She waged the toughest battle of her life, but died of cancer in the middle of her thirteenth year. How does a mother cope with so tragic a loss? I told and retold the story. I talked about how we faced the chemo, the pain, and the fear together,…
Grounded theory analysis was used to generate an explanation of the phenomenon of meaning reconstruction in the experience of 10 bereaved mothers. The theory that emerged included three phases in the process of meaning reconstruction: discontinuity,…
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…
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: This study examined care needs and utilisation of psychosocial support services among parents of children who had received specialist paediatric palliative care, as well as the relationship between need fulfilment and grief. Possible…
The changes that parents face when caring for a child with a life-limiting condition at home can affect them on a spiritual level. Yet, indications remain that parents do not feel supported when dealing with spiritual issues related to caring for a…
It is estimated that rare diseases affect the lives of over three million people in the United Kingdom. Of these, a significant proportion are children and young people with genetic life-limiting or life-shortening conditions. This study used a…
Death or disability is much more common in multiple births than single children, especially in the perinatal period. Parents face particular problems in that their loss may be underestimated; their grieving may be impeded by the confusion between the…
Social media is an important access point for engagement of children and adolescents. For individuals with a life-limiting illness or serving as the caregiver for an ill child, social media can be a helpful outlet for support and information…
There is growing interest in researching posttraumatic growth and understanding how to enhance positive outcomes in trauma survivors. This study undertook a systematic exploration of the posttraumatic growth in bereaved caregivers of people with…
This paper reports on a study that examined the grief and coping of 29 parents whose child has hypoplastic left heart syndrome using the Dual Process Model. The study employed a secondary thematic analysis of interviews at key times of treatment and…
The common paediatric critical care practice in France is for physicians (rather than parents) to maintain the ultimate responsibility for lifesupport decisions in children. Some French literature asserts that it is inappropriate for parents to bear…
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment integrity of Family-Focused Grief Therapy (FFGT), a preventive intervention designed for families at high risk of poor functioning during palliative care and bereavement. From the 81 families…
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…
PURPOSE: Preparing a future nurse to respond to the complex and sensitive needs of a child and family during the end-of-life requires more than didactic content in a classroom. During clinical experiences, students may care for children diagnosed…
Parents that accompany their children in end-of-life care until death go through a devastating, complex and vulnerable situation, which is experienced in a unique way and with individual needs, given the specificity of the palliative care setting in…
Fetal neurology is a rapidly evolving and expanding field. Discussions about diagnosis, prognosis, treatment options, and goals of care often begin in the antenatal period. However, there are inherent challenges to fetal counseling of neurological…
Background and Aims: Grief in parents has been described as a very intense long-lasting experience, characterized by deep sadness, and social isolation, therefore, the recommendation of scientific societies in pediatrics is to provide bereavement…
The death of someone close to a child often has a profound and lifelong effect on the child and results in a range of both short- and long-term reactions. Pediatricians, within a patient-centered medical home, are in an excellent position to provide…
The death of an adolescent is a particularly complex issue. The process of grieving and coping can be complicated by the tension that may have existed in the parent/child relationship because of the conflict in terms of personal ideology at this…
Canuck Place, North America's first free-standing pediatric hospice of its kind, opened in 1995 in British Columbia, Canada. The province-wide program encompasses a broad spectrum of services intended to support community-based care and provide…
BACKGROUND: Health professionals have a critical role in supporting bereaved parents and rely on models of grief to inform and guide their practice. However, different models, based on fundamentally different theoretical perspectives and research…
People who have lost a travel one often try to make some meaning of their loss. The authors explore the ways people try to make meaning of loss, the factors that predict difficulty in making meaning, and the emotional outcomes of finding meaning.…
Theoretical models of the adjustment process following loss and trauma have emphasized the critical role that finding meaning plays. Yet evidence in support of these models is meager, and definitions of meaning have been too broad to facilitate a…
Background: The grief that accompanies witnessing the death of a child puts health care professionals at risk of secondary trauma, burnout, and turnover when left unaddressed. Objective: Support staff well-being and promote resiliency. Methods:…
This article examines the role of artwork in cancer and palliative care. The literature review focuses on both children and adults. One case scenario focuses on a child's reaction to his mother's illness showing his distress through painting. Artwork…
AIMS: The purpose of this systematic literature review is to describe the interventions for bereaved parents, evaluate intervention effectiveness through study methodology rigor, replicability, and theoretical foundations. METHODS: We searched…
Following an unexpected pediatric death, survivors undergo unique trauma. Medical examiners (MEs) evaluate most of these deaths. We evaluated the bereavement support available to survivors in the Chicagoland area following a pediatric death. We had…
This mixed method study explored parent and child characteristics that impact grief and personal growth in parents (n = 119) after a child dies from cancer in Australia. Medical components of a child's cancer care including radiation treatment,…
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…
Aim To determine the experience of training in paediatric palliative medicine (PPM) among trainees, to identify how well trainees were able to meet RCPCH competences in PPM, and to explore educational opportunities desired by trainees to enhance…
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…
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…
