Grief
Conditions
Keywords
Complicated Grief, Risk Factors, Cancer, Children
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors of Complicated Grief (CG) among children and adolescents who lost a parent to cancer or from an other cause.
Detailed description
Although the intensity of the grief and life disruption usually subsides in the months following the loss of a loved one, approximately 7% of bereaved individuals will continue to experience persistent and intense grief-related symptoms associated with marked distress and functional impairment years after the death. While several studies aimed to evaluate risk factors of CG among adults, little is known regarding CG among children and adolescents. Therefore, prospective research directly examining the impact of bereavement on post-loss psychiatric symptoms, including CG, post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD), depression, attentional and behavioral avoidance among children are needed. Improving our understanding of CG risk factors among children will help direct healthcare professionals' clinical attention toward screening and care of this underserved population. Furthermore, identifying mechanisms explaining why cancer bereaved children may be at greater risk for persistent psychological distress and CG will inform the development of preventive, early intervention and treatment strategies. Participants will be recruited to the Child and Adolescent grief counseling of the College Hospital of Toulouse as well as with the Team Regional Resource Pediatric Palliative Care Enfant-Do. At 3, 6 and 12 months post-loss, children and their parent will be invited to complete questionnaires assessing peritraumatic dissociative experiences, peritraumatic distress, security attachment, symptoms of CG, symptoms of PTSD and attentional avoidance.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALScales, questionnaires and inventory
Children will complete scales, questionnaires and inventory at 3 months post-loss and only 2 scales at 6 and 12 month post-loss
Sponsors
University Hospital, Toulouse
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
6 Years to 17 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Children : * Having lost a parent within the last 3 months * Signed consent form from the parent * To have health care coverage by the French social security Parents : * Signed consent form * Having lost mother or father of the child within the last 3 months
Exclusion criteria
Children: * Both parents are dead * Medical disease * Ongoing legal procedure regarding the death Parents : * Decline to take part to the study * Mental retardation or schizophrenia * Ongoing legal procedure regarding the death
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory of Complicated Grief | 6 months post-loss | Complicated Grief symptoms at 6 months post-loss among children aged from 6 to 17 years Measured by the Inventory of Complicated Grief |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Influence of grief symptoms of the parent staying in life | At 3 months and 12 months post-loss | Evaluation of the influence of grief symptoms of the parent staying in life on the level of complicated grief symptoms development (i) One group of children will have high levels of grief symptoms at T0 which will decrease over the time. (ii) One group will have low levels of grief symptoms at T0 which will remain low over the time. (iii) One group will have high levels of grief symptoms at T0 which will remain high over the time. (iiii) One group will have low levels of grief symptoms at T0 which will increase over the time. |
| Evaluation of the impact of the cause of parents death (cancer or other cause) on complicated grief symptoms development. | At 6 and 12 months post-loss | Questionnaire will be used to measure these symptoms : Inventory of Complicated Grief |
| Evaluation of the impact of the cause of parents death (cancer or other cause) on post-traumatic stress developement. | At 6 and 12 months post-loss | Questionnaires will be used to measure these symptoms : Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire and Peritraumatic Distress Inventory |
| Inventory of Complicated Grief for Evaluation of paths of grief symptoms developement | At 3 and 12 months post-loss | Analysed symptoms and divided subject between 4 groups according to their symptoms. Group 1 : High levels of grief symptoms at 3 months wich will decrease at 12 months Group 2 : Low levels of grief symptoms at 3 months wich will stay low at 12 months Group 3 : High levels of grief symptoms at 3 months wich will stay high at 12 months Group 4 : Low levels of grief symptoms at 3 months wich will increase at 12 months |
| Determined if early factors could explain differences of symptoms of complicated grief between the cause of death of the parent (cancer or another cause) | At 3 months post-loss | Questionnaire will be used to measure these symptoms : Inventory of Complicated Grief |
| Determined if early factors could explain differences of symptoms of post-traumatic stress developement between the cause of death of the parent (cancer or another cause) | At 3 months post-loss | Questionnaire will be used to measure these symptoms : Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire and Peritraumatic Distress Inventory |
| Determined if early factors could explain differences of symptoms of depression developement between the cause of death of the parent (cancer or another cause) | At 3 months post-loss | Questionnaire will be used to measure these symptoms : Children Depression Inventory |
| Evaluation of the impact of the cause of parents death (cancer or other cause) on depression developement. | At 6 and 12 months post-loss | Questionnaire will be used to measure these symptoms : Children Depression Inventory |
Countries
France
Outcome results
None listed