Facing the Loss of Siblings in Childhood: Interactions and Dynamics between Bereaved Siblings and Their Parents
Bereavement; Terminal Care; Child; Child Parent Relation; Grief; Human; Sibling
INTRODUCTION: The loss of a child in a family is a painful experience. Despite this, most studies focus on the grieving experience of parents. Our understanding of sibling bereavement therefore remains underexplored. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the bereavement experience of younger bereaved siblings from the perspective of the bereaved child and the parents. METHOD(S): This study is a qualitative study conducted in Hong Kong. We recruited eleven bereaved families from 2019 to 2020. Semi-structured interviews were conducted separately with bereaved children and parents. Thematic analyses were performed. FINDINGS: Eleven bereaved siblings, aged 5 to 11, and their parents were interviewed. Four themes were generated: Parents' unawareness of bereaved siblings' grief, protecting parents from grief, comparison with the deceased siblings, and learning how to grieve. CONCLUSION(S): Our findings suggest that the family dynamics and interactions in the grieving experience are complex. The impact of grief on the bereaved child could emanate from the loss of the sibling or from the grief of the parents or from family interactions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study highlights the importance of viewing the sibling bereavement experience in a family context and of enhancing sibling bereavement services. Helping professionals should not only provide more bereavement support to the bereaved siblings individually, but they should also enhance parents' capacity to support their bereaved children.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Chan WCH; Leung GSM; Leung MMM; Lin MKY; Wu JKW; Yu CTK
Journal of Pediatric Nursing
2022
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2022.07.003" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1016/j.pedn.2022.07.003</a>
Perceived challenges in pediatric palliative care among doctors and nurses in Hong Kong
This study aims to examine perceived challenges, including knowledge, skills, self, and work environment, of professionals in providing pediatric palliative care (PPC) in Hong Kong and the differences in perceived challenges between groups. A total of 680 pediatric doctors and nurses participated in the survey. They tended to perceive the provision of PPC as difficult and considered "advanced skills" (those dealing with death-related issues) challenging. Findings indicate that nurses, professionals who are less experienced, do not have children, and have not received palliative care training perceived a higher level of challenges in providing PPC. Implications for training and support are discussed.
Chan WCH; Wong KLY; Leung MM; Lin M K Y
Death Studies
2018
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2018.1478912" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1080/07481187.2018.1478912</a>