Introduction: The care at the end of children's lives must be sensitive to the needs of the child and their family. An understanding of the illness is required from the perspective of parents faced with the death of their child, in order to improve…
Background: How children die in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) has been poorly described, and support for parents during this traumatic experience could be improved. Better information on perceptible signs of the end of life (EOL) in children…
BACKGROUND: Coping with grief after a child's death is a complex and dynamic process. The Two-Track Model of Bereavement, which served as the theoretical framework for this study, examines biopsychosocial reactions to bereavement (track I) and…
In most industrialized countries today, the death of a child is a rare phenomenon. When it occurs, however, it is usually within a hospital setting, after the child has received complex and often long-term medical care aimed at curing or controlling…
Amongst all the traumatic experiences in a human life, death of child is considered the most painful, and has profound and lasting impact on the life of parents. The experience is even more complex when the death occurs within a neonatal intensive…
Introduction: The experience of bereavement is associated with severe physical, psychological, social and spiritual reactions in the parents of children with cancer. Because of that, the families of these children need to receive bereavement…
Understanding the significance of rituals at the end-of-life enables health care professionals to offer meaningful and compassionate interventions that enhance quality of life and support those dying and those who grieve. Rituals contribute to the…
This study explored parental self-identity at 6, 12, and 18 months following the death of a child to cancer. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed using qualitative methodology. Two patterns of parental self-identity emerged: identity…
There is a growing movement in children's hospice care to offer families time with their baby after death through use of a "cold cot"; however, there is very limited research in this area. We interviewed seven parents (four mothers and three…
OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) for the assessment of causes in nontraumatic deaths in children. STUDY DESIGN: We enrolled cases of nontraumatic deaths of infants and children who underwent PMCT at a…
Improved identification of children with an increased likelihood of death can support appropriate provision of integrated palliative care. This systematic review aims to consider immobility and the associated likelihood of death in children with…
The fear of "choking to death" is on the mind of most patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). So far, however, there have been no systematic surveys concerning the dying phase in a general ALS population. We therefore performed a…
A comprehensive quantitative review of published randomized controlled outcome studies of grief counseling and therapy suggests that such interventions are typically ineffective, and perhaps even deleterious, at least for persons experiences a normal…
OBJECTIVE: To describe the perceptions of caregivers of children with medical complexity (CMC) about their decision to pursue tracheostomy for their children, in particular the satisfaction with their decision. STUDY DESIGN: In this qualitative study…
In this study, we examined the violent death bereavement trajectories of 173 parents by following them prospectively for 5 years after their children's deaths by accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined causes. Using latent growth curve…
It is currently believed that effective intervention programs can reduce the negative consequences of stressful life events. The purpose of this paper is to describe a three-step process used to develop a theory-based preventive intervention for…
Twenty-four families who had participated in a Home Care Program for children terminally ill with cancer and 13 families of similar children who had died in the hospital completed inventories on parent and sibling personality as well as family…
Although grief is a normal response to loss, the death of a child is believed to be one of the most difficult losses a person can endure, and bereaved parents are considered to be an "at-risk" group. Even though most deaths of children in the United…
Aims In June 2016, Bill C-14 was enacted in the Canadian Parliament, allowing medical assistance in dying (MAID) for consenting adults with 'grievous and irremediable medical conditions' experiencing 'intolerable' suffering whose deaths are…
Context: Most children with cancer die in hospital settings, without hospice, and many suffer from high-intensity medical interventions and pain at end of life (EOL). Objective(s): To examine the effects of COMPLETE: a communication plan early…
Objective: Our objective was to characterize sleep-disordered breathing in 88 children with achondroplasia aged 1 month to 12.6 years. Results: At the time of their initial polysomnography, five children had previously undergone tracheostomy, and…
BACKGROUND: Caring for the bereaved is an intrinsic part of intensive care practice with family bereavement support an important aspect of the nursing role at end of life. However, reporting on provision of intensive care family bereavement support…
Objectives To provide an in-depth insight into the experience and perceptions of bereaved parents who have experienced end of life care decision-making for children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in the paediatric intensive care…
OBJECTIVE: Communicating bad news about a child's illness is a difficult task commonly faced by intensive care physicians. Greater understanding of parents' scope of experiences with bad news during their child's hospitalization will help physicians…
OBJECTIVE: To investigate parents' perspectives on the desirability, content, and conditions of a physician-parent conference after their child's death in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). STUDY DESIGN: Audio-recorded telephone interviews…
OBJECTIVE: Many childhood deaths in the United States occur in intensive care settings. The environmental needs of parents experiencing their child's death in a pediatric intensive care unit must be understood to design facilities that comfort at the…
Abstract Specific grief behaviors observed in children ages 4-16 years in the 2 years after the death of a sibling are reported. Using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the parents of 90 boys and girls rated the occurrence of behavior problems in…
A retrospective analysis was performed to describe the course of terminal care provided to dying hospitalized children in terms of symptom assessment and management, and communication and decision-making, at the end of life. Seventy-seven of 236…
Coping with the death of a newborn infant requires training and reflection regarding the end-of-life decision-making process, communication with the family, and the care to be provided. The objective of this article is to analyze in depth the salient…
When medicine proves to be powerless to cure a child suffering from cancer, there remains the path of accompaniment by what we call palliative care. This is very different from the treatments that have been administered up to now - since they are not…
OBJECTIVE: To describe the reasons for eventual dissatisfaction among the families of patients who died in the intensive care unit (ICU), regarding both the assistance offered during the patient's stay in the hospital and the information received…
OBJECTIVES: To determine which staff behaviours and interventions were helpful to a family who had a child die in the intensive care unit (ICU) and which behaviours could be improved. METHODS: Families whose child died six to 18 months earlier were…
Context The stage theory of grief remains a widely accepted model of bereavement adjustment still taught in medical schools, espoused by physicians, and applied in diverse contexts. Nevertheless, the stage theory of grief has previously not been…
