Bereavement Needs of Adults, Children, and Families After Cancer

Abstract

Many families and close friends are experiencing bereavement due to cancer. A review of recent studies of bereavement outcomes, mainly elevated psychological distress, suggests that bereaved family members, compared with nonbereaved, have poorer quality of life. They display high levels of complicated grief, anxiety, and depression and use bereavement services, but also report finding meaning in the loss, during the first 6 months after death. Similar demographic (e.g., female sex and younger age) and psychological (e.g., premorbid mental health conditions and lack of preparedness for the death) predictors are related to the bereavement outcomes across different familial groups. However, the severity of psychological distress and bereavement needs expressed vary by familial groups. Unrelieved pain and anxiety of the patient before the death and family members being unprepared for the impending death appear to be related to several postdeath psychological and physical morbidities of the surviving family members. Although the number of articles addressing bereavement-related issues associated with cancer has been growing in recent years, more rigorous studies that use longitudinal prospective designs, which bridge cancer survivorship with bereavement research, are needed.

Parental divorce and parental death - An integrative systematic review of children’s double bereavement

“…[2,35] Kim et al found, in a review of bereavement needs, that unrelieved pain and anxiety in the patient and family before death are related to several postdeath psychological and physical morbidities in survivors. [11] Also, the individual's age, gender, pre-losses and losses following life changes, as well as the help the family receive, are important. [11,25] Regarding age, adolescents in divorced families try to protect their parents and do not share their feelings openly with them.…”

“…[11] Also, the individual's age, gender, pre-losses and losses following life changes, as well as the help the family receive, are important. [11,25] Regarding age, adolescents in divorced families try to protect their parents and do not share their feelings openly with them. The oldest adolescents in the family tend to become caretakers, helping their parents or siblings in practical matters, and parents are often unaware of the stress and overwhelming feelings of sadness and fear in their adolescent.…”

“…[11] Regarding relevance, articles with clear research results on the double loss and bereavement were rated high, and rated low if the results were less relevant or had other variables that could confuse or not relevant to the study, such as adverse childhood experiences like abuse. For methodological/theoretical rating, the scientific standard for both qualitative and quantitative research is followed.…”

“…[7,17] The child's premorbid mental health conditions and level of preparedness for the death could moderate any post-death psychological problems, such as complicated grief, anxiety and depression. [11] More generally, studies have shown poorer quality of life and particularly higher prevalence of depression among bereaved children and adolescents, [11,18] as compared to young people without any bereavement experiences. [7] A few studies have compared children or adolescents who have experienced either parental divorce or parental death, with mixed results.…”

“…[7,8] Although the consequences for children and adolescents experiencing one of the losses have been explored, [7,[9][10][11] there is scant research on how children and adolescents experience double bereavement, and the kind of psychosocial support or interventions they may need.…”