Bereavement After a Child’s Death

Jonas, Danielle; Scanlon, Caitlin; Rusch, Rachel; Ito, Janie; Joselow, Marsha

doi:10.1016/j.chc.2018.05.010

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The death of a child, adolescent or young adult is an untimely event, whose tragic loss is experienced by the parents, siblings, friends and caregivers of the deceased 1. Across the life course, males and persons of lower socioeconomic status are especially at increased risk of death,2 as are those affected by mental illness 3.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality in a cohort of 3.1 million children, adolescents and young adults

Ray

Guttmann

Silveira

et al. 2020

J Epidemiol Community Health

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BackgroundMany youth deaths occur in the first year of life, from prematurity and anomalies. Detailing mortality after age 1 year may differentially guide preventive strategies in children, adolescents and young adults.MethodsA cohort study in Ontario, Canada comprised 3 139 698 children born from 1990 to 2016. Adjusted HR (aHR) for death between 1 and 24 years were generated, comparing demographic variables and parity.ResultsAfter a median of 13.7 years of follow-up, 6930 deaths occurred between ages 1 and 24 years (incidence rate 17.0 per 100 000 person-years), peaking at age 23 years (43.7 per 100 000). The aHR for death was higher among males than females (1.44, 95% CI 1.37 to 1.51), rural versus urban areas (1.48, 95% CI 1.39 to 1.58), lowest versus highest income areas (1.39, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.51) and at parity 1 (1.16, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.23), parity 2 (1.34, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.45), parity 3+ (1.96, 95% CI 1.74 to 2.21), each relative to a child without an older sibling. Among males, the proportion of deaths due to injury jumped from 30% before age 15 years to 65% thereafter, and in females, from 28% to 51%. Intentional self-harm/assault explained 11% of injury-related deaths among males before age 15 years, and 20% thereafter, with respective figures of 18% and 17% for females. Deaths outside of hospital increased with age, from 35% at age 1 year, to 66% at age 22 years.ConclusionThere is a heightened susceptibility of dying starting at age 15 years, especially among males, from injury, and arising outside of hospital.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality in a cohort of 3.1 million children, adolescents and young adults

Ray

Guttmann

Silveira

et al. 2020

J Epidemiol Community Health

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“…Understanding these states is critical to the provision of effective support, since there is no consistency as to how religious affiliations across cultures impact grief in parents. For instance, South American families reported that their spirituality [95] was compromised by evangelical family and/or friends [96] whilst self-reported nonreligious participants in Beijing found religious mores a source of support that enhanced spirituality [97]. Similarly, whilst Hedayat [98] suggested that in Muslim societies the death of a child a reinforced their religious faith [92], some bereaved parents believed that their child's death was a punishment from a Higher Power [89,99,100] and turned their disappointment inward and or towards the Higher Power [99].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental bereavement – impact of death of neonates and children under 12 years on personhood of parents: a systematic scoping review

et al. 2021

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Background Losing a child tragically impacts the well-being and functioning of parents. With these effects extending beyond emotional, physical morbidity and compromising self-perceptions, appropriate, longitudinal, timely and personalised support is key to effective care of bereaved parents. However, in the absence of a comprehensive understanding of parental bereavement, effective support of bereaved parents remains suboptimal. To address this gap, we scrutinise prevailing data on the effects of a child’s death, aged 0–12 years, through the lens of the Ring Theory of Personhood (RToP). Methods To study prevailing accounts of bereaved parents following the death of a child, we adopt Krishna’s Systematic Evidence Based Approach (SEBA) to structure our Systematic Scoping Review (SSR in SEBA). Results Three thousand seventy-four abstracts were reviewed, 160 full text articles were evaluated, and 111 articles were included and analysed using thematic and content analysis. Four themes/categories were identified relating to the four rings of the RToP. Findings reveal that static concepts of protective and risk factors for grief are misplaced and that the support of healthcare professionals is key to assisting bereaved parents. Conclusion In the absence of consistent support of bereaved parents, this study highlights the need for effective training of healthcare professionals, beginning with an appreciation that every aspect of an individual parent’s personhood is impacted by the loss of their child. Acknowledging grief as a complex, evolving and personalised process subjected to parental characteristics, settings, context and available support, this SSR in SEBA calls attention to effective nurturing of the relationship between parents and healthcare professionals, and suggests use of the RToP to assess and direct personalised, timely, specific support of parents in evolving conditions. We believe the findings of this review also call for further studies to support healthcare professionals as they journey with bereaved parents.

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“…It should be noted that parents highlight the important role of health-care staff in keeping honest, constant, and assertive communication with them, in which they are willing to discuss the implications of the end-of-life care and the death. [ 16 ]…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Qualitative studies address the phenomenon of mourning in parents once the child dies. [ 14 15 16 ] However, this study addresses parental grief as a lived process over a period of time, in which the experience is studied even before the child's death, until long after it. This research responds to a call to understand the nature of grief in parents whose children died from cancer, inquiring into their needs, beliefs, resources, and abilities to face adversity and achieve personal growth over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeking an adjustment from the unnatural to the supernatural: The experience of losing a child from cancer in Colombia

Carreño-Moreno

Arias-Rojas

Díaz

2021

Indian J Palliat Care

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Aims: The death of a child with cancer can be devastating for his or her parents. This study sought to understand the way in which the process of parental grief develops after the death of a child with cancer. Methods: The research used a grounded theory approach, in which 18 participants were enrolled including parents whose child died from cancer 5 months to 5 years before. In-depth interviews were conducted, which were analyzed using constant comparisons until theoretical saturation was reached. Results: Fifteen subcategories were identified and grouped into three categories that explain what the grieving process represents to the parents over time (a) crossing a desert, (b) dying while alive, and (c) coming back to life. From the emerging relationships among the categories, the core category “seeking adjustment from the unnatural to the supernatural” arises. The results show that grief begins from the moment of diagnosis until long after the child's death. For parents, it entails understanding the disruption in the natural course of life, going through indescribable pain, and being spiritually reconnected with their child. Conclusions: These results enable nurses to design comprehensive interventions that meet the described needs of these parents.

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Bereavement After a Child’s Death

Cited by 27 publications

References 15 publications

Mortality in a cohort of 3.1 million children, adolescents and young adults

Mortality in a cohort of 3.1 million children, adolescents and young adults

Parental bereavement – impact of death of neonates and children under 12 years on personhood of parents: a systematic scoping review

Seeking an adjustment from the unnatural to the supernatural: The experience of losing a child from cancer in Colombia

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