Teenagers want to be told when a parent's death is near: A nationwide study of cancer-bereaved youths' opinions and experiences
(2015) In Acta Oncologica 54(6). p.250-944- Abstract
- Background. We aimed to investigate cancer-bereaved youths' opinions and experiences of being told about a parent's imminent death from cancer and of barriers to this communication. Material and methods. This nationwide population-based survey included 622/851 (73%) youths (aged 18 -26) who at age 13-16, 6-9 years earlier had lost a parent to cancer. Results. In total 595 of 610 (98%) of the participants stated that teenage children should be informed when the parent's death was imminent (i.e. a matter of hours or days, not weeks). 59% stated that they themselves had been told this, 37% by the parents, 7% by parents and healthcare professionals together and 8% by professionals only. Frequent reasons for why the teenager and parents did not... (More)
- Background. We aimed to investigate cancer-bereaved youths' opinions and experiences of being told about a parent's imminent death from cancer and of barriers to this communication. Material and methods. This nationwide population-based survey included 622/851 (73%) youths (aged 18 -26) who at age 13-16, 6-9 years earlier had lost a parent to cancer. Results. In total 595 of 610 (98%) of the participants stated that teenage children should be informed when the parent's death was imminent (i.e. a matter of hours or days, not weeks). 59% stated that they themselves had been told this, 37% by the parents, 7% by parents and healthcare professionals together and 8% by professionals only. Frequent reasons for why the teenager and parents did not talk about imminent death before loss were that one (n = 106) or both (n = 25) of the parents together with the teenage child had pretended that the illness was not that serious, or that none of the parents had been aware that death was imminent (n = 80). Up to a couple of hours before the loss, 43% of participants had not realized that death was imminent. Conclusion. In this population-based study virtually all youth who at ages 13-16 had lost a parent to cancer afterwards stated that teenagers should be told when loss is near, i.e. a matter of hours or days, not weeks. Many stated that they had not been given this information and few were informed by professionals, with implications for future improvements in end-of-life care of patients with teenage children. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7422698
- author
- Bylund-Grenklo, Tove ; Kreicbergs, Ulrika ; Uggla, Charlotta ; Valdimarsdottir, Unnur A. ; Nyberg, Tommy ; Steineck, Gunnar and Fürst, Carl Johan LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Acta Oncologica
- volume
- 54
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 250 - 944
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000354479800019
- scopus:84929310649
- pmid:25467964
- ISSN
- 1651-226X
- DOI
- 10.3109/0284186X.2014.978891
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 903da3d4-8abd-4ad5-bd5e-72c8e209af87 (old id 7422698)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:27:22
- date last changed
- 2022-03-14 00:02:59
@article{903da3d4-8abd-4ad5-bd5e-72c8e209af87,
abstract = {{Background. We aimed to investigate cancer-bereaved youths' opinions and experiences of being told about a parent's imminent death from cancer and of barriers to this communication. Material and methods. This nationwide population-based survey included 622/851 (73%) youths (aged 18 -26) who at age 13-16, 6-9 years earlier had lost a parent to cancer. Results. In total 595 of 610 (98%) of the participants stated that teenage children should be informed when the parent's death was imminent (i.e. a matter of hours or days, not weeks). 59% stated that they themselves had been told this, 37% by the parents, 7% by parents and healthcare professionals together and 8% by professionals only. Frequent reasons for why the teenager and parents did not talk about imminent death before loss were that one (n = 106) or both (n = 25) of the parents together with the teenage child had pretended that the illness was not that serious, or that none of the parents had been aware that death was imminent (n = 80). Up to a couple of hours before the loss, 43% of participants had not realized that death was imminent. Conclusion. In this population-based study virtually all youth who at ages 13-16 had lost a parent to cancer afterwards stated that teenagers should be told when loss is near, i.e. a matter of hours or days, not weeks. Many stated that they had not been given this information and few were informed by professionals, with implications for future improvements in end-of-life care of patients with teenage children.}},
author = {{Bylund-Grenklo, Tove and Kreicbergs, Ulrika and Uggla, Charlotta and Valdimarsdottir, Unnur A. and Nyberg, Tommy and Steineck, Gunnar and Fürst, Carl Johan}},
issn = {{1651-226X}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{250--944}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{Acta Oncologica}},
title = {{Teenagers want to be told when a parent's death is near: A nationwide study of cancer-bereaved youths' opinions and experiences}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/0284186X.2014.978891}},
doi = {{10.3109/0284186X.2014.978891}},
volume = {{54}},
year = {{2015}},
}