Reconsidering early parental grief following the death of a child from cancer: a new framework for future research and bereavement support

Purpose Parents of children that die from cancer are at increased risk of significant long-term psychosocial and physical morbidities. Less, however, is known about the experience of parents early in the grief process. Currently used frameworks and instruments used to understand and assess outcomes in parents early in the grief experience are inadequate and may serve to pathologize the normal grief response. Methods Through review of the literature, previously conducted qualitative work, and extensive clinical experience working with bereaved parents, we developed a new framework for understanding, assessing, and studying parental grief during the first 2 years following the death of a child from cancer. Results Our novel longitudinal framework hypothesizes that short- and long-term psychosocial sequalae in parents following the death of a child from cancer depend not only on pre-death factors but on the support present through the disease experience and the oscillation between protective factors and risk factors in the post-death period. We further hypothesize that protective factors and risk factors may be modifiable, making them key potential targets for supportive interventions aimed at augmenting protective factors and diminishing the effect of risk factors. Conclusion This is a new framework for understanding and assessing the grief experience of parents within the first 2 years of a child's death. Many questions about how best to support parents following the death of a child from cancer remain providing ample opportunities for future research and development of interventions to improve both short- and long-term outcomes in bereaved parents.