PURPOSE: To assess unresolved parental grief, the associated long-term impact on mental and physical health, and health service use. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This anonymous, mail-in questionnaire study was performed as a population-based investigation…
PURPOSE: To examine US and United Kingdom (UK) parents' approaches to care and treatment when standard therapy has failed and consider implications for clinical practice. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, ethnographic study of parents, patients,…
PURPOSE: Little is known about how couples care for the terminally ill child with cancer. We assessed both parents' understanding of prognosis and treatment goals for children with cancer and explored whether sex mediates these views. We also…
PURPOSE: To determine how patients weigh potential survival benefits against the potential toxicity of different treatment strategies for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Specifically, we were interested in what improvement in…
PURPOSE: To define the dose ratio between morphine and methadone in relation to the previous morphine dose and the number of days needed to achieve the same level of analgesia in a group of patients with advanced cancer with pain who switched from…
PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical benefits of switching from morphine to oral methadone in patients who experience poor analgesia or adverse effects from morphine. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-two consecutive cancer patients receiving oral morphine…
Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer are a heterogeneous group. Nevertheless, there are sufficient unifying characteristics to form a distinct clinical entity. Management of this special group requires a broad-based interdisciplinary…
PURPOSE: To determine whether spiritual care from the medical team impacts medical care received and quality of life (QoL) at the end of life (EoL) and to examine these relationships according to patient religious coping. PATIENTS AND METHODS:…
Purpose The impact of specialized pediatric palliative care (SPPC) teams on patterns of end-of-life care is unknown. We sought to determine (1) which children with cancer access SPPC and (2) the impact of accessing SPPC on the risk of experiencing…
PURPOSE: This study examines the rate and prediction of referral for specialized psychosocial oncology care in 326 patients with metastatic GI or lung cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Referral information was abstracted from medical records and hospital…
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe and show effectiveness of the outreach team model of palliative care (PC) in allowing home death for children with incurable cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Over 7 months, 185 children from 22 United…
Background: It is difficult to perceive the preparation of a good death for children because of its social and cultural issues. Among the children with serious diseases, they can be alienated and the whole processes are done by the decision of the…
Pediatric palliative care aims to alleviate suffering and improve the quality of life of children with serious disease and increase support for their parents and other family members. Integration of palliative care into the routine care of children,…
PURPOSE: Previous literature suggests that parents often wish to continue cancer-directed therapy for their children with incurable cancer. We assessed parents' experiences with treatment for their children with cancer and no realistic chance of…
PURPOSE: To compare quality of life of children with cancer with no reasonable chance of cure reported by parents 6 months or fewer versus more than 6 months before death. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included children between the…
PURPOSE: To ascertain parents' and physicians' assessments of quality of end-of-life care for children with cancer and to determine factors associated with high-quality care as perceived by parents and physicians. METHODS: A survey was conducted…
PURPOSE: Many seriously ill patients with cancer do not discuss prognosis or advance directives (ADs), which may lead to inappropriate and/or unwanted aggressive care at the end of life. Ten years ago, patients with cancer said they would not like to…
Purpose Engagement in advance care planning (ACP) is viewed as a way to prepare for possible death. In patients undergoing hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT), an aggressive but possibly curative procedure for cancer, encouraging…
PURPOSE: To examine bereavement mental health service use, barriers to use, and factors associated with use in parents bereaved by cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A multicenter, cross-sectional study of 120 parents bereaved by cancer between 6 months…
Purpose This study aimed to determine whether feeding back patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to providers and families of children with advanced cancer improves symptom distress and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Patients and Methods This…
PURPOSEEvidence suggests that adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer (defined as age 15-39 years) receive high-intensity (HI) medical care at the end-of-life (EOL). Previous population-level studies are limited and lack information on the…
PURPOSE: To compare the health-related quality of life (QOL) of parents of children who are undergoing treatment for cancer with that of Canadian population norms and to identify important parent and child predictors of parental QOL. PATIENTS AND…
PURPOSE: To examine hospice referral patterns among pediatric oncologists and identify barriers to referral. METHODS: A self-administered survey was sent to 1,200 pediatric oncologists who are members of Children's Oncology Group. Two electronic mail…
PURPOSE: Physicians sometimes selectively convey prognostic information to support patients' hopes. However, the relationship between prognostic disclosure and hope is not known. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We surveyed 194 parents of children with cancer…
PURPOSE: To describe hopeful and persuasive messages communicated by physicians during informed consent for phase I trials and examine whether such communication is associated with physician and parent ratings of the likelihood of benefit, physician…
PURPOSE: The main objective was to compare parent-reported health-related quality of life (HRQL) of child and adolescent survivors of childhood cancer to that of controls who had no history of cancer. METHODS: We assessed HRQL of 800 child and…
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…
