SWK-05. EDUCATIONAL APPROACH TO GRIEF MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Pediatric neuro-oncology has a high mortality rate compared to other childhood cancers. This project sought to bring Awareness to the Grief and Trauma that families undergo during treatment through end of life. It also sought to create a pool of parent partners to support families receiving palliative care and to mend the healthcare relationship that is severed when a child passes away. The educational series included Grief Workshops for Bereaved Parents using the ATTEND model, a mindfulness-based bereavement model and seminars with traumatic grief experts for providers. This provided a better understanding on how healthcare workers are influential in the “death story” of a child and how this can dictate the family’s lifelong grief journey. Grief workshops consisted of 2 English and 1 Spanish speaking cohort each with 10–12 bereaved parents. The curriculum provided psychoeducation with the goal of creating a safe space to validate, clarify, and understand the events that happened in their child’s life; support for the parent as they explore emotional awareness; relief of emotional tension; support as the parent expresses their perspective of their new world to others that are in their life; and support as the parent finds meaning in their child’s life and untimely death. At the end of each group surveys showed that parents found that the group provided a safe community, a place to say their child’s name, a place to share their story, and a need to advocate for future oncology parents who undergo this journey.