Children's fears 2-13 months after sibling NICU/PICU/emergency department death
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Sibling loss can heighten children's fears. Approximately two million children in the United States experience the death of a sibling each year, leaving 25% of them in need of clinical intervention and more than 50% with significant behavioral problems. Fear, guilt, anxiety, and even distance from parents are some of the reactions that children feel after experiencing the loss of a sibling. The purpose of this study was to describe children's fears 2-13 months after their sibling's death. Fears were examined by children's age, gender, race/ethnicity, and time. METHODS: Children completed two open-ended questions about fears and five fear items on the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale. The sample consisted of 132 children. RESULTS: Children's top fears across age, gender, and race/ethnicity were daily situations (such as darkness, high places, and violent situations), bugs, animals, and medical examinations. Girls had more total fears than boys. These included fears of bugs and situations with parents and siblings. Boys and Hispanic children had more fears of daily situations. Black children had more fears of animals, whereas White children had more fears of bugs and medical examinations. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Children identify many fears after sibling death, including but not limited to fantasy creatures, common daily situations, bugs, animals, and medical examinations likely related to their sibling's death. Identifying children's fears early can help nurse practitioners assist families in better understanding and responding to children's behavior after sibling death.
Roche RM; Brooten D; Youngblut JM
Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners
2019
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1097/jxx.0000000000000193" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1097/jxx.0000000000000193</a>
Parents: Wish I had done, wish I had not done, and coping after child NICU/PICU death
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: An infant or child death is devastating for parents. This study examined parents' wishes regarding what they had or had not done and how they coped 1-13 months and 2-6 years after the infant's/child's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)/pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) death. METHODS: Qualitative study design using conventional content analysis. Eighty-one mothers and 23 fathers completed open-ended questions regarding what they wished they had or had not done and their coping strategies. Mothers wished most to have spent more time with the child (17%), held the child more (11%), and chosen a different treatment path (9%). Fathers wished most to have spent more time with the child (53%) and monitored the child more closely (12%). Mothers wished they had not taken poor care of themselves (27%) and agreed to the child's surgery/treatment (20%). Fathers wished they had not left the hospital (22%) and agreed to surgery/treatment (16%). Mothers most used coping that included caring for herself (23%) and remembering the child (17%), whereas fathers were caring for self (26%) and moving forward (20%). CONCLUSIONS: Parents wished they had spent more time with their child and had not agreed to the child's surgery/treatments. The most frequent coping technique used by parents was caring for themselves. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Practitioners must provide parents time with their infant/child in the NICU/PICU before and after death and provide information on children's treatments at levels and in languages they understand.
Brooten D; Youngblut JM; Caicedo C; Dankanich J
Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners
2019
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1097/jxx.0000000000000110" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1097/jxx.0000000000000110</a>
Use Of Spiritual Coping Strategies By Gender, Race/ethnicity, And Religion At 1 And 3 Months After Infant's/child's Intensive Care Unit Death
Advanced Practice Nurse; Bereaved Parents; Emotional Adjustment; Nicu/picu; Nurse Practitioner; Pediatrics; Spirituality
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In the United States, 57,000 children (newborn to 18 years) die annually. Bereaved parents may rely on religious or spiritual beliefs in their grief. The study's purpose was to examine differences in parents' use of spiritual and religious coping practices by gender, race/ethnicity, and religion at 1 and 3 months after infant/ICU death. METHODS: The sample consisted of 165 bereaved parents, 78% minority. The Spiritual Coping Strategies Scale was used to measure religious and spiritual coping practices, separately. One-way ANOVAs indicated that Black non-Hispanic mothers used significantly more religious coping practices at 3 months than White non-Hispanic mothers. Protestant and Catholic parents used more religious coping practices than the "no" and "other" religion groups at 1 and 3 months. Within the 30 mother-father dyads (paired t-tests), mothers reported significantly greater use of religious coping practices at 1 and 3 months and spiritual coping practices at 3 months than fathers. CONCLUSION: Religious coping practices were most commonly used by Black mothers and Protestant and Catholic parents. Within dyads, mothers used more spiritual and religious coping practices than fathers. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: These findings are beneficial for healthcare personnel in providing support to bereaved parents of diverse races/ethnicities and religions.
Hawthorne D M; Youngblut JM; Brooten D
Journal Of The American Association Of Nurse Practitioners
2017
Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).
10.1002/2327-6924.12498