Parents Who Have Lost a Child to Cancer
Conditions
Keywords
Grief, bereavement, questionnaires, 09-107
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences and needs of parents who have lost a child to cancer. This will aid us in developing an intervention that may help parents cope with their loss.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALQuestionnaires/Interviews
Prior to the interview, the measure of prolonged grief disorder symptoms, the PG-13, will be re-administered to participants as a quality assurance check. We will administer 7 self-report measures, which participants can complete in our office, at home, or via telephone, depending on their preferences. These questionnaires should take approximately 75 to 80 minutes to complete. If you are asked to take part in the in-depth interview and you choose to take part, the interview that will take approximately 60 to 90 minutes to complete, depending on the length of the responses to the questions asked. The participant may also be asked if they would be willing to fill out an additional questionnaire about parents' thoughts on the most appropriate timing for raising the topic of a postmortem examination and factors that are important to include in discussions. Despite its importance, autopsy is often not discussed with parents whose child is dying from cancer.
Sponsors
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Ohio State University
University of Memphis
University of Southern California
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Loss of a child to cancer between 6 months and 6 years ago * Loss of a child between the ages of 6 months and 25 years * Biological or adoptive parent or stepparent * Parent must be age 18 or over * In the judgment of investigators/consenting professionals able to comprehend English to complete study assessments * To be eligible for the qualitative interview, participants more score of 19 or less (\< 19)or 34 or greater (\> 34) on the PG-13 to qualify
Exclusion criteria
* Significant psychiatric disturbance sufficient, in the investigator's judgment, to preclude completion of the assessment measures, interview or informed consent.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Identify the unique qualitative themes related to finding meaning among parents who lost a child to cancer to inform development of a conceptually sound meaning-centered grief intervention. | 2 years |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Determine differences in qualitative themes of meaning in parents in the high and low Prolonged Grief Disorder subgroups to help select a target population for a meaning-centered grief intervention. | 2 years |
| Explore and identify factors associated with bereaved parents' psychosocial service underutilization to guide the development of an acceptable and feasible meaning-centered grief intervention format. | 2 years |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORRebecca Saracino, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Outcome results
None listed