A Portrait of Self-Reported Health and Distress in Parents Whose Child Died of Cancer.

ABSTRACT

Grieving a child following cancer is a substantially difficult task. The objectives of this research were 1) to describe current quality of life (QoL), psychological distress and symptoms of grief of bereaved parents, and 2) to explore the role of possible contributors of QoL and psychological distress. Forty-six parents (32 mothers) of children who died of cancer were surveyed on their QoL, distress, and complicated grief. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Parents had a high frequency of grieving symptoms (58%). Mothers reported more retrospective grief symptoms than fathers when describing the year after child death. Current lower mental well-being was associated with experiencing higher retrospective grief symptoms, a shorter period since child death, and being a father. Hence, parents experienced disturbances even long after child death. Mothers and fathers may present specificities that should be considered when developing supportive activities for this vulnerable population.