OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to describe and quantify the impact of caring for a child with Dravet syndrome (DS) on caregivers. METHODS: We surveyed DS caregivers at a single institution with a large population of patient with DS.…
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…
Music enables us not only to reflect upon the world in which we live but also to become active agents in creating and shaping it and ourselves. The Treehouse Choir is an innovative, therapeutic programme open to all adult service users and staff at…
Patient race/ethnicity affects health care utilization, provider trust, and treatment choice. It is uncertain how these influences affect pediatric care. We performed a systematic review (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane, and…
BACKGROUND: Children dying of a life threatening disease suffer a great deal at the end of life. Symptom control is often unsatisfactory, partly because many caregivers are simply not familiar with paediatric palliative care. To ensure that a child…
Background: Children with severe psychomotor impairment (SPMI) often experience sleep disturbances that severely distress both the child and his or her parents. Validated questionnaires for the assessment of parents' distress related to their child's…
PURPOSE: Family caregivers of children with cancer face emotional, psychological, and spiritual challenges coping with their child's illness. For ensuring comprehensive multidisciplinary pediatric care, there is a need to understand and define what…
Spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA-1) is a severe neurodegenerative disorder, which in the absence of curative treatment, leads to death before 1 year of age in most cases. Caring for these short-lived and severely impaired infants requires…
Background: Symptom management for infants, children and young people at end of life is complex and challenging due to the range of conditions and differing care needs of individuals of different ages. A greater understanding of these challenges…
OBJECTIVES: Families describe decision-making about gastrostomy tube (g-tube) placement as challenging. We measured caregiver decisional conflict before and after initial g-tube consultation to evaluate the potential benefit of a decision aid and…
BACKGROUND: Prior research has demonstrated that the presence of regret and unfinished business is associated with poorer adjustment in bereavement. Though there is a growing literature on these constructs among caregivers of adult patients, the…
OBJECTIVE: Pediatric chronic pain evaluation includes self-reports and/or caregiver proxy-reports across biopsychosocial domains. Limited data exist on the effects of caregiver-child discrepancies in pediatric pain assessment. In children with…
BACKGROUND: The number of children requiring long-term home ventilation has consistently increased over the last 25 years. Given the growing population of children with complex care needs (CCNs), this was an important area of focus within the Models…
CONTEXT: Parents of children with severe neurologic impairment (SNI) often face high-stakes medical decisions when their child is hospitalized. These decisions involve technology/surgery, goals of care/advance care planning, or transitions of care.…
BACKGROUND: Understanding what makes a 'good death' in the child with life shortening illness is important, as it informs appropriate and effective end-of-life care. Above play, peer contact and opportunities for assent, prior literature review found…
CONTEXTS: Inadequate pain management in community paediatric palliative care is common. Evidence to inform improved pain management in this population is limited. OBJECTIVES: To explore the barriers and facilitators to paediatric community-based pain…
Background: Children with severe neurological impairment (SNI) commonly receive care in the hospital setting necessitating frequent interactions with clinicians. Yet, parents report that clinicians often have a limited understanding of their child's…
Importance: Advance care planning (ACP) is the process of discussing values and preferences for care to help inform medical decision-making. Children with medical complexity (CMC) often have a shortened life span with an unpredictable clinical course…
Children living with palliative care needs are less engaged in play, despite its importance in their lives. The environment may have a crucial role in supporting these children's play. Understanding the importance and impact of environmental factors…
BACKGROUND: Prior research has demonstrated that the presence of regret and unfinished business is associated with poorer adjustment in bereavement. Though there is a growing literature on these constructs among caregivers of adult patients, the…
BACKGROUND: Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal disorder caused by mutations in the arylsulfatase A gene. Until now, there has been little information on the burden of MLD on patients and their caregivers. This…
Objective There is growing emphasis on health care organizations to ensure that lay people are meaningfully engaged as partners on research teams. Our aim was to explore the perspectives of patients, family members and informal caregivers who have…
OBJECTIVE: To shorten the Patient Engagement In Research Scale (PEIRS) to its most essential items and evaluate its measurement properties for assessing the degree of patients' and family caregivers' meaningful engagement as partners in research…
OBJECTIVE: The James Lind Alliance (JLA) offers a method for better aligning health and care agenda's with the needs of patients, carers and clinicians by bringing them together in a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP). In this paper, we draw…
Children with medical complexity (CMC) have complex chronic conditions with significant functional impairment, contributing to high caregiving demand. This study seeks to explore impacts of parental caregiving for CMC. Fifteen caregivers of CMC…
Background This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression, depressive symptoms, and quality of life among caregivers of pediatric cancer patients and the associated risk factors. Methodology In total, 73 participants were recruited for this…
BACKGROUND: Child mortality rates during hospitalisation for acute illness and after discharge are unacceptably high in many under-resourced settings. Childhood vulnerability to recurrent illness, and death, is linked to their families' situations…
BACKGROUND: Children with medical complexity need complex assistance, that considerably affects caregivers' quality of life. They often need multiple medications, with a consequent relevant risk of errors or poor compliance. Galenic (or compounded)…
Context Early integration of palliative care (PC) in hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has demonstrated benefits, yet barriers remain, including perceived lack of patient/caregiver receptivity despite no data on attitudes toward PC and limited…
BACKGROUND: Globally, more than 97% of children needing palliative care reside in low- and middle-income countries, where there is very limited access to palliative care. Several community-based palliative care programs focused on adults, have been…
Palliative Extended and Care at Home (PEACH) is a rapid response nurse-led package of care mobilized for palliative care patients who have an expressed preference to die at home. This study aimed to identify the demographic and clinical predictors of…
Background: Providing long-term care for a family member can be a source of severe stress for the untrained caregiver, and is known to cause depression, poor overall health, and lower quality of life for the caregiver. This burden may lead to poorer…
Background: Pediatric patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers have unique psychosocial needs. Anxiety often worsens throughout treatment for both patients and parents, and, if undertreated, can cause suffering. Animal-assisted interaction…
A child's illness and admission in a hospital are stressful and can negatively affect the child and his/her caregivers. The stress is further exacerbated when a child is critically ill and has been admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). The…
