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A Death in the Family: Parental Bereavement in the First Year
Author(s) -
Cook Judith A.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1983.tb00004.x
Subject(s) - injury prevention , suicide prevention , medicine , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , occupational safety and health , demography , psychiatry , psychology , pediatrics , family medicine , medical emergency , pathology , sociology
This article examines parents' descriptions of their experiences in the first year after a child's death from cancer or a blood disorder. Interviews and questionnaires were used to gather information from 145 parents of children treated for oncologic or hematological diseases at a large, urban pediatric hospital who died during the years 1975 through 1979. Descriptive and survey data revealed differences between maternal and paternal mourning. Men and women differed significantly in the extent to which they encountered distance and lack of comfort in spousal relationships and difficulty during first year post‐death holidays. Findings are discussed in light of the nature of relationships with the deceased child and other family members.