomes distinct from normal processes of grief and bereavement. Narrative…
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this review was to synthesize the experiences of health professionals who have experienced grief as a result of a pediatric patient dying. INTRODUCTION: There has been some research into health professionals' grief…
While our understanding of adolescent bereavement has greatly expanded in recent years, one area yet to be clarified is the relationship between grief following a significant loss and spirituality. This article strengthens our understanding of this…
Pediatric palliative care (PPC) focuses on children and adolescents with life-limiting diseases. It may be initiated at various points of the disease trajectory, if possible early enough to support living with the best possible quality of life…
Forty-seven mothers and 33 fathers, representing 48 families, participated in a propective longitudinal study of the effects on family members of a child's dying. The purpose of this article is to describe parents' health during the terminal illness…
Few studies have yet examined subgroups among children (aged 8-18) confronted with the death of a close loved one, characterized by different profiles of symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and symptoms of bereavement-related posttraumatic…
For nearly a century, bereavement theorists have assumed that recovery from loss requires a period of grief work in which the ultimate goal is the severing of the attachment bond to the deceased. Reviews appearing in the 1980s noted a surprising…
Recent research has indicated that many people faced with highly aversive events suffer only minor, transient disruptions in functioning and retain a capacity for positive affect and experiences. This article reports 2 studies that replicate and…
She waged the toughest battle of her life, but died of cancer in the middle of her thirteenth year. How does a mother cope with so tragic a loss? I told and retold the story. I talked about how we faced the chemo, the pain, and the fear together,…
Objective Although stakeholders' participation in healthcare is increasingly recommended, bereaved parents are often excluded for perceived potential risks to them. The objective of this study is to describe the ongoing involvement and the…
Grounded theory analysis was used to generate an explanation of the phenomenon of meaning reconstruction in the experience of 10 bereaved mothers. The theory that emerged included three phases in the process of meaning reconstruction: discontinuity,…
Preparation for their changing roles in family & society, as well as readying their intimate space for the arrival of an infant, totally engage expectant parents. Miscarriage or stillbirth may bring on a grief storm that strips away many tender roots…
OBJECTIVES: To examine parents' perceptions of nursing care needs; including specific concerns, preferences and supportive actions for themselves and their dying child during and following the withdrawal of life support in the paediatric intensive…
BACKGROUND: This study examined care needs and utilisation of psychosocial support services among parents of children who had received specialist paediatric palliative care, as well as the relationship between need fulfilment and grief. Possible…
Improving the quality of end-of-life care has become a national health care priority. A necessary step in this process in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) is examining the knowledge, attitudes,and behaviors of pediatric critical care…
OBJECTIVES: Around the world, the PICU is one of the most common sites for hospitalized children to die. Although ensuring the best possible care experience for these children and their families is important, clear recommendations for end-of-life and…
BACKGROUND: Entering the paediatric intensive care unit with a critically ill child is a stressful experience for parents. In addition to fearing for their child's well-being, parents must navigate both a challenging environment and numerous new…
Background As understandings of the impacts of end-of-life experiences on parents’ grief and bereavement increase, so too does the inclusion of bereaved parents into research studies exploring these experiences. However, designing and obtaining…
PURPOSE: To explore bereaved parents' perspectives of parent and staff roles in the pediatric intensive care unit when their child was dying, and their relationships with healthcare staff during this time. DESIGN AND METHODS: Constructivist grounded…
Social media is an important access point for engagement of children and adolescents. For individuals with a life-limiting illness or serving as the caregiver for an ill child, social media can be a helpful outlet for support and information…
Families of dying children are profoundly impacted by numerous interactions with health-care providers before, during, and after their child's death. However, there is a dearth of research on these families' direct, qualitative experiences with…
More than two million babies a year die during or before birth around the world, evoking grief that is traumatic. Because the psychological, physical, social, and emotional ramifications of grief following a baby's death are so enduring and intense,…
The phenomenon of post-traumatic growth has been explored within the context of HIV disease in only a limited fashion. One hundred and seventy-six bereaved HIV/AIDS carers located all over Canada responded to a questionnaire about their experiences;…
With the current shift to include positive outcomes of trauma, this research was designed to explore factors that allow growth to occur. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model for understanding posttraumatic growth. A sample (N = 174)…
There is growing interest in researching posttraumatic growth and understanding how to enhance positive outcomes in trauma survivors. This study undertook a systematic exploration of the posttraumatic growth in bereaved caregivers of people with…
Analysis of in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 bereaved parents and 11 service providers revealed a more holistic conceptualization of the bereavement process for parents who have lost a child. Holistic ?states? included: ?helplessness prior to…
BACKGROUND: Neonatal death is often preceded by end-of-life medical decisions. This study aimed to determine whether the context of death - after a decision of withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (WWLST) or despite maximum care - was…
A short form of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-SF) is described. A sample of 1351 adults who had completed the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) in previous studies provided the basis for item selection. The resulting 10-item form…
The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of perinatal grief and evidence-based healing interventions for it. The loss of a pregnancy or death of an infant causes profound grief, yet society has long minimized or ignored this grief, which…
Program Goals: Historically Child Life Specialists (CCLS) have done the majority of their work in healthcare settings such as pediatric acute care hospitals and clinics. As children are living longer with chronic diseases, CCLS are using their…
