Prevalence and predictors of parental grief and depression after the death of a child from cancer

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate patterns of grief and depression in a sample of parents whose child had died of cancer, and to examine factors related to burden of illness and end-of-life care as potential predictors of parental grief and depression outcomes. Methods: Fifty-eight parents completed standardized self-report questionnaires measuring prolonged grief disorder (Inventory of Complicated Grief-Revised [ICG-R]) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition [BDI-II]) and participated in structured interviews designed to elicit their perceptions of their child's end-of-life care and burden of illness. The majority of participants were mothers (84%) and the mean length of time since ..