Historically, men’s experiences of grief following pregnancy loss and neonatal death have been under-explored in comparison to women. However, investigating men’s perspectives is important, given potential gendered differences concerning grief…
Purpose Research shows that knowledge about mental health status, both protective and risk factors, is limited in cancer-bereaved parents. The study aimed to investigate (1) the extent of psychological distress in bereaved parents 2–8 years after the…
CONTEXT: The death of a child from cancer is a devastating event, placing bereaved parents at risk for both physical and psychosocial morbidities. Despite growing awareness of these outcomes and increased hospital-based support, bereaved parents…
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: Children's hospices provide a range of services for babies, children and young people who have a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, including care after death in specialist 'cool bedrooms'. Care after death is a challenging but…
Context Many pediatric hospitals offer legacy interventions for families to promote coping and support grief prior to and following the death of a child. Despite this practice, parent perceptions of the value of legacy activities are not well…
BACKGROUND: Bereavement after the death of a child is devastating and associated with worse physical and psychosocial well-being in parents. Evidence suggests that parents desire and benefit from support provided by other bereaved parents. To foster…
This study explored bereaved mothers' responses to the death of a child from cancer, with a focus on identifying adaptive and complicated grief reactions. To understand the unique meaning of their loss, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13…
BACKGROUND: Although perinatal deaths are still a common pregnancy outcome in developing countries, little is known about the effect perinatal death has on fathers. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to understand and describe the meaning of…
BACKGROUND: Nurses who work with very unwell or dying children may experience intense sorrow and distress in response to loss, which can take an emotional toll on them, potentially affecting care provision. AIM: This study aimed to explore the…
BACKGROUND: Evidence on the benefits to parents of spending time with their child in the hours after their death means this is now routine practice. UK children's hospices offer parents the opportunity to extend this period by using cooling…
This study aimed to explore grandparents' experiences of grief after the death of a grandchild, their perception of socially supportive behavior as well as their satisfaction with a bereavement support care. A six-session bereavement support group…
Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) provide multidisciplinary care to critically ill children and their families. Grief is present throughout the trajectory of illness and can peak around the time of death or non-death losses. The objective of…
BACKGROUND: Families who learn that their unborn baby has a life-limiting fetal condition are often overwhelmed by this news, alongside navigating an unfamiliar healthcare system. A skilled perinatal palliative care coordinator (PPCC) can help these…
CONTEXT: Healthcare providers and parents face many challenges caring for infants at the end of life (EOL). Symptom assessment and management in critically ill infants can be especially difficult. However, the impact of the infant's EOL experience on…
Given the massive influences of COVID-19 restrictions on people in nearly all nations, we conducted an in-depth qualitative study of 15 Belgian parents who had lost a child prior to the pandemic in order to understand its impact on their ongoing…
Owing to differences in opinion about patient autonomy and perceived maturity, discussing diagnosis and prognosis with children can be challenging. Shifting away from “never tell” and “always tell” approaches, recent articles have championed more…
Grief support changes as more is learned from current grief theory and research. The authors provide a comprehensive overview of current grief support as it relates to Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC). The following aspects of grief are addressed: (1)…
Perinatal loss is a major life crisis involving multiple losses, including the loss of future hopes and dreams, of being pregnant, and of self-esteem, to name a few. In the present study I focus on mothers who experienced perinatal loss and chose to…
A child's death is a traumatic life experience for parents. Health-care professionals (HCPs) have sought guidance on how to intervene with grieving parents, particularly with fathers. Having therapeutic conversations is an effective way for HCPs to…
Background: Death of any of siblings is an overwhelming, severe, and prolonged challenge in children development process and is a major risk factor for psychiatric disorders in childhood and later. Interventions for bereaved families following a…
BACKGROUND: The death of a child is acutely distressing. Evidence on the benefits and value to parents of spending time with their dead child have now been integrated into routine practice and is regarded as a bereavement support intervention. UK…
PURPOSE: To understand the lived experience of mothers surrounding the time of being informed of neonatal deaths in intensive care units. DESIGN: A phenomenological qualitative approach was employed. METHODS: Twelve mothers (age 24-41 years) were…
Bereaved parenting, a role that entails parenting surviving children after experiencing the death of a child, is a unique but understudied phenomenon within bereavement research. Not much is known about the impact of a child's death on this crucial…
Purpose: Parents of children that die from cancer are at increased risk of significant long-term psychosocial and physical morbidities. Less, however, is known about the experience of parents early in the grief process. Currently used frameworks and…
CONTEXT: Approximately 12% of children with cancer will not survive, representing a devastating loss for parents. Strategies to improve parental coping and grief have been understudied. Although legacy-making is frequently offered as standard care to…
PURPOSE: Previous research shows that bereaved parents are at an increased risk for intense and prolonged grief responses. To offer effective support to parents during a child's cancer treatment and after their child's death, more knowledge is needed…
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…
This study explored bereaved mothers' responses to the death of a child from cancer, with a focus on identifying adaptive and complicated grief reactions. To understand the unique meaning of their loss, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13…
Relationship strains between families and providers can have intense repercussions on the bereavement experience. Little is known about how to define and differentiate relationships within various interpersonal contexts and how those families…
Background: The demands on healthcare professionals caring for families grappling with a life-limiting condition in an unborn or newly born child can be overwhelming. Clinicians working in emergency/trauma, hospice, and pediatric settings are already…
BACKGROUND: The availability of interventions for bereaved parents have increased. However, most are practice based. To enhance the implementation of bereavement care for parents, an overview of interventions which are replicable and evidence-based…
The aim of this study is to provide comprehensive and current information on hospital practices following perinatal death. The provinces with the highest number of hospitals in Turkey were selected for the study. To collect data, the questionnaire…
In England, a child death review process must be undertaken when a child dies, regardless of the cause of death. Scotland and Wales have their own version of the child death review process, while it is the author's understanding that Northern Ireland…
BACKGROUND: Nurses working in the high-stress environment of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at high risk of experiencing grief after death of a baby. DESIGN: Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, a convenience sample of nurses…
The article presents a discussion between bereaved parents on the Quality of Life Steering Council at a large academic pediatric cancer center and interdisciplinary pediatric palliative care clinicians about the coexistence of hope and realism.…
Bibliotherapy is a therapeutic intervention that could potentially be utilized by pediatric palliative care social workers to aid in providing individualized support and adaptive coping techniques through end-of-life and bereavement. Multiple…
OBJECTIVE: To assess differences in prolonged grief, depression, posttraumatic stress, and sleep disturbances in bereaved parents across years since loss (1-5 years) and by gender and to assess potential interactive effects of time since loss and…
To enhance understanding of parental relationships following the loss of a child, a questionnaire was sent to members of Norwegian bereavement support organizations. The sample consisted of 175 couples. Using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), we…
INTRODUCTION: Grief among bereaved parents is known to cause psychological distress and physical illness, but knowledge concerning factors that can contribute to health promotion after bereavement is scarce. Childhood cancer remains the most common…
