Abstract
This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on risk and resilience factors impacting on parental bereavement outcomes following the death of a child with a life-limiting condition. Over the past few decades, bereavement research has focussed primarily on a risk-based approach. In light of advances in the literature on resilience, the authors propose a Risk and Resilience Model of Parental Bereavement, thus endeavouring to give more holistic consideration to a range of potential influences on parental bereavement outcomes. The literature will be reviewed with regard to the role of: (i) loss-oriented stressors (e.g., circumstances surrounding the death and multiple losses); (ii) inter-personal factors (e.g., marital factors, social support, and religious practices); (iii) intra-personal factors (e.g., neuroticism, trait optimism, psychological flexibility, attachment style, and gender); and (iv) coping and appraisal, on parental bereavement outcomes. Challenges facing this area of research are discussed, and research and clinical implications considered.
Highlights
Bereavement, or the loss of a loved one through death, results in a process of adaptation to living following the death of the loved one [1]
Over the past decade the Integrative Risk Factor Framework of Bereavement [3] has been valuable in drawing attention to a broad array of risk factors that may adversely impact on parental bereavement
Within the context of the Risk and Resilience Model of Parental Bereavement proposed in this paper, the current review has identified various inter-personal and intra-personal factors that may positively or detrimentally impact parental bereavement outcomes
Summary
Bereavement, or the loss of a loved one through death, results in a process of adaptation to living following the death of the loved one [1]. Parental bereavement that follows weeks, months or years of caring for a child with a life-limiting condition is a particular context that is likely to have a unique set of factors associated with parental bereavement outcomes. Following a brief overview of some of the unique aspects of the bereavement experience associated with the death of a child due to a life-limiting condition, the current narrative review will consider a range of factors that may influence parental adjustment in this context. In the context of many life-limiting, non-cancer conditions, parents typically learn at the time of diagnosis that, there may be uncertainty regarding how long their child is likely to live, they as parents are likely to outlive their child This information is likely to gradually reshape their cognitive schemas. These parents are more inclined to cling to their existing schemas for as long as possible, hoping that the treatments will enable a return to health and normality
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