Family relationships in two types of terminal care

Abstract

This study investigated parent's perception of family relationships in 87 parents from 48 families during the terminal illness and first year following a child's death from cancer. Using the Family Relationships Index, parents' perception of family relationships were compared: (a) to normative data and (b) between home and hospital terminal care. Data collection occured before death during the terminal phase, and two weeks, four months, and one year post death. The results of data analyses by confidence intervals and t-tests generally indicated that (a) parents' perceived family relationships to differ from “normal” families and (b) hospital based terminal care families presented evidence of better family relationships than home care based terminal care families.