The parents of a child who dies feel the emotions of shock, mourning, and confusion as they slowly come to accept the finality of the child's death. In contemporary America they frequently feel isolated and abandoned. The individuals and institutions…
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…
A reliable and valid measure of the quality of the dying experience would help clinicians and researchers improve care for dying patients. To describe the validity of an instrument assessing the quality of dying and death using the perspective of…
AbstractBackground: In an effort to improve the quality of life of children with cancer, this study analyzes the signs and symptoms at the end of life in such children. It is hoped that these data will contribute to the development of appropriate…
Parents who experience the sudden death of a child will interact with many professionals in the period immediately following the death notification through to the funeral. The way these professionals respond to the parents during this critical period…
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…
A program of education and support is essential for children and their parent or adult caregivers when the children have experienced the death of a significant person. Children need guidance on how to deal with their profound feelings of grief. The…
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…
This paper addresses issues relating to place of death in young adults with terminal cancer, through the perspectives of their parents. Evidence suggests that the majority of terminally ill cancer patients would prefer the option of a home death, but…
This article compares the outcome and predictors of psychosocial distress of parents bereaved by young suicides, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and child accidents. One objective is to explore whether suicide bereavement is more difficult for…
This article explores the concepts of narrative as story, of storytelling, and of the narrative approach to qualitative research. Within this, I will also examine the social nature of narrative and the implications of this for research. I will look…
BACKGROUND: One of the questions faced by the parents of a child who is terminally ill with a malignant disease is whether or not they should talk about death with their child. METHODS: In 2001, we attempted to contact all parents in Sweden who had…
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…
BACKGROUND: Some consider the loss of a child as the most stressful life event. When the death is caused by a malignancy, the parents are commonly exposed not only to their own loss, but also to the protracted physical and emotional suffering of the…
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effect of parental bereavement on physical health. We investigated whether the death of a child increased mortality in parents. METHODS: We undertook a follow-up study based on national registers. From 1980 to…
CONTEXT: Clinicians have observed various patterns of functional decline at the end of life, but few empirical data have tested these patterns in large populations. OBJECTIVE: To determine if functional decline differs among 4 types of illness…
BACKGROUND: Discussing end-of-life issues with terminally ill patients is often considered distressing and harmful. This study was conducted to assess whether interviewing terminally ill patients and their caregivers about death, dying, and…
Grounded theory methods were used to study the experiences of 8 bereaved fathers whose children received care in a home-based hospice program. In-depth, unstructured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded for themes and categories. Every…
OBJECTIVE: For patients who die in hospitals, the regionalization of tertiary health care services may be increasing the home-to-hospital distance, particularly for younger patients whose care is especially regionalized and for whom access to and use…
OBJECTIVES: Acts of kindness and commemoration by staff members often follow the death of a patient. Acts include attending funerals, sending sympathy cards, sending cards on birthdays/anniversaries, telephoning/visiting family homes, and attending…
This study explored the experiences and needs of nine parents who had received hospital-based bereavement support following the death of their child from cancer, in Western Australia. Six prominent themes emerged from thematic data analysis: personal…
OBJECTIVES: To determine the relative influence of different factors on place of death in patients with cancer. DATA SOURCES: Four electronic databases-Medline (1966-2004), PsycINFO (1972-2004), CINAHL (1982-2004), and ASSIA (1987-2004); previous…
Through a focus on one child's extended stay in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, I raise four general questions about pediatric medicine: How should physicians communicate with parents of very sick children? How should physicians involve parents of…
BACKGROUND: The loss of a child is considered one of the most stressful events in the life of a parent. We hypothesized that parental bereavement increases the risk of hospital admission for a psychiatric disorder, especially for affective disorders.…
This longitudinal study examined the relative impact of major variables for predicting adjustment (in terms of both grief and depression) among bereaved parents following the death of their child. Couples (N = 219) participated 6, 13, and 20 months…
STUDY OBJECTIVES: More than two thirds of family members visiting intensive care unit (ICU) patients have symptoms of anxiety or depression during the first days of hospitalization. Identifying determinants of these symptoms would help caregivers…
Theories of bereavement continue to change and develop. This literature review explores the history of Western bereavement theories, beginning with Freud's grief work, moving to the stage theories, and concluding with current constructivist thought…
OBJECTIVE: Studies of symptoms in children dying a cancer-related death typically rely on medical chart reviews or parental responses to symptom checklists. However, the mere presence of a symptom does not necessarily correspond with the distress it…
This article reports on the first stage of a process to develop a clinical performance indicator for a community-based palliative care service that may inform the development of an agreed set of indicators for the whole sector. The study explores…
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…
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…
The death of a child is a traumatic event that can have long-term effects on the lives of parents. This study examined bereaved parents of deceased children (infancy to age 34) and comparison parents with similar backgrounds (n = 428 per group)…
